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

BoisZoi@lemmy.ml to Technology@lemmy.world – 239 points –

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.)

142

I've started archiving my media much more vigorously. Due to the corpos enshitifying so much, the amount of media I have ripped and preserved on my own NAS has exploded.

I started torrenting again for the first time since college.

I gave up reddit and use Lemmy and Fediverse exclusively, except for the occasional tech issue I have and then search old reddits for advice/solutions.

I watch YT exclusively through GrayJay, NewPipe, and FreeTube now.

I've become much more active converting people to Linux. So far I convinced two friends to buy Steam Decks, one friend to buy a Framework laptop and put Fedora on it, converted my parents to Linux Mint, and may have two more people switching to Linux on their main computers in the coming year.

I've also been pushing more FOSS software and hardware to family and friends, trying to convince them to care more about right to repair, FOSS and the like.

This year I am planning to build a new NAS that will be a self-hosted defeater for streaming and get my close friends and family onboard. Hopefully they will slowly give up their subscriptions.

We'll see how it all goes, but I'm very optimistic about FOSS tech in the coming months and years, so much great stuff happening!

I definitely feel the enshittification of such platforms will/has led to some great software, updates, and alternative front ends. It sucks seeing platforms decay, however, I love seeing the fightback from users who aren't going to tolerate bullshit from any company.

  • Switched to Linux
  • Switched to Firefox
  • Set up email forwarding to a new account on Proton Mail
  • Finally upgraded my PC

Aye, congratulations on the new/upgraded PC!

  • 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.

What backup service are you using if I might ask?

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.

I've stopped trusting anything online due to AI being a cancer on the internet and it's only going to get worse.

My trust in anything on the internet has eroded over the last ten years. Information, news, offers...it's all pud-pulling capitalist circlejerking and the most cynical propaganda imaginable.

Deleted my Twitter account and switched from Reddit (accounts are not deleted) to Lemmy.

Switched from Chrome back to Firefox after more than a decade.

Dropped Windows in favor of Linux Mint.

Unsubscribed from Netflix, Disney+, etc. Now I only torrent the films, series, etc. that I know I'll watch more than once, for stuff that I only plan on watching once I use Stremio with the Torrentio add-on.

Started using my old Facebook account after several years just for Marketplace.

That's all I can remember at the moment.

EDIT: Oh yeah, ditched PornHub for NoodleMagazine.

Self hosted a lemmy server for myself

Switched to Firefox

Got a VPN

Using said vpn to share my dad's YouTube TV(only works on my TV though, not mobile)

Started using copilot which improved my productivity at work

I got married, so now im sharing more online accounts

3 more...

Ditched Windows for Linux, man, feelin' free like a bird. No more Microsoft bullshit, nah. And instead of Google Search, I'm rollin' with SearXNG. It's like Google but decentralized, no data sellin', straight up respectin' my privacy. Open source all day, every day, that's my way now.

I've done mostly the same thing! Good to know I'm not alone in doing that stuff this year

  • Dropped Reddit and Twitter completely. Actually deleted my Reddit account and deleted most of my Twitter history.
  • Stopped using Gmail as my primary email.
  • Went back to DVD and Blu-Ray for shows and movies I think I might want to rewatch.
  • Slowly importing stuff I've posted on various social media to my website.
  • Slowly moving stuff off of Google Drive and Dropbox to my local PC and/or Nextcloud.
  • Finally set up my Nextcloud server to use object storage so I can use it for auto-uploads without worrying about space.
  • Tried out a bunch of different Fediverse platforms.
  • Made more of an effort to report bugs instead of just living with them or using something else.
  • Deleted Chrome as my secondary browser and installed Vivaldi. (I've been using Firefox as my primary for a while.)

Moving stuff is slow because I don't want to just copy it all over, I want to decide what to keep in the process.

As you migrate files off the cloud to your local computer, what are you doing for backups? I'd love to self-host everything personally, but having my life's data in just one physical location is not making me feel great at all.

