How to follow news without an algorithm.

This page is the practical answer to "how do I follow the news without an algorithm reordering what I see?" It assumes you've already decided you want to leave personalized feeds and are looking for the toolset.

The three approaches

There are three working models for non-algorithmic news following. Each works; they trade off effort for breadth.

Approach 1: Direct subscriptions to publishers

Pick 5–10 publishers you trust. Subscribe to each. Read their daily newsletters or homepages directly. No aggregator, no algorithm. The downside: expensive ($60+/month for a serious set) and slow to set up. The upside: maximum editorial signal.

Approach 2: A hand-curated RSS reader

Use Feedly, Inoreader, NetNewsWire, or a self-hosted Miniflux. Add the RSS feeds of the publishers you trust. The reader merges them in chronological order. No algorithm, no per-newsletter sub. Downside: power features paywalled in Feedly/Inoreader. Upside: free at the basic tier; you control the source list completely.

Approach 3: A non-algorithmic aggregator

Use an aggregator that explicitly doesn't run a personalization algorithm. WeSearch is one. Hacker News (front page) is another, though it's voted not chronological. Tildes is another. The aggregator brings its own curated source list; you don't have to assemble one. Upside: less setup, broader source coverage than you'd build yourself. Downside: you trust the aggregator's source picks.

How to set up each approach

Direct subscriptions

1. List the 5-10 publishers you actually want to read. Be honest — not the ones you think you should read.
2. Subscribe to each via their newsletter (almost every major publisher has one) or follow their homepage.
3. Read the newsletter daily; check the homepage when you have time.
4. Cancel subs that go unread for two months.

RSS reader (Feedly free tier)

1. Sign up for Feedly (free tier covers most needs).
2. For each publisher you read, search Feedly for the publisher name and add their main feed.
3. Group feeds into folders (News, Tech, Markets, etc.) so you can read by topic.
4. Skim the unread count daily; archive what you don't want; read what you do.

WeSearch as a non-algorithmic aggregator

1. Open wesearch.press. Bookmark it. Or install as a PWA — Add to Home Screen on iOS, install button on desktop.
2. Read for a week without configuring anything. Get a feel for the source mix.
3. Open Discover → Add the publishers you want to your "Mine" list. Switch home tab to Mine for a personalized-by-you feed.
4. Set up push notifications for the topics/sources you actually care about. Settings → Notifications → Watches.
5. Drop comments on stories you have an opinion about. The discussion stays substantive because there's no follower-count incentive.

Habits that make non-algorithmic news follow work

1. Time-box your reading. Without an algorithm capping your attention, a chronological feed will run long. Give yourself 20-30 minutes morning + evening, then stop.
2. Skim, don't dwell. Most headlines aren't for you. Scroll past confidently. The 20% you click are the day's signal.
3. Read across at least two sources for any major story. The wire piece + a magazine analysis catches more than either alone.
4. Read the daily editorial. A 700-1100 word daily summary (like WeSearch's) is faster than scanning 200 headlines yourself.
5. Don't stress about missing things. If a story matters, it'll come back tomorrow with more depth.

What to expect

You'll feel calmer. The dopamine loop of an algorithmic feed is real; without it, news feels less urgent. You'll also miss some stories that the algorithm would have surfaced — usually engagement-bait you wouldn't actually have valued. The trade tends to feel net-positive within a week.

The two-week transition

Most readers report a similar pattern when they switch off algorithmic feeds. Days 1-3: the chronological feed feels boring. You miss the dopamine of the next-thing-the-algo-thinks-you'll-tap. Days 4-7: you start to notice you're reading more substantively — you're picking which stories to dwell on rather than the algorithm picking for you, and the choices are more deliberate. Week 2: the algorithmic feed, when you sample it again, feels frenetic and unsatisfying. The chronological feed feels like reading a newspaper. Week 3+: you've stopped checking the old apps, and the news feels both more comprehensive and less stressful. None of this is unique to WeSearch; it applies to any chronological alternative. The transition is real and worth pushing through.

What to do when news feels overwhelming

The chronological feed is a firehose. Some practical mitigation: scope to specific topic hubs (/markets, /technology, /world-news) rather than reading the global home feed; use category filters to narrow further; set keyword push notifications for the specific topics you actually want to be alerted about; read the daily editorial at /daily as a synthesized morning catch-up. The 350-550 word editorial is faster than scanning headlines and good enough for non-specialists who want to stay generally informed.

Bottom line

• Three viable approaches: direct subscriptions, hand-curated RSS, or a non-algorithmic aggregator.
• WeSearch is the easiest entry point for most readers; the source list is curated and the discussion is included.
• The transition takes about two weeks; the recovered time and calmer feed are worth it.
• Habits matter more than tools — time-boxed reading, skim-not-dwell, and trust-the-feed-to-resurface-important-stories are the daily practice.

Frequently asked

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