I'm a musician and educator and recently I started out on a journey to try and improve my digital privacy and take back my online autonomy. Along the way, I've discovered that privacy focused tech is not only better for me, it's also the ethical, anticapitalist choice, can be cheaper overall and performs more smoothly. At the times when you do have to part with some money, it's better value than big tech and at least you know the cash is going to non-profits rather than billionaires. What's more, swapping is actually easy - what's hard is doing the research to find out what to swap to. That's why this movement is so important - so that we get share options and help each other find the best ones for each of our situations.
Although my teaching role currently requires the use of Big Tech platforms - a genuine non‑negotiable for universities - I'm proud that in every other part of my life I've made a full shift away from Big Tech services.
Outside of university systems, I now use independent tools for communication, cloud storage, media, socials, mapping, browsing, and almost every other online aspect of my daily life. The benefits have been real and immediate: faster device speeds, no distractions from ads, increased privacy, and lower costs, giving me greater headspace for my creative work and for the support I offer my students.
For me, going public by putting up this profile about this isn't at odds with valuing privacy. My personal data is still mine but my principles don't need to be hidden. I'm here because I want technology to serve people rather than extract from them, and because true independent and decentralised alternatives only grow when real humans use them and stand behind them.
