Imagine that you are walking down a long hallway. On each side of the hallway lies the technology of the past—some of it working, some of it not. Much of it is outdated and useless, too big to be useful or incapable of functioning in our modern world. But there is one item at the end of the hallway nearest to the present that deserves to be brought out into the light: the RSS feed.
Simply put, an RSS feed reader is a customizable web page that is a list of links to updates on other websites, such as blogs, podcasts, and news sites. To get a little more complex, RSS feeds are added to a feed reader/aggregator, which is the web page that is a list of updates to RSS feeds of whatever blogs and websites you choose, but formatted to be readable in the feed reader.
RSS feeds aren’t dead, but they have been on the decline for quite a while; Google discontinued its feed reader in 2013. The argument over what RSS stands for no longer animates the Internet. When I began to search for them, not every website that should have an RSS feed did, or the feed was hard to find.
Of the many problems RSS feeds could solve, my first one involved crossword puzzles. I wanted to be able to see the answers to yesterday’s puzzle on a crossword blog without having to scroll past today’s answers. RSS feeds neatly solved that problem by making every update a separate post that could be opened.
Once I discovered that use, I added more and more websites to my RSS feed reader. An interesting blog about linguistics that I knew I would forget otherwise? Added to my feed reader. A German-learning website where new posts could be hard to find otherwise? Added to my feed reader. Any other website I would ever want to see all updates to? At this point, it’s easier just to put it in my feed reader.
I quickly found that RSS feeds did more than prevent crossword spoilers. They saved time, by putting all the links in one feed reader and showing which ones had updates. They made sure I didn’t forget about interesting blogs that I had discovered. And yes, I simply enjoyed their slightly-retro aesthetics.
RSS feed readers also solve another problem unique to the modern world: they provide a calmer alternative to social media. Most RSS feeds come from blogs and websites, which can cover similar topics but with the time to create a fuller perspective. It doesn’t have the frenetic feel or the ridiculous number of ads that characterizes social media.
So why don’t you create an RSS feed reader yourself? Find a feed reader website that works for you; I recommend CommaFeed. Take websites that you like to check for updates and add them to the list of feeds. Check it occasionally, and see what interesting discoveries have turned up.
But I also understand that RSS feed readers aren’t for everybody. Some people might not like the feel of them or be able to find websites that are personally interesting. I still would exhort those people to take a look through the hallway of declining and dead technology. I’m sure more gems lie within, waiting for someone to find an appropriate use for them in the modern world.
Image by Caroline Chen/ECHO
