Step 1- Remove all image subreddits Step 2- Remove all default subreddits Step 3- Subscribe to small subreddits and heavily modded ones like /r/askscience Step 4- Don't venture outside your walled garden unless you want to jerk off You are now subscribed to 8 subreddits and reddit is almost a sane place.
This seems like a good place to suggest some subreddits that I enjoy: /r/AskSocialScience /r/OutOfTheLoop /r/BreakingDad (Private, for dads only)
This really is the way to do it. I subscribe to small enough/few enough subreddits that I actually see every single link posted to them (I know because I hide them all after I view them, and run out quite often). And most of them are things I'm actually interested in hearing about. If I want to relax and just read a bunch of easily consumable content, I go to /r/all.