Time To Take Back Control of Your Professional Feed

The Algorithm Decides, Not You

Open LinkedIn and tell me who’s really in charge of your feed. Spoiler: it isn’t you.

Every scroll, every “suggested” post, every irrelevant ad disguised as an update is proof that the platform is prioritizing its own business model over your professional needs.

LinkedIn’s algorithm doesn’t care that you came looking for industry news, expert insights, or updates from colleagues you actually respect. What it cares about is keeping you scrolling long enough to serve another ad. And the fastest way to do that is to prioritize engagement bait: viral fluff, hot takes, and posts designed to provoke clicks, not provide value.

Your attention isn’t a resource to LinkedIn. It’s raw material to be mined.

Infinite Scroll = Infinite Hijack

The feed isn’t just random, it’s engineered. Infinite scroll is a feature designed to remove natural stopping points, to keep you glued long past the moment you meant to leave. Add in notifications that exploit FOMO (“So-and-so viewed your profile!”), and you’ve got a system built to hijack your psychology.

This is not networking. This is behavioral manipulation dressed up in business casual.

Think about it: when was the last time you left LinkedIn feeling smarter, sharper, or better connected? More often than not, you leave with the same glazed-over brain fog you get from doom-scrolling Instagram or TikTok. That’s not a side effect, it’s the entire point.

The Distraction Economy at Work

Let’s call it what it is: LinkedIn isn’t a professional network anymore. It’s part of the distraction economy, competing for your time and attention with the same tricks used by entertainment platforms.br>

And while you’re distracted, you’re missing what you actually came for, updates from your industry, meaningful opportunities, and professional conversations that matter. The algorithm has stolen your autonomy, and it’s selling it back to advertisers at a premium.br>

The Solution: Radical Control

What if the feed wasn’t a casino? What if, instead of gambling on what the algorithm wants to show you, you had full control over what appeared?

• Topic Filters:Choose exactly which subjects matter to you: AI, cybersecurity, product management, whatever your field, and see only that.
• Interest-Based Subscriptions:Follow experts, not “influencers.” Subscribe to voices that align with your professional goals.
• No Ads in Disguise:No more “recommended for you” fluff. No more sponsored posts masquerading as thought leadership. Just transparent, intentional updates.

In short: a feed that serves you instead of milking you.

Conclusion: Autonomy or Addiction

LinkedIn isn’t going to hand you back control. Why would it? The algorithm works exactly as designed: to keep you scrolling, keep you clicking, keep you distracted.

But professionals deserve better than a slot machine disguised as a social network. We deserve feeds built for discovery, not distraction. Spaces where autonomy isn’t a dream but the default.

The question is simple: do we keep letting algorithms decide what our careers are worth—or do we take control back into our own hands?