The more I use Thoughtful, the less I scroll on Instagram
As verified by iPhone’s screen time feature!!Instead of spending time on reels, I’ve been watching interviews and listening to podcasts and reading some articles as well. I still use Instagram a lot, but the time there is less and overall I just feel calmer and better, and I thjnk it’s just a question of being more conscientious about choosing this alternative now that I have one.
Thoughtful’s also displaced some time I spent listening to music, which I’d always turned to for calm (and I still do), but going to my “focus” of comedian interviews on YouTube and podcasts for some light listening actually ends up working better for me when I’m doing laundry or walking the dog. It just kinda scratches that itch without making me feel like I’m wasting time and turning my brain into slop-processing mush, and I still end up learning interesting things even though I didn’t set out with that goal.
Maybe that doesn’t really sound different than YouTube or a podcast app, but YouTube is too algorithmy and there’s too many distracting things I want to click on there and they’ve also filled it with shorts, which no thanks. And there are the ads, obviously. And podcast apps are too rigid and chronological, if that makes sense? And they doesn’t really help me find stuff—I kinda have to already know about a podcast, and I end up just having a few podcasts I follow that I’m not always in the mood for. Thoughtful’s search feature is SUPER cool, definitely my favorite feature. I told it I was interested in art, and it gave me subcategories of the topic, and then clicking a subcategory gives you sub-subcategories that it searches the internet for content for. So it turned this general interest into specific ideas of what I might find interesting. Super cool and not something I’ve seen anywhere else.
Thoughtful’s also displaced some time I spent listening to music, which I’d always turned to for calm (and I still do), but going to my “focus” of comedian interviews on YouTube and podcasts for some light listening actually ends up working better for me when I’m doing laundry or walking the dog. It just kinda scratches that itch without making me feel like I’m wasting time and turning my brain into slop-processing mush, and I still end up learning interesting things even though I didn’t set out with that goal.
Maybe that doesn’t really sound different than YouTube or a podcast app, but YouTube is too algorithmy and there’s too many distracting things I want to click on there and they’ve also filled it with shorts, which no thanks. And there are the ads, obviously. And podcast apps are too rigid and chronological, if that makes sense? And they doesn’t really help me find stuff—I kinda have to already know about a podcast, and I end up just having a few podcasts I follow that I’m not always in the mood for. Thoughtful’s search feature is SUPER cool, definitely my favorite feature. I told it I was interested in art, and it gave me subcategories of the topic, and then clicking a subcategory gives you sub-subcategories that it searches the internet for content for. So it turned this general interest into specific ideas of what I might find interesting. Super cool and not something I’ve seen anywhere else.
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Finally
I’ve been using this app for a bit now and it’s such a breath of fresh air. Much better than an RSS reader for today’s types of content, and I get to pick. Mostly I don’t feel guilty for being on my phone for hours on the toilet anymore 🙊
What the heck
It appears there is a new format. I can’t tell you how much I hate it.
Endless, phenomenal content
It’s wild that the “normal” way of finding a podcast is through an algorithm.
Recommendations from friends are almost always better. Thoughtful makes that easy.
I’ve been using thoughtful for 2 months — I’ve found my favorite book ever and listen to amazing podcasts every day.
Can’t imagine doing things the “normal” way, anymore.
Recommendations from friends are almost always better. Thoughtful makes that easy.
I’ve been using thoughtful for 2 months — I’ve found my favorite book ever and listen to amazing podcasts every day.
Can’t imagine doing things the “normal” way, anymore.
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Pretty Good
I got this app because I really hated the shorts feature on YouTube and would get distracted by it every time I wanted to just watch a video or learn a skill from a tutorial on there. I really appreciate how this app doesn’t have a feature like that. The only suggestion that I would make for now is that if the podcasts had an automatic play next feature (I don’t know for sure if the app didn’t have it or if I just missed it). So far the app is good.
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