About a year ago I created a second email with the intention of getting rid of gmail, but I fell into the habit of just maintaining two separate accounts. No more! This past weekend I started to consolidate accounts, either switching services away from gmail or closing the accounts. Once that was all done I went in and closed the google account for good. This did come with one caveat: I can no longer use my Samsung galaxy tablet as an e-reader. Not a huge deal but I did like reading on that thing! I am trying to get used to reading on a computer screen but it just isn't the same.
After going through the process I am going to try to stick to two rules: no new devices and no new accounts. I have computers running Linux that work great for everything I need to do, and what exactly would I need to create an account for? I have a spreadsheet listing all of the accounts that I have (I think) so in the event I create an account for something I will keep that document updated. (since deleting gmail I have identified three accounts and I can no longer log into... whoops!)
I am going to try to switch to a flip phone and that will be the end of the journey. For the past 10+ years I felt like I have been extorted by tech companies either through shitty software or shitty devices. My first iphone (3?) screen cracked and I had to be careful not to cut my thumb while using it. I then switched to some Android device and it was okay, but I remember not receiving some messages because my imessage account was still active or something? Then that phone ended up biting the dust, updates made it incredibly slow. I currently have an iphone and its pretty good, but no headphone jack?
I am rambling here but this is leading to my next thought: there are no perfect devices. There will never be a perfect device. I know people enjoy spending the time to optimize their settings and sync all of their data, but to me it is a fruitless endeavor. The iphone does not have a headphone jack. At the very least I expect a usuable device, I have heard that they're extending security updates for a longer period of time but I wonder if updates are still slowing devices to a crawl... either way it doesn't change my experience. I'm scaling back from a phone as a wonderment device to.... a phone. Call and text, and maybe listen to something now that there is a headphone jack.