I just want to open the damn link

08 Oct, 2026

I keep getting social media links from friends, but opening them means being asked to log in or install their shitty app.

It sucks because after doing all that, I get the post along with garbage recommendations and short-content slop I never asked for.

Turns out, there are alternative frontends and mirrors that let me read the posts without dealing with the original websites.

So, I made a userscript that redirects Instagram, Reddit, Threads, and X links to those alternatives. I already use it for a weeks now and my screen time decreased significantly.

I use Via Browser on Android to run it. On desktop, I use Violentmonkey extension.

For YouTube, there are lots of community-made scripts to block Shorts, but since I disable YouTube History and recommendation, shorts is already disabled anyway.