There are a couple of options. What I currently do is an.encrypted borg backup of my important files which is then synced to Dropbox and Google Drive. Currently looking for an inexpensive tape drive though to back up everything locally. Those things are flipping expensive!

I quit Facebook for good, almost quit Reddit and am enjoying reading more books and exploring fediverse a bit.

Also protectively try to get less and less screen time, using the morning time which usually was lost to doomscrolling to do zazen.

  • Stopped using reddit & facebook

  • started using the fediverse

  • Got my own domain and set up an email via proton

  • vanced->revanced->greyjay

How's grayjay compared to revanced?

It's pretty good actually. No ads and you can access videos from a lot of platforms in the one app (including premium ones if you have a subscription to them). It also makes it easier to follow a single creator across platforms. Also, lets you download videos for offline access, allows casting, PiP and a bunch of other stuff.

My only real complaint is that the recommendations aren't very good yet, so I end up going back to YT/revanced to discover new stuff, and there currently isn't any way to use sponsorblock with it.

Still, considering it's in alpha, great stuff.

Only real downside is the inability to comment but otherwise it's great.

I finally overhauled my home server. I built a 12TB storage and media server using a few parts from the old server but am running it on Linux using docker rather than my old gaming PC's windows 7 install. Should be much better for security and easier to upgrade or move.

Paid for PlexPass finally since hardware transcoding is locked behind the paywall.

Dropped Netflix after over a decade of using it regularly because the prices went up and I had been using it less.

Have used ChatGPT for help planning trips and developing goals and plans at home. I was restricted from using it or anything like it at work so I haven't been able to properly use it to my advantage much.

Finally upgraded my router to WiFi 6 and my Internet bandwidth to gigabit from 250 mbps. It's refreshing! Probably the best decision I made in 2023.

Dropped reddit (to include blocking the domain on my pihole). I still waste time but less of it is on social media.

I was wondering if you ever tried jellyfin, since you mentioned paying for plex.

I haven't tried Jellyfin yet mostly because I rely heavily on the native Plex apps for my TVs and phones. Outside network streaming without having to set up a proxy or VPN is another big reason.

I haven't liked the direction Plex has been going for a while, but it's hard to beat the convenience.

Similar to you I built a home server and got all the networking done in the house and started self hosting as much stuff as I can which is what got me interested in lemmy, got a ai chat docker installed but wasn't that useful on its own

Nice setup + great Wi-Fi for steaming, downloading, etc. congrats!

One of the national mobile networks finally put up a blisteringly fast 5G mast near my house. I have finally reached the totally cable-free nirvana I dreamt of in 1997 when I held my first Motorola Startac in my hand and took an office call on a park bench.

  • No longer using imgur for hosting images
  • Reddit use reduced to specific communities. Former use cases are migrated to Lemmy
  • Changed mobile browser to Firefox
  • Using a searxng instance as my search engine

I completely gave up on Google Search and started using Kagi which has changed the way I find things on the Internet.

Switched from Chrome to Firefox.

• Ditched Reddit for Lemmy

• Twitter for Mastodon

• Netflix, Apple+, Prime for Plex

• Gmail for Protonmail

• Outlook for Thunderbird

• partly Degoogled my android Smartphone

• switched from Vanced to Re-vanced

• Chrome for Firefox with add-ons

• Alexa for Home Assistant

• Partly switched off telemetry on Windows 10

• Got my first all unlimited contract on my smartphone

• Upgraded my ADSL to 200 Mbps

• Used FOSS quite more frequently

• Used Calibre for the first time

• Learned a lot about emulators on PC

Tbh, didn't realised about all these things until I wrote them down

edit: formating

Since you're already good with these, might as well go witb Mull instead of Firefox on android. Also VPN and private DNS could be interesting next steps.

Thanks for the advice.

Already bought a VPN subscription with PIA and also setup a private DNS with cloud-flare on my android smartphone and tablet. Will look into the PC settings later.

I LL take a look into Mullvad later as well since I saw it's a fork of Firefox which makes it a very interesting prospect.

Nice! Good luck on your journey. My next step is setting up Nextcloud...

