I reddit daily, I like it a lot. I just gloss over the propaganda crap there, on twitter, facebook, etc. When I want to do politics for real, I do actual fact-based research (as opposed to "my facebook friend watched a youtube video about chemtrails!"). I personally find it easy.

Youtube CAN be a time sink, but so can movies, books, and music. It's my responsibility to manage my time, but I appreciate that it makes it easy to find content I WANT rather than crap.

I grew up dirt poor, homeless twice before I was ten. I make 6 figures now because I work hard, I'm good at what I do (and also because being a white male in America is very useful), and because I know how to spend and not to spend. Good tea is worth it, grocery store milk and butter are fine. A good car is essential, it should work well and look nice, but I'm not buying a Mercedes ever. I have an $1,000 TV that I got for $450 because I love to bargain hunt like some people like to actually hunt.

I don't _generally_ care about remarketing ads, as long as they don't go on for months. My biggest problem is when I see ads for three weeks AFTER I BOUGHT THE DAMN THING.

So I can go to Duck Duck Go, get Google results, but without the benefit of having a profile to determine what's most likely more relevant to me? That doesn't sound useful. I LIKE that Google says, "hey, the last three things he searched were actors in the same TV show, I bet when he's typing a name it's probably related to that same show." I like that Google knows if I search "stars fell on alabama" the chances I want the lyrics to the Frank Sinatra song are 100%. That's beneficial to me.

I have a personal domain for vanity reasons, and also control, yes. If I decide to leave, it's on my terms.

I applaud you for being in charge of your own life, I think I am too. I will say, however, that I think you probably concern yourself with the concept of privacy than me. I'm not a big "what if" person, not a big existential question person. To me, privacy was ALWAYS a lot less encompassing than we ever thought, and at the same time, no one cares about us nearly as much as we think they do. Do FAANG know a lot about me? Yep. but I don't care, because they don't care about me, I don't matter to them. I'm a line in a database, nothing more.

My life philosophy is, "The universe wants to kill me. Eventually it will. My priority is prolonging the magic." That doesn't include worrying about how many databases know I like BSG, Sinatra, Mountain Dew, and liberal politics.