Work and family reqquire me to at least partially use some of this crap unfortunately. But Nostr has been a huge help in achieving that. Selfhosting anything from Piped to Audiobookshelf and stuff has contributed too.
But, sadly, in order to keep in touch with certain people, the algos and cloud are kinda unavoidable to a degree...
Heck, many nostr relays live on S3. o.o
It's not necessary to be a purist, in order to free yourself from the algorithm. Nor to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. You need a base structure which you control. That cant cancel you. That respects privacy choices. That does the basics of what you want. And importnatly, that you can improve every day. It has to be lightning fast and a joy to use, and have all the things you like at your fingertips, especially media. You then become your own algorithm. Each day is good, and each new day is better than the last. No one is milking you for their grift, you are just experiencing a free digital life.
