RSS was declared dead around 2013 when Google Reader shut down. The eulogies were premature.
A small but growing number of people have rediscovered feed readers, and they're using them not as a nostalgia project but as a genuine improvement on the endless scroll.
What RSS actually is
A website publishes an XML file that lists recent posts with titles, dates, and content. Your feed reader checks that file periodically and shows you what's new. No algorithm. No engagement optimization. No ads.
The website owner controls what goes in the feed. You control which feeds you subscribe to. That's the whole contract.
Why it's better than the alternative
Every major platform optimizes for time-on-site. It doesn't care if you read something valuable — it cares if you keep scrolling. RSS has no such incentive. It shows you what was published, in order, and nothing else.
You read what you want to read. You stop when you're done. The feed doesn't get longer when you look away.
Good readers worth trying
- NetNewsWire — native Mac/iOS, free, excellent
- Miniflux — self-hosted, minimal, brutally fast
- Reeder 5 — polished iOS/Mac app, one-time purchase
- Newsboat — terminal-based, keyboard-driven, no distractions
Finding feeds
Most blogs and substacks still publish RSS feeds. Look for the orange icon, or try appending /feed or /rss to a site's URL. Many personal blogs and publications that have given up on social media still maintain active feeds.
The indie web is alive and publishing. You just need the right reader to see it.