Do any of you ever feel the desire to go back to your “Google’d” existence? For some background, I have used Google for most of my life and have recently started following some privacy-oriented creators on YouTube. I created a Proton account and have started moving my stuff there but am still using a locked Pixel (will unlock when paid off).

It feels great to go with alternatives to Google (Proton, OpenStreetMap, OpenWeather) but there are definitely times when it feels burdensome. I am often tempted to sacrifice privacy for convenience and feel like there is no way to TRULY escape Google in my life.

Wasn’t sure if anyone felt the same way, or had any tips on following this privacy-focused lifecycle.

(I almost look at this like eating healthier–it feels great to do it, but seeing others in happy ignorance adds a challenge…)

  • Landor Dragen
    2•1 year ago

    Not anymore.

    I have found alternatives that suits my needs. Maybe that’s what’s missing in your experience.

    Here’s my setup (sometimes I change providers, here are the current ones):

    E-mail: Skiff Mail with two custom domains. One for health, gov, banking, … and other with a catch-all for my online and non important accounts. E-mail forwarding: DuckDuckGo E-mail Protection. As of right now, I deprecated this one. I have everything on my domains. Drive: MEGA | Filen | Skiff Drive | Proton Drive. I use the latter two as cold storage. Encryption software: Cryptomator Photo backup: Ente.io Password manager: Bitwarden MFA: 2FAS VPN: Proton VPN Browser: Brave Search Engine: StartPage | Brave Search | SearXNG depending on what I’m searching. YouTube: Invidious instance.