Is there a way to filter out which categories show up in the "most recent" feed?

Feeds are based on structure. There are 2 main categories Product & Customer.  Parent Categories will show content from the children, children/forums show whats in each of those. While Community Home shows everything. 
The choices are below, and while I can select what goes here based on structure, users cannot filter their content based on structure.  

That's a bummer. Not being able to focus on the stuff I'm interested in means the community is all or nothing. Either i see everything in the community or i drop out and see nothing.

There are lot's of options, just not something end users can configure. I am sure there are several people who want a different view and to filter out what they want/do not want to see.   If you can tell me exactly what you DO want to see, then I can check to see if there is some widget configuration that can get you closer. 

Tech talk is something I'll probably never be interested in. It's sounds too salesy. If it's a post about a product feature or how to do something, it should just be in product discussions. 

Technical communications - i'm on the fence. Not sure what kind of stuff will go in there. The one thing that is in there is interesting.

The bigger issue is that there's no way a user can customize the content areas that he sees in a feed? I've already tried using my notifications page, but that shows likes too (even though i've got likes notifications turned off), so that feed is too busy.