escaping the FAANGs
Or whatever the acronym is these days. I am OK with Apple for now: they seem more keen to sell me hardware and a lifestyle than ads, but I'm aware of the risks.
- Email
- Was gmail, now Fastmail. It's been a process transferring accounts over and I still keep the old ones live, but I particularly like that I can completely obscure my "real" email address with various aliases.
- Books
- I am a huge fan of ebooks! I read at least a hundred books a year and it's not feasible to stuff them into my poor one-bed flat. I no longer buy Kindle books but I do buy books from Apple Books. Also independent sellers (e.g. Smashwords, Weightless Books) and borrowing through Borrowbox if very patient.
- Tracking books
- Instead of Goodreads, The Storygraph
- Social media
- Quit Twitter years ago, Facebook in 2020 (right before the pandemic...). This is honestly the most costly change to make but the real cost was sticking it out on the polarising hellsites. I may have lost touch with people but at least I'm no longer waking up repeatedly to find out an old friend had quietly become an advocate for some terrible idea seemingly overnight. I still use Instagram for keeping in loose touch with friends/friendly acquaintances but I've picked up Mastodon now for making new friends. It's refreshing and lively - it has the spirit of the older web instead of feeling like a gloomy duty.