That’s awesome, SomeAmateur! I used to love sending postcards when I was younger, can’t believe I never heard of it. Thank ypu!

In case somebody’s curious, here’s a link to the Postcrossing website.

I’ve been seriously thinking about going back to Nokia. De-googled a few years ago, stopped using iCloud and switched to cross-platform and open-source software.

Currently, the Murena Fairphone 4 is the only one you can use in the US (Fairphone doesn’t directly deal with US customers) and incompatible with Verizon and AT&T. They recommend T-Mobile for US coverage.

Also heard about Cape here on a Lemmy post But Fairphone is “not eligible yet”.

This is the old Nokia 3650 that’s in my drawer. I loved it! Then AT&T made me upgrade because they were no longer supporting the old networks.

Thank you, Zerush! It’s nice to know that someone else thinks the same way.

Stop using any sites that require ID.

Ditto. Also:

• Try to use Memoji to make fake ID
• Go to the mall =O
• Go to the library
• Go to the brick and mortar places I used to visit before getting everything online (eg. bank, fam owned businesses)
• Talk to people instead of AI (going to practice that this weekend)
• Go for a walk outside instead of updating the firmware on treadmill
• Buy stamps! (and stationery, no more ecards or evites)
• Learn to plant food in addition to flowers
• Use iPhone to make phone calls
• Maybe buy a newspaper… maybe
• Use my cookbooks more (after I dust them off)
• Think of a new name/alias(es) for myself and start acting the part

…just to name a few.

YOUR body, YOUR choice!

If you think that you’ll regret it later on, you can always make a deposit to a sperm bank. These days, I highly doubt it’s covered by insurance. Also, you need to do some research (and a lot of phone calls/emails); some places are so damn strict that you need an appointment just to get info.

A friend did that before, he has no regrets. Good luck, young lemming!

EDIT: Just wanted to let you know that I’m a hypocrite. If you were my son, I’d talk you out of it.

Don’t forget to buy a bag of frozen peas!

There’s Disroot and CryptPad which is E2EE and open source. Also, ditto on Anytype.

I had to look up wine cans. Lol Learned something new today.

Any hobbies? How about breaking a record?

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/

Never heard of it but I’m definitely curious especially when it states: “This website doesn’t use cookies.” I bookmarked your post; thank you for sharing.

Every year or so me and my friends will find Chinese gibberish entries in our calendars that link to phishing sites.

D@mn! That was an absolute PITA. In my experience, my calendars and contacts never synced properly anyway so I went to the Proton ecosystem a few years ago.

Anyway, thank you for sharing. I only know one other person who had the same problem and we both thought we were going nuts.

Ahh, apologies then. I thought OP wanted to de-google. I use DuckDuckGo because of their duck player; it opens YouTube on a separate window without all the extra stuff you don’t want (just the video you wanted to see). I guess OP can use PeerTube? I’m quite happy with my Proton Unlimited but it’s not for everyone. And yeah, I’m a browser hopper.

Yes, you can have multiple duck addresses at the same time. There’s a personal and private duck address.

Composing email: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/email-protection/duck-addresses/how-do-i-compose-a-new-email

About duck addresses: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/email-protection/duck-addresses/can-i-create-multiple-custom-duck-addresses

I also used SimpleLogin and loved it until I subscribed to the Proton products. Like you, I haven’t needed to use SimpleLogin because of Proton Pass. Haven’t used iCloud since 2021 and have no regrets.

Check out DuckDuckGo, they also have an email alias forwarding system like SimpleLogin. I have a different email address/alias for each account that I have and they all end up in my Proton inbox. Also, you’re able to reply and send email with the DuckDuckGo address from Proton mail.

@Corduroy_Pillows_Making_Headlines Created a Post/Group about how to De-Google. The details about my set-up is also there. Hope it helps:

https://lemmy.myserv.one/post/19040195

😂LMAO, thanks!😂

Mullvad and Proton! But not these:

‘Cause these VPNs may have ties to…

Thank you from a Lemmy newbie.

When my Android tablet wouldn’t let me do anything unless I was logged in to Google, I ditched gifted it away. Albeit, I like my apple phone, iCloud syncing has screwed me before so I don’t use any of the stock apps. I went full-on Proton (mail, calendar, drive, etc.). I also have a separate email alias FOR EACH account courtesy of DuckDuckGo. It’s been a few years since I’ve had this setup and I have no regrets.

The default browser on my phone is DuckDuckGo only because it has “Duck Player” for YouTube videos. I also have both Firefox browsers, Brave and Startpage (I still have Safari but don’t use it).

Yes, I’ve been using EHDs and USBs since I learned how to use a computer and will do so for the rest of my life. I highly recommend it (redundancy, offline use, Cloudflare chaos).

I wanted to join your de-google team but I don’t have a Signal account (due to the phone number requirement). Speaking of phone numbers, TextNow was my Google voice replacement until the latest update logged me out and demanded that I take down my VPN and subscribe to theirs instead. Such audacity. App deleted and subscribed to MySudo just to have an additional phone number

Instead of Signal we’ve been using Session (The Loki Project). It doesn’t require a phone number to sign up which was my selling point to my fam/friends. My nieces/nephews use Simple X chat (no phone number required).

The Proton Blog has an article about privacy and big tech alternatives which is how I discovered Lemmy:

Wary of US surveillance? Try these European alternatives to Big Tech

Having read your post, I wish that I properly deleted my Google and TextNow accounts instead of just abandoning them. I look forward to learning more. Thanks again.