NextCloud and BitWarden. But that's a project for later down the road. Local and Foss all the way

Looks like you're just missing Linux to compete the list. It's not for everyone yet, though.

Thank you for the suggestion.

I'm planning on buying an AMD GPU later this year and then, I'm planning on installing Linux on my Desktop since Windows 10 will not be supported.

Don't forget to check your Amazon Alexa privacy settings to disable personalized ads, and for using your Alexa data for ads. Likewise, you can have it to where while Amazon keeps a log of what is said, it won't save voice recordings.

That won't be necessary, because I completely uninstalled it and it's not connected to the network anymore

Dumped reddit, Google, streaming, android apps and Facebook. Replaced with proton, Plex, Lemmy. Grapheneos, kagi and mastodon.

I've done and tinkered with many things in 2023 like most of us here (migrated to lemmy, degoogle, unsubscribed to streaming services, linux, etc). Some things that are less known that I think worth to mention are:

  • Using shift+right click to open the full context menu in Windows 11
  • Finally set an Address bar shortcut for searching reddit content with Google. No more typing "site:reddit.com..."
  • Anilist with TachiyomiJ2K(mobile)+Taiga(desktop)+Mal-Sync(browser extension) for maximum anime/manga tracking automation!
  • My only shame in 2023: Creating a Facebook account (anonymous account) for the messenger and local hobby groups. All I can say is Facebook seemed to intentionally obfuscate its setting/option menus because they're all scattered in different pages and just a plain mess. f u zuck

Ty for shift+right click suggestion

and fuck MS for needing the shift+rclick tip in the first place

Ditched centralized social media and started a personal diary

What exactly do you write in a diary? I've tried it so many times and yet can't keep it up

Don't try, just write in it whenever you feel like it: congratulations! You have a diary! That could be several times a day, or once a month, depending what you need and want out of your diary. But realistically if you're just starting out it will probably be diary meta, like about the writing you're doing in the diary lol.

For me I find it useful for

  • jotting media reviews.
  • nurturing my stationary fetish.
  • an excuse to practice my cursive.
  • relaxing at the end of the day, or week.
  • reading over to gain insights into my moods (like how I was always sad after drinking)
  • purging "negative" feelings (anger, insecurity, etc) - just get them out of my head and on to a page.

Anyway, here's an example of me just talking about Quake 2 and having trouble focusing at work:

a handwritten diary entry describing playing Quake 2 and having trouble focusing at work - if you want a full transcript message me and I'll update this alt text to include it

At the end of the day, I just like making marks on the page.

I tried something like that once. I was going to write about a weird nightmare I had. Ended up creating a “short” horror story that I write on days I'm feeling a little more angry — you can read that as violent if you want — and down. It isn't done yet, that's the reasons for the quotes, but I hope to get to the end sometime.

That's cool. And if it continues to be useful / enjoyable to you, then you don't necessarily need to "end" it ever, unless you really want to.

For sure! But i feel I'll probably make many short stories instead of just stretching one out. As an aspiring author i guess I'll use this as a kind of practice

Ah yeah that makes sense. I'm an eternal hobbyist with different creative things (art, games, stories, etc), so I get the challenge of just finishing something.

PS feel free to send me what you've got if you want a totally impartial "beta reader" or whatever that's called

Really just reflect on everything that happened that day and think about how things made you feel, and just write that shit down, no filter. It might seem silly when you end up emotionally analyzing mundane situations, but over time you become so much more aware of yourself and your mind.

Excellent advice. I've sat down to write about a boring day, only to be shocked at the shit that was festering just below the surface. Like negative attitudes and resentment to people in my life, that would have just kind of hung around in the back of my head totally unknown and unacknowledged, but still there and unchallenged until I took a few minutes to consciously follow my own thoughts and feelings.

Anyway 10/10 would recommend the examined life.

Personally I like the 5 Minute Journal (and their app). It’s easy to keep up with and helps me focus on gratitude

switched to linux, ditched vivaldi for firefox, quit reddit, quit youtube and started using invidious. probably a lot more that i can't think of.

