What I use on my computer and phone

[soricel]

I definitely don't consider myself a "tech" person, but I've become increasingly "intentional" about the way I use technology. The intention being: protecting my privacy and avoiding distractions or "content" that makes me feel shitty. I'd say this list reflects the way I've been using technology and the internet so far in 2025, and a lot of it was guided by the Opt Out Project, which I learned about from ioplokon, but some of it started earlier.

Computer stuff:

Browser: Firefox

Search engine: DuckDuckGo

Extensions: Adblock, Clear URLs, Disconnect, Google Container, I Still Don't Care About Cookies, Privacy Badger, Proton Pass, uBlock Origin, Unhook (some of these are probably redundant and might make me seem a little paranoid, but yeah)

Email: Protonmail; SimpleLogin for alias emails for sign-ups and whatnot (I still have to tie up some loose ends before deleting my personal Gmail account, and unfortunately I still need to use Gmail/Drive/Classroom for work)

VPN: ProtonVPN

Storage: Cleared out my personal Google Drive and transferred its contents to a USB thumb drive; some photos and notes on iCloud

News: CNN/BBC for world news headlines; Digi24 for Romanian news (I check these sites once per day, at breakfast time, and that's it. I don't browse any commentary/analysis sites...if there's something I want to know more about, I do some research, but I don't do that much these days).

RSS feed: Feedly (for the handful of indieweb blogs I follow)

Streaming: Netflix, HBO Max

Language practice: Duolingo

Sites I browse when I'm bored: The Creative Independent, Ye Olde Blogroll, Brooklyn Vegan

Other stuff I use on my computer: LibreOffice for writing; Audacity for audio editing

Phone apps:

Whatsapp

Firefox Focus

Pocket Casts for podcasts (I only subscribe to two podcasts, The Daily and The Ezra Klein Show, but don't listen to them super regularly)

Libby for audiobooks (through the public library in my parents' town)

Bandcamp for music

Hushed (I pay a few dollars a month to maintain a phone number in my home state back in the U.S.)

Finch (I don't actually find this app very useful, but I've gotten into a habit of using it and feel some weird guilt about the idea of quitting and "killing" my bird)

Bank app

Translator

Open Street Maps

Gmail/Drive/Classroom for school

Zoom

Reflections:

Looking over this list, I feel pretty satisfied. I don't feel like I spend a lot of time online. Aside from Facebook, which I quit ages ago, I've never really used any social media platforms, and I've pretty much stopped visiting sites I used to browse pretty aimlessly/obsessively. I feel like I've also gotten to a much better place in terms of my consumption of opinion-based "content" (i.e. newsletters, podcasts, thinkpieces, video essays, etc.). I didn't really "set an intention" to do this--I just genuinely found myself feeling more and more bored and annoyed and icked by most things I read/saw/heard online. These days, the main thing I do online is write: either here on DW or in my RPs.

Still, I occasionally find myself just looking at my laptop screen--with nothing on it--when I feel bored or listless or just in need of some kind of distraction or energy boost or whatever. This usually only lasts for a few moments before I find something to occupy myself with, and I don't think it's a big deal, but it's just something I've noticed.

I'd like to get to the point where I stop using any Google products except for work. I'd also like to get a little clearer and more intentional about how/where/why I blog, but that's going to be a subject for another post.

I'd also like to get better at understanding how the internet and my computer/phone work, and what actually happens when I use them. I'd like to try building a personal website, if only just as a learning experience, and maybe as a way of participating in the indieweb.