In what ways has your use of technology/internet changed in 2023? - eviltoast

I figured this may lead to an interesting discussion in the comments.

How has your use of Technology changed in the past year? I’ll start.

  • Due to the rise of streaming services and Sony/discovery removing content from libraries, I downloaded all my iTunes purchases onto a 2TB SSD (which I’ll soon need to get another).

  • Like many, I’ve stopped using Reddit outside of Google search.

  • I’ve reduced my subscriptions to just two. (Apple One and Google One)

  • I’ve purchased DVDs/Blu rays of my favorite uncensored shows (Family Guy and American Dad) and ripped them and watch them through Cloud storage (Google Drive via Infuse for Apple platforms, and Kodi for Windows)(I’ve also purchased MakeMKV just because it is so damn useful)

  • I’ve used Google App Scripts to bypass some Gmail limitations to make filters that I otherwise couldn’t. For instance, in Outlook.com, you can block email addresses and domains before you have ever gotten an email from them. In Gmail, you can’t. The best you can do is create a filter that deletes them. In my case, I’ve created a Google App Script that runs every hour and looks for (@.mil) domain emails and marks them as spam. (I am in college, and I fucking hate that they give my email to recruiters.)

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    30·
    10 months ago
    • deleted my Reddit account. Only use it if I land there from a web search
    • Started using Firefox containers - keep Amazon, Google, Microsoft etc in their own containers
    • Deleted my Dropbox account when they started deploying AI tools late 23. About to delete Google Drive.
    • Migrated to paid Protonmail. Intend to wipe my Gmail data in next couple of months
    • Migrated to paid data backup service
    • Bought a steam deck, connected it to my living room TV and now PC game in my living room (had a steam link but never got into it before, but steam deck has changed how I play)
    • Cancelled most streaming services
    • Started using Freetube software and Libredirect to escape YouTube
    • Installed fdroid open source store on my phone and switched to many foss and non cloud apps.

    Basically mostly I’ve started taking my privacy and data much more seriously. I was already privacy “aware” but the explosion of so called AI tools in my industry (healthcare) has made me realise the value and importance of my data, and how much of it is being stolen and exploited by private interests. There are also examples of how private data is being extracted from this bullshit AI tools.

    I’m increasingly understanding how important it is now to actively protect my data and also fragment my internet presence as much as possible.

      • anotherandrew@lemmy.mixdown.caEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        Not OP but I’ve been using duplicity for over a decade. Zero lock-in to any particular cloud storage, uses rdiff and gpg for the incremental computation and encryption… it’s awesome.

        Just this month I’ve switched over from S3 to Dropbox for cloud storage due to price, and other than the large first backup, my backup script worked flawlessly.

        I can’t recommend it enough.