I wish I could use/get used to Firefox, but Vivaldi really has spoiled me. I use Microsoft Edge for PWAs (due to sleeping tabs) and Vivaldi as my main browser, and the customizable interface, easier CSS theming (in my experience) and community around it make it such a pleasure to use. Command chains are so useful too!

i admit it has been difficult to get used to ff, especially the android version with its terrible homepage. but seeing how tracking and spying is increasing, AI getting better, and constant data thefts, i feel that i have to minimize my footprint so i can't trust any chronium based browsers anymore...

Moved to Proton mail from GMail. At the same time I purchased a new domain and got SimpleLogin to create new aliases for all my sites and services. The only site that knows my real address is Proton itself and SimpleLogin.

I also ditched Chrome for Firefox. I honestly prefer Chrome but hate how controlling Google is with Chrome. I also switched to Duckduckgo. I've never actually felt less tracked in a long time as a result. Actually eye opening. I used Incognito so often for Google searches to not be tracked. Now I can search freely without then seeing ads or content related to that search elsewhere.

  • I turned my old desktop into a home server, which let me cancel some streaming services.. and I set up an rpi4 as a kodi server.
  • Signed up for Firefox Relay (had a holiday sale) to have email masks and a proxy phone number, which should help with spam & marketing crap.
  • Stopped using Reddit in favor of lemmy (which I hope to contribute to this year)
  • Gonna have to find a replacement for mint, since it's dying this month

Firefox Relay and email relaying/forwarding services are so useful, not just from a privacy point of view, but also being in control of accounts simply by turning off forwarding for a specific email, or just deleting the forwarding email all together. I use iCloud's Hide My Email.

Got rid of all of my centralized social media accounts apart from YouTube, moved from Proton to Migadu on my own domain (unlimited aliases! when signing up for a service I can just make up a new username and it gets organized into a folder in my inbox!), and moved my homelab and laptop to NixOS

I finally got myself a pihole up and running. Yeah and the regular stuff.. ditched reddit, got protonmail and trying to move my kids to using popos.

What's your setup with your kids? Just got my son a used hp laptop bc I learned the hard way he needed java Minecraft (not available on iPad) to connect to the server I built for him. Used a friend's employee f&f discount for Win11 seat.

Now that it's here, I kinda want to hook him up with some of my strategy, management, sim, etc games from Steam.

No idea how people do this. He's in grade school.

Well, my older one was on raspberry os for a while, because she just needed a web for school stuff, but I couldn't get movie streaming working, and she was starting with video projects the SD wasn't enough so I ended up getting her a laptop without pre-installed os and set it up with Fedora, and to date no serious problems.

The younger one has my old Ryzen 1700 PC, and tried Fedora first and couldn't get his games (Roblox or Fortnite) to work, but did get Steam to work.. So without much investigation I just tried another distro based off Debian, and gave a try to popos. Same thing. Reading about it, it's deliberate these developers don't want their games working on Linux.

So I've temporarily swapped his ssd with a windows 10 setup until I can get him to give up these games. I guess age will do it :(

I started learning to program in February, which reinvigorated my love of computers. I discovered awesome new software like syncthing, and just recently started daily driving linix (debian 12) and its been great. Just little things like customizing my wall paper which i havent done for years. 2023 was a great year for me and tech.

Oh and i switched from chrome to Firefox, looks like that's been a common theme for the year!

  • Switched to Lemmy
  • Set up DNS blocking for tracking cookies / ADs
  • Set up Proxmox
  • Set up Pfsense
  • Upgraded to gigabit fibre!
  • Set up Invidious
  • Quit using Youtube
  • Quit using Twitter
  • Quit using Reddit
  • Upgraded Wifi to TPLink to cover whole house and to replace consumer level Mesh networking
  • Setup multiple VLANs on my network
  • Put IoT devices on IoT WiFi
  • Put home automation and IoT crap on my Kubernetes cluster

Nice internet setup! Do you use Adguard DNS/Home, or a Pihole? The amount of telemetry that IoT devices can send is crazy! I put my families Roku on my Adguard DNS, and it, no joke, sent a request to Google and Roku every 10 seconds. Echo Dots and Fire TVs also send a lot of telemetry, even with privacy options on.

