Pocket revolution, or how I replaced big tech

It’s gonna take a revolution now
To get through to you

(Pocket revolution, by dEUS)

In the beginning of the year I started replacing rethinking my tech use to make it more inline with my own values. Basis thought: give money to people who (try to) improve the world, not to some assholes(see).

So how are things going?

Pretty good actually, when I was rereading my post on how to replace it. I see that I pretty much did everything on the list..

Replacing

My first step in january was completely stepping out of social networks, dropping Instgram, LinkedIn. And going to Signal for messaging, dropping WhatsApp and iMessage. Not using Google/ Alphabet products, unless forced by shared Google Docs for example. A second step was replacing all cloud stuff from Apple with NextCloud.

Later in the year I replaced my iPhone and Apple watch, reduced the use of Apple Services. My goal is the only use the lowest iCloud storage tier. But this has proven to be surprisingly difficult, being in a family plan means bringing along your family and having to reduce their reliance on iCloud.

I Stepped out of the Apple Photos ecosystem, all photos are on Immich. For personal use I pretty much replaced Apple Music with NaviDrome, however I still have a subscription because my family uses it. Removed my Amazon account. Moved most of the services I use from the US to Europe. For instance S3/ Cloudflare => Bunny.

Voting with money

Another thing I wanted to do was vote with my money. To illustrate it, I give some numbers. I think a lot of people are underestimating how much they can help local business with their money. The money I did not spend at Apple, might not be felt by Apple. But it is good money for local companies. For instance: a quick calculation showed that I spend 213 euro on eBooks, and 400 euro on digital music. Tried to financially support the projects that I’m using like Signal and Immich.

Some thoughts

I wasn’t a big user of social platforms, but not using LinkedIn and Instagram has been a very good decision: as much fun as it can be, it is mostly a poisoned well. I always have the feeling that I’m missing out, falling short, and I learn things that I don’t want to know. Like a nice neighbour suddenly posting conspiracies on the web, or that faraway family member posting racist stuff. I’m really happy that I don’t have to see that anymore.

Stepping out of the Apple ecosystem has also been refreshing. Immich being just as nice as Apple Photos, NextCloud an excellent cloud solution. And having a phone that is really capable, but not as nice has also been really good for my screen time. I never realized how much Apple contributes to the phone epidemic. Switched my watch to a Garmin with 8 days batterylife… The Phone and watch have become less needy, the need less attention and just do their boring work.

The amount of “Needy software”, software that demands answers; has to be updated, has decreased immensely. Creating a calmer work environment.

What needs to be done in the next year

• I want to leave to American payment systems. Right now I’m using Garmin Pay. But why should everyday transactions go trough the US
• Music Streaming, I want to leave Apple Music. Tidal seems to be the best candidate. Pays artists more and has a good interface
• My use of AI stuff has increased in the last year, would love to be able to use a European service like Mistral in the next year.
• I will keep using an Apple laptop. All my workflows/ expertise is there. But I will experiment more with making Linux software and making the educational material that I use/create more platform independent.

Overview