Post by @xenotar
Getting rid of unneccesary bloat
Or, as we say in German: alte Zöpfe abschneiden (cutting off old braids)
Yesterday I finally put my money where my mouth is and deleted both my #LinkedIn- and #Instagram-accounts.
After years of being annoyed and or getting trapped in yet another cycle of doomscrolling I finally set both accounts for deletion. And boy did that feel good. Like "alte Zöpfe abschneiden" good.
What gave me the final push was a customer of my day job - mind you, I am only an employee of the webhosting company, not the owner or CEO - reaching out to me via a "friend" request in LinkedIn. I didn't even have anything to do with them, didn't connect via prior mails, chats or calls.
And while I do get their frustration it felt like a serious breach of privacy to be contacted that way.
Anywho - I am already looking forward to getting rid of more unneccesary and/or evil bloat and cutting myself off of big tech even more.
What are your "braids" that you still need to get rid of?
@pepdmin I did something similar in 2024/2025, closing my accounts on X, Facebook, Instagram, and even Proton, and migrating to pCloud and Tutamail (I had already been using the Fediverse since 2019). I’ve never had WhatsApp and rarely use Signal; I still need to complete my migration from Gmail/Drive, which I hope to finish by 2027.
I also view WhatsApp as the biggest barrier preventing people from leaving US Big Tech, and I consider it the most invasive of all their systems.
@xenotar I am currently in the process of moving all my data away from Proton after their recent blunder with french fascism and was already selfhosting most of my mails on a VPS. And full ack on your sentiment about WhatsApp.
@pepdmin I left Proton when Elon Musk accused the Brazilian justice system of censorship because the Apple Store was throwing an error while downloading ProtonVPN (even though Google Play was fine). Without verifying the facts, Proton endorsed Musk's lie, demonstrating alignment with that fascist. I still have a burner email address that I use on mastodon.social; I used it here by mistake, but I’ll close it as soon as I start paying for Tuta. I don't want to abuse the system by using more than one free account. I also saw that shameful thing Proton did to the French activist—it was deplorable and disgusting.
@xenotar I didn't know that. Jeebus, that and their leaning into w3-shite like proton wallet and lumo have really left a disgusting taste in my mouth.