My DNS setup at the moment is lazy I am using NextDNS. It lets me individual rules for each vlan though which I like as it gives a lot of control.

Did you research OPNSense vs pfsense? I have installed OPNSense, but having bit of performance issues with it, my 1Gbps ISP connection goes down 50% if IPS is enabled. Have been thinking that should I change to pfsense.

  • I started using Lemmy
  • Got back on Mastodon when it got rolling a bit more. I follow more accounts now and it's actually fun.
  • Got back on linux after a 5 year hiatus. I should have done it a whole lot sooner, I enjoy using my computer more.
  • Needed a laptop and instead of buying a new one, I got a secondhand laptop from a local system administrator who put linux on it. Debian is great and I love the old Thinkpad.
  • I've applied to a learn/work program in web development. I haven't started yet, but I will soon. I'm so excited for that.

Whats the learn/work program?

It's a local program (I live in the Netherlands) for people with autism or similar issues. They teach you html and java and some other stuff I don't remember. Eventually they help you to work on projects they do for other businesses and even find a job with a "regular" company, but only if you're ready for that and able to do it. It's government funded and aside from the IT professionals, they also have healthcare professionals who help you with any issues you encounter in the work environment. After having been unemployed for years due to mental health issues, it's a very exciting opportunity for me. I've already visited the company and the people and work environment there seem really suitable.

Thats really awesome, wish i could find something like that in the states. Good luck!

Thanks! I heard about it from a social worker, so maybe you could try something like that.

  • Started using Mastodon and Lemmy
    • Deleted Reddit account
  • Changed a lot of my apps to FOSS alternatives using NeoStore
  • Got a text-based launcher (Lunar Launcher)
  • Started contributing to community projects
  • Set up a JellyFin server

Probably some more but I forgot. My case fans are really loud though when I keep my pc on at night to keep running the JF server for my users. Perhaps I should have bought a P600S case with the dampening foam. Looking into buying a Pi 4 this year to run services on instead of my main rig.

Really am enjoying using FOSS software, even though it can be a little limiting in some ways. AAAAXY is a really fun game btw!

  • Got a text-based launcher (Lunar Launcher)

By this, do you mean this launcher for Android? Searching duckduckgo predominantly leads me to a launcher with the same name for Minecraft

I ditched reddit and twitter. Intalled Lineage OS and use as many foss apps as I can. I am also moving all my Google cloud to Proton Drive

  • I’ve did some distrohopping and in effect switched from Fedora to Fedora Silverblue (very enjoyable)
  • I’ve completely removed all centralized social media apart from YouTube (I’ll have to invest some more time in PeerTube before I can make the switch) from my life
  • In general I spend less time doom-scrolling and way more time actually reading interesting stuff (I’ve found LessWrong, a forum about the art of rationality/more rational thinking)
  • I have replaced all remaining proprietary software components on my desktop with open source ones (e.g. I now use FOSS frontends for Discord and Spotify, namely gtkcord4 and Spot), the only exceptions being the Nvidia driver (I hope that will change in 2024 with NVK) and some games (although 80% of my very limited gaming time is now spent in open source games like Beyond All Reason)
  • I got a tablet/ChromeBook convertible (Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 8GB) which I installed PostmarketOS on and am now daily driving Linux in school where everybody else is using iPads
  • I am in the process of finally building my own NAS/homeserver
  • On the negative side I spent way less of my free time programming than I would have liked to

I do also have some goals and ambitions for this year:

  • Host all my stuff on my own server, this includes files (documents, photos, backups, media) as well as services like my website and automations
  • Write audio and camera drivers for my tablet
  • Learn some more Nim
  • Write more code than last year
  • Finally make the switch to Vim/NeoVim
  • Become independent from YouTube
  • If my iPhone happens to break, get a Linux phone as a daily driver
  • Gradually unsubscribe from (streaming) services like Spotify

In the event that you cancel music steaming services and instead opt for purchased/local music, I've read that Plex Amp is a great app that feels similar to steaming in terms of recommendations and randomization of songs. 😁

Thank you, I’ll eventually look into that

  • Switched from GNOME to KDE

  • Switched to immutable distros (my own fork of Bazzite)

  • Started using the Nix package manager

  • Started using containers (Distrobox, Docker).

