The Quiet Return of RSS in 2025

It is 2025, and the most advanced technology in my reading stack is a protocol from 1999.

For a decade, we were told that RSS was dead. Google Reader died, and with it, we were herded into the walled gardens of social media. We traded control for convenience. We traded chronology for "engagement."

But the pendulum is swinging back.

The Great Algorithmic Fatigue

By the mid-2020s, the novelty of the "For You" page had worn off. We realized that an algorithm designed to maximize time-on-site does not necessarily maximize quality of life.

We became tired of being fed rage-bait. Tired of AI-generated slop filling our feeds. Tired of not seeing the posts from the actual humans we chose to follow.

In this noise, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) re-emerged not as a retro curiosity, but as a tool of survival.

Intentional Consumption

Using an RSS reader in 2025 is a radical act of intentionality. It says: "I choose what I see. I choose when I see it. And when I am done, I am done."

There is no infinite scroll in an RSS reader. There is a "Mark All As Read" button. There is a finish line. That psychological difference is profound.

AI Agents and Structured Data

There is another, more technical reason for RSS's resurgence: AI Agents.

As we move from browsing the web to having agents browse for us, structured data becomes gold. An AI agent doesn't want to scrape a heavy, ad-laden HTML page to find out if I wrote a new article. It wants a clean, machine-readable XML feed.

RSS is the API of the open web.

When you publish an RSS feed, you aren't just letting humans subscribe. You are future-proofing your content for a world where consumption is increasingly mediated by intelligent software.

A Sovereign Connection

Ultimately, RSS is about sovereignty. It is a direct pipe between the writer and the reader. No middleman. No shadowbanning. No pay-to-play reach.

If you are reading this, you can click the small WiFi-like icon in the header of this site. Add it to your reader. You won't get a notification when I post unless you ask for it. You won't be manipulated into clicking.

You will just get the words, exactly as I wrote them, whenever you are ready to read them.

And in 2025, that feels like a luxury.