So... I've read some things lately about the big evil G that have put me into unease. The problem is, I use Google for absolutely everything right now, and have for as long as Google has existed. It's tied into everything and I need to break free.

These are the Google things I use regularly:

* Email - Gmail (I have many years of email that I've saved in my account)
* Browser - Chrome (including saving my passwords)
* Writing - Docs (I need collaborative capabilities and a place to safely save my work)
* Spreadsheets - Sheets (used for organizing various things, collaborative options are very needed and used often)

My phone is even a Google Pixel phone, of course running Android and integrated into everything I do.

I am not very tech savvy. I need user-friendly, reliable, relatively easy to learn options for everything I use, and I have zero idea where to begin.

I've done searches online for alternatives, but nothing is really standing out to me as being a good replacement. If you have any ideas for me (and dear god let them please be free or have reasonable pricing) please let me know.

Thank you for any advice!

#help #google #degoogle

Edited to add: Thank you all so much for your thoughts and responses, I got more than I bargained for, haha! I have this post bookmarked and will take in the information at my own pace.

I will be muting this post as I have been a little overwhelmed with the responses, but I really appreciate all the input for when I have time to process it. :3

💙💙💙

@Bwee As a tech savy person, I can say this: Degoogeling is a "best effort" thing. It is near impossible. It has snuck into more parts of our lives than Facebook is even close to. I have mostly cut ties with Meta with the exception of using messenger a few times.

Google is near impossible not to relate to on a frequent basis :/

Take it slow, do what you are able to do step by step. But you most likely will not be able to be free from them.

We need laws and regulations for companies like this to be our main way to handle their evil.

@lettosprey @Bwee THIS. All of this... I'm not thinking I'll be able to completely "degoogle" in the 100%, but yeah... I wanna try. I got a Gmail acct that I have had forever, and that is gonna be the hardest to move

I want ot use Protonmail as the new service to take that email on but.. not sure if I'll have problems re-registering on services woth a Proton mail acct