  • Started using mobox to play Windows games on my Android phone

  • Switched from Hacker's Keyboard to Unexpected Keyboard

Was the keyboard made by the Spanish inquisition?

  • Switched from Gmail to Fastmail
  • Set email aliases for all registered services
  • Started hosting stuff myself

what are you hosting for yourself? I'm always looking for new services to add to my homelab.

currently not much, and none of the *arrs, since I have my own app built for streaming

  • vaultwarden
  • adguard
  • filebrowser
  • photoprism, but thinking about switching to immich
  • authelia, maybe switching to authentik

Ditched Reddit for Lemmy with a side of Kbin.

Switched from SCCM to InTune at work.

Switched from Sony Xperia to Google Pixel for my smartphone.

Got a smart oven as a gift, so far, I'm liking it paired with the easy prep Tovala meals, but it seems like a pretty capable toaster oven/air fryer. Apparently it can dehydrate as well, haven't tried that yet. This is the first "smart" device I owned outside of a smartphone, and probably would have bought it for myself, but now that I'm using it, I have to admit, I like it.

I hope you enjoy your pixel! I had a Pixel 3 XL from 2019-2021, and outside of it running warm, Google's skin of Android was a delight to use, I loved having the assistant screen calls and using the hold for me feature, it's actually what kept me back from purchasing all in the Apple ecosystem for a while. I'd argue the most niche feature I loved is that the contact or phone app would allow you to send people directly to voicemail without showing a call screen (unlike iOS which will show you the call screen); it made college alerts, prescription alerts, etc. so much easier to handle!

Thanks, I hope I do too, but time will tell. Even if I don't like it, I got it for half off and a year of unlimited cell service so if I end up hating it, I'll just sell it on Swappa and keep the sim card for a phone I like better lol

When my phone was up for renewal last March, I specifically went looking for an iPhone 13 mini, because I’m sick of my phone being the centre of my attention all the time. And it’s worked. The smaller screen means I’m far less likely to get it out and idly scroll the socials, instead waiting until I’m at my Mac or have my iPad. But the screen is still big enough for GPS and such.

In terms of socials; I’ve been pretty much all in on Mastodon and Lemmy, having gone from posting twenty times a day on Twitter, to posting just six times in total. And that was to spam my Mastodon account.

We ditched Netflix in April, and haven’t missed it at all. I signed up for it the very first day it was available for Apple TV back in 2012, so it felt weird getting rid of it. But ultimately, Disney+ feels like better value, so we’re on that for now.

I have Apple Music, which is fine for in the car or while I’m at work, but I spent an awful lot of time listening to my library of ripped CDs on my iPod when I was out and about. I got the iPod in ‘22, but finally got it flashmodded early last year, and love it.

I finally installed RethinkDNS on my phone. I configured redirections to invidious and other alternative front-ends on firefox, desktop but also mobile thanks to the recent update. I stopped appending "!g" to all my duckduckgo searches. And i got so addicted to a new social network that I quit all others LOOKING AT YOU LEMMY

Nice! On iOS/iPadOS, I use "StopTheMadness Pro" to set up redirects, and it makes watching YouTube, TikTok, etc. videos that family sends to me so much more bearable!

Exactly! And I keep sending them strangenlooking links that spark conversations on open source, surveillance capitalism and emancipation

Like others here, I dumped Reddit and moved here (and to Mastodon) full time. I also moved to Linux full time on my home laptop and haven’t missed Windows one little bit. I’m looking forward to experimenting more with a couple of other distros of interest (currently Pop_OS) and am having actual fun using my computer again. Heavy emphasis on adopting as many FOSS alternatives as possible in ‘24, and starting to separate myself from the big G.

