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.)

  • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.mlEnglish
    5·
    10 months ago

    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!

  • wolo@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    5·
    10 months ago

    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

  • DrillingStricken@programming.devEnglish
    5·
    10 months ago

    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.

    • Blisterexe@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

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

      • mechoman444@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        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.

  • jcrabapple@infosec.pubEnglish
    3·
    10 months ago

    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.

  • JIMMERZ@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    10 months ago

    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.

  • TheBatz@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    10 months ago

    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

  • Hammerheart@programming.devEnglish
    2·
    10 months ago

    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!

  • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzEnglish
    2·
    10 months ago

    • 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

  • saboteur@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    2·
    10 months ago

    Stopped using reddit, started lemmy Switch chrome to firefox

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

  • Swarfega@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    10 months ago

    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.