Step 1 of getting away from Google
I had to choose a new browser for my laptop since I plan to do away with Google. I've got my personal google accounts as well as the google suite that we use for the shop. I'm tired of reading about how they keep hiring ex-intelligence from Israel, so I'm going to stop giving them my money and my data.
I went with Vivaldi browser because of their distaste for AI. I'm extremely fed up with every single platform or service I use pushing it on me, so I'm actively walking away from companies who are doing it.
Also, I created my new email account! I wanted to sign into Vivaldi so I could keep track of my bookmarks and things, so I had to make that choice. I selected Fastmail because they offer a minimalist inbox with no ads. It's not free, but I'm willing to pay for the pleasure of not having things sold to me.
Now every day I am logging a few things into the new browser and updating my emails. I'm also weighing whether I can live with a dumb phone when I am not traveling. I'm currently in the process of stripping away apps I don't need from my smartphone.
Now I've got a lot things switched over, and I can use this browser for my work. There will be a long process of taking information out of my old accounts. I'm not expecting it to all be done quickly, there are decades of emails and data in there. But it feels really good to have moved a lot of the essentials!