The process of trying to separate from Google is tough for sure. I believe Louis Rossmann said "it like quitting heroin cold turkey; you can't, it's something you have to lean yourself off of slowly". In my case, Google Photos, Docs and Voice are the most difficult to switch from, but in the case of Google Photos and Docs, I have multiple backups in the event something happens to my account.

I switched from Chrome to Firefox completely and from Reddit to Lemmy like 80% of the time, for me that is a huge upgrade.

  1. A slow diversion from Chrome. I used to use Chrome for 30% of my web browsing and games, but have switched that to Firefox and Vivaldi.

  2. I almost completely stopped using Reddit, and instead, switched to Lemmy.

  3. A big shift to majority of headphone usage being wireless, mostly due to the BT600ANC headphones I have with excellent noise cancelling.

  4. A renewed push to seriously consider dailying Linux. Windows 11 was just Windows 10 but with some UI changes running at 0.3x the speed. But MS keeps making Windows worse, and I'm scared of Windows 12.

  5. Considering Third Party Apps for existing software, whenever I could. Most recently, Steam has been super slow so I really wanted a third party launcher to bypass Steam. Same for EGS, except Heroic fulfills that duty, until it fails to work.

  6. Due to YT being especially greedy this year, I've soured on it enough to sometimes adblock it, use it less, and most recently and hopefully most devastatingly for YT, purchasing a year of Nebula to watch many creators videos there (ad-free) instead of YT. As a creator myself, I empathize with creators of all sizes.

  7. Oh, almost forgot. I stopped listening to the Linux podcasts I was previously listening to. I just find it more enjoyable to listen to music at the moment.

Wait, actually forgot these:

  1. Purchased my friend's old PC for cheap. He likes to be on the bleeding edge and I'm perfectly happy with a water cooled 3900X + 32GB RAM + 2.5TB storage + everything except GPU for $400.

  2. And now the most unfortunate thing. My Facebook usage increased from basically zero to occasional use of the marketplace. It was how I found my GPU replacement for the PC, and my first motorcycle. I still adblock it hard whenever I can.

Wait, how can I forget this one!

  1. Use of AI as a debugging tool has skyrocketed. I now default to ChatGPT before StackOverflow because on average it's way faster with ChatGPT.

I talk to a lot more ai sexbots. Other than that. No change.

How good are these AI sexbots?

Pretty good actually.

The site I use has 30k daily users.

Bellow is a list of the top fantasies being simulated.

A woman taking control of a man, using him for her pleasure and amusement.
Age play, where a younger person (usually male) is forced to submit to an older (usually female) partner.
Humiliation play, where one partner is made to feel small, weak, or worthless during sex.
Cuckolding, where a man watches his partner have sex with someone else while he is powerless to stop it.
Breeding, where a fertile female partner forces a male partner to impregnate her against his will.
Intergenerational relationships, where a large age gap exists between partners.

Over 40% of active users identify as female.

For the record none of the above list is my cup of tea especially the first one where a woman is supposed to dominate the man... But to each their own I guess.

The site also boasts a myriad of non-sexual AI bots where you can go on a text-based adventure these can also be very dynamic and interesting.

One of my favorite such bots is a simulation of a creator being that becomes obsessed with you and you have to figure out a way to survive the interaction. The bot is able to manipulate all the reality including create universes and control your mind with telepathy. The only weakness they have is they cannot break your free will.

I've switched to the Arc web browser, where tabs behave more like bookmarks (and they replace bookmarks as well). It's been a game changer for me - my favourite feature is the ability to close a window and it doesn't remove any of your tabs. Just open a new browser window and they're back. My tabs are also more organised than ever.

Large Language Models, specifically ChatGPT+, are now part of my daily life and I'm not just talking tech. For example I use it in the kitchen every time I cook a meal I haven't made a thousand times before and I've been cooking better than ever. Unlike a recipe website, you can tell it you don't have (or don't like) a particular ingredient and chat about alternatives, then it will update the cooking instructions. Love it.

