muntasimulhaque on Nostr: I'm talking about 2016 and few years after that. At that time, the alternatives ...
I'm talking about 2016 and few years after that. At that time, the alternatives weren't that good. I spent countless hours reading about privacy stuffs: privacy risks of using the big tech products, proprietary and non-encrypted software.
Google at that time seemed the most anti-privacy company which knew more than anybody else about you. So I started using the alternatives: from Google search to DuckDuckGo, or sometimes StartPage, Gmail to Tutanota, or Inventati, switching to some Next Cloud based open source and encrypted cloud storage provider, etc. And the best of that was switching to a dumb phone, ditching the smartphone altogether. I even deleted my FB account later on and ditched Windows in favor of Linux. I played with tens of Linux distro at that time. But using Linux didn't stem from privacy standpoint, but rather for my curiosity of tinkering.
Now, I could do all these because I could afford to do that. The alternatives at that time weren't that good. I'm talking about the year 2016 and afterwards. But I was so pro-privacy that that way worked for me. I even tried my best to not use the proprietary and privacy-invasive products at my workplace.
But this could only go on for so long. I had to switch back at some point. It started with Gmail and then Android. If you're using Android, you're by default using lots of Google services, knowingly and unknowingly supplying data to Google. It already knew so much that I started to stop caring much about privacy.
I switched back to Gmail and others. In academia, especially when you're approaching the professors, Gmail is unfortunately the best choice because their email filters easily can send your email to the junk/spam box.
So the answer to your question in short is, using privacy respecting apps didn't seem to add much value especially while using Android, Google search and Gmail. The alternatives weren't great at that time and then I just stopped caring because the big tech already knew much about me.
I know something can be better than nothing. That's why I still prefer privacy. But I just can't go full commando like I did earlier. Maybe in the future I'll go again. Who knows?
Google at that time seemed the most anti-privacy company which knew more than anybody else about you. So I started using the alternatives: from Google search to DuckDuckGo, or sometimes StartPage, Gmail to Tutanota, or Inventati, switching to some Next Cloud based open source and encrypted cloud storage provider, etc. And the best of that was switching to a dumb phone, ditching the smartphone altogether. I even deleted my FB account later on and ditched Windows in favor of Linux. I played with tens of Linux distro at that time. But using Linux didn't stem from privacy standpoint, but rather for my curiosity of tinkering.
Now, I could do all these because I could afford to do that. The alternatives at that time weren't that good. I'm talking about the year 2016 and afterwards. But I was so pro-privacy that that way worked for me. I even tried my best to not use the proprietary and privacy-invasive products at my workplace.
But this could only go on for so long. I had to switch back at some point. It started with Gmail and then Android. If you're using Android, you're by default using lots of Google services, knowingly and unknowingly supplying data to Google. It already knew so much that I started to stop caring much about privacy.
I switched back to Gmail and others. In academia, especially when you're approaching the professors, Gmail is unfortunately the best choice because their email filters easily can send your email to the junk/spam box.
So the answer to your question in short is, using privacy respecting apps didn't seem to add much value especially while using Android, Google search and Gmail. The alternatives weren't great at that time and then I just stopped caring because the big tech already knew much about me.
I know something can be better than nothing. That's why I still prefer privacy. But I just can't go full commando like I did earlier. Maybe in the future I'll go again. Who knows?