I recently wrote that 2024 was the best year I've had for online experiences in some time. 

=> ../01/gifting-a-site.gmi Gifting a site

I thought that was noteworthy because in the wider context the web is becoming less usable (bad search results, AI-generated rubbish, etc.).

Today I had an experience that reminded me of this. My phone has been a little slow recently, and I needed to free up some storage space. It turned out that my podcast app was (either due to a bug, or some bad configuration that was not clear how to fix) not deleting any old podcast files. They seemed to be deleted in the interface but there were 6 Gb of files in a folder not accessible from either the podcast app or the file explorer app.

I'm sure there was some way to resolve this without losing all of the data in the app (what podcasts I was subscribed to, what episodes I had and hadn't listened to), but I opted for the quick solution: delete all data related to this app. 6 Gb cleared and phone zipping along happily.

I opened the podcast app, expecting to feel disappointed that I'd lost these lists of what I was currently listening to, what I had listened to in the past, what I might listen to in the future... Instead, I felt a kind of relief.

I love listening to podcasts. I've gotten hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours of enjoyment from them. But - and this is very dependent on personality - I think there can be an element of mild stress (almost unnoticeable) that comes with over complicating a pleasant experience. There is a hard-to-perceive boundary between tracking useful information for a hobby and turning it into a chore.

Before yesterday, I don't know how many podcast subscriptions I had. Some of them were limited series that had finished years ago, which I enjoyed, and which feeds might be used to promote a similar show in the future. Some subscriptions were aspirational - something I had hardly ever listened to, but thought that maybe I would or should. Some were recommendations from other people that I appreciated receiving but, being honest, I wasn't interested in. Maybe there were some other categories in there of things that I didn't need to see every time I opened the app.

How many times a day do I see something telling me what I could be doing with my time? How many times a day do I need or want to see such things?

I'm reminded of old video game consoles, which had no visual operating system. When you turned on a NES, for example, without a game cartridge inside, I think it showed a solid grey screen. Not even a message to say "Insert game". When you turn on any modern console there are a bunch of menus, box art for the last games you've played, links to a store to buy more games. Imagine if you picked up a hammer and you got pop up messages in your vision of the picture frames you intend to hang in the hallway, the bird house that should go up in the back garden, the book shelves upstairs that need to be done.

For awhile I've been trying to feel like I'm in control of my phone. That it's a tool for me to use and not vice versa. When I pick it up, it's because I have an intention and not that I'm looking for it to tell me what my options are.

Feeds are a tricky one. I use RSS feeds to follow blogs, comics, podcasts, social media accounts of friends. I find that useful and helpful. But opening feeds skirts the line between me telling my phone what I want to pay attention to and me asking it for possibilities. I often subscribe to something new and interesting only to find that the posts are too frequent or agitating in some other way. Something which is intended to save my time - not needing to check a bunch of bookmarks to see if there are updates - can become something I feel like I need to keep up with.

Anyway, now I have three podcast subscriptions. They are what I want to listen to rather than what I think I might or should listen to. I'm subscribed to about 50 feeds in my RSS reader. Some of them aren't right for me, I think, but no matter how many times I delete something and feel better, there's still a persistent doubt that I need to hold onto these things.
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