I've given up on streaming music services, and gone back to occasionally buying a new DRM free albums. This has been part of a general cost cutting theme to my year - especially monthly bills.

Dropped Reddit, Twitter, Spotify. Still have never been on Facebook, still have an Instagram account to stay in touch with old friends. Tubi and YouTube for entertainment

I got a subscription to nebula, since my favorite creators are on there and YouTube’s subscription costs too much.

Quit Spotify for Apple Music and PlexAmp.

Slowly starting to phase out everything Google but it’s taking some time.

I’m using Google search less and now Ecosia has become my primary search engine.

Next thing on my list is to reduce streaming services. I quit Netflix and HBO in 2023 after having it for many years.

Using a VPN more and more.

I’m using much less Reddit, Facebook and whatever the fuck twitter is now. Instead I’m using Lemmy and Mastodon. Maybe this year I’ll delete all the old accounts finally for good.

Started using RSS again for news.

I've been using the ever living heck out of Stable Diffusion. Shit is so fun. It's another tool for me as and artist to learn and utilize.

Same, but with Microsoft's Image Creator. At least for me, I like using it to create pixel art for my own personal GitHub repos.

Redoubled my efforts to selfhost more services, abandoned reddit and generally started using the www less.

  • Started renting a VPS and a domain. Now I have my own silly blog, a few services and a proxy to go to blocked sites (with the possibility to upgrade to censorship-resistant protocols if needed!)
  • Among other things got an IRC bouncer, so started hanging out on IRC a lot more.
  • Deleted my Twitter, Reddit and Insta (which were almost dead anyway but still).
  • Went from hating IT and thinking it's just not for me to studying it in uni, as well as learning some topics myself.
  • Degoogled my smartphone as much as I could with ADB (although barely noticed a difference, everything was from F-Droid anyway).
  • Left Reddit for Lemmy, only came back several times to seek for specific information in a couple of niche communities
  • Started using Firefox again, both in desktop and mobile
  • Opened a nextcloud account, with plans to host our own when we have a little more free time
  • Autohosted FreshRSS
  • Started with Sonarr, Radarr, jellyfin and so on (you can guess what for)
  • Mastodon is now my main social network
  • Stopped using Windows. If I have to use some applications to interact with my clients I prefer to do it via cloud.

AI.

Biggest productivity increaser in yonks and fun to mess around with when bored.

How do you use it? I'm realising that I really need to actually figure out how to use AI

It definitely is! It has helped me so much with the clusterfuck that is REGEX and figuring out what I did wrong 🙃

Stopped using reddit, started lemmy Switch chrome to firefox

Seeing many with these same ones, but that's me!

Around a month or two ago I got flashpoint and ruffle so I can play flash games on my computer. I have never really used either program before. I got ruffle because flashpoint doesn't have Nitrome games on their platform and I wanted to play a specific game. Haven't done much with ruffle since the games run kinda slow on my desktop.

I finally deleted my corporate accounts (twitter, reddit) because the alternatives were finally good enough to use. Still on Facebook and WhatsApp though because of some stubborn friends and family

The only thing that changed how I did anything internet wise in 2023 was Reddit killing 3rd party apps and moving here. Tech related, I got a PS5 so I played that sometimes instead of 100% PC.

reddit + apollo 🤬

lemmy + mlem 😍

  • Stopped using reddit, went here instead.
  • Intensified my Mastodon usage, winding down my Twitter activity.
  • Started using my own mail server for more than just a few tests.
  • Changed search engines a few times (I'll probably stick with Kagi now).
  • Reduced my subscriptions and cleaned up my RSS feeds.
  • Stopped doomscrolling (I subscribed to a weekly paper newspaper instead).
  • Started using Ulysses for writing. Works very well.

If you subscribe to RSS feeds that sometimes due ads in the form of articles (looking at you daringfireball); services like SiftRSS let you use Regex to filter out titles that match (i.e., sponsor, sponsorship) so you only get organic content.

My RSS reader (Newsblur) lets me do that too, to some extent.