Ask Lemmy

Avoiding contributing to the economy as much as possible.

Doing business under the table, never eating at restaurants, never spending money on digital entertainment I could be getting for free.

I'm honestly a lot happier than when I was consuming.

Sounds like a fed question

The only commercial social media I use anymore (or at least post on) is Bluesky, and I'm getting weary of that, too. I've switched completely to open source operating systems and workflows in the past year or so. During that time I've also become vegan and am trying not to go to any sort of shop at night. That last one has nothing to do with the state of things at this very moment, but I don't want to give companies more reason to force people onto late shifts when working in retail/customer service already sucks and even full time won't get you close to a living. The last thing anyone needs is their sleep thrown off, as I know from struggling with it myself. I may not be able to stop buying things, but fuck working when you should be sleeping. Unless you're literally an essential worker, in which case those shit shifts should be cycled between people, not consistent.

...I didn't mean for that to become a rant lmao

I built an encrypted, secure, takedown safe network called Tenfingers but during the roughly 10 years of building, honing and polishing it, only 2 persons have ever tried it and one was a friend. So I guess it's not really what people want 😅.

I learned a lot though.

Since July I've been boycotting US companies. I've gone as far as setting up my own self-hosted home server for document / bookmark / media storage, which is actually fantastic and I wish I'd done this sooner. All streaming services have been cancelled. I only buy from European brands, and only directly from their own website (no Amazon, etc). This was the first year in a long time where I've declined a phone upgrade with my network - I'll just keep my current phone as long as possible. All my smart home tech is being gradually phased away from Google / Nest and towards Matter / Home Assistant. Windows has been wiped from my PC and I've moved to Linux. I cancelled my Adobe subscription in favour of FOSS alternatives. My family and close friends have all switched to Signal (though we did this years ago).

While I still use social media (I make digital art), the only thing I ever post on Facebook/Insta/Threads is my artwork. I don't post anything personal anymore, because that's my data.

Despite all these "sacrifices", I don't really feel like I've lost anything. In fact, things are arguably better now I'm unshackled from US tech giants. I'm saving a ton of money too from all the cancelled subscriptions.

Been boycotting Wetherspoons (a popular chain of pubs in the UK, owned by a Brexit supporting prick) for over a decade now.

I haven't bought anything from Amazon, Costco, Wal-Mart, big box stores for at least 5 years now. I will also never be getting anything from places like Temu.

As well, I try to make almost all my food, shopping, etc choices to benefit something small, or someone local, that needs my money more than things that further drive the Machine in the end.

I put solar panels and battery storage on my house because my local utility is a publicly traded group of thieves. As much of the system as possible has been bought used except for the batteries.

In that, I buy used as much as possible. Fuck buying new, let someone else buy that 1100 dollar phone I'll buy it on ebay 2 years later for half that.

I deleted my Amazon and am currently de-googling the best I can.

I'm doing what I can, as small an impact as it has. I've become much more aware of what I buy, use, and consume. I've begun to repair things instead of just buying new replacements, I don't buy American whenever possible, and I don't use any AI at all. I've completely cut out Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Reddit, any streaming service and any social media except the Fediverse, and of course nothing from Musk.

However, the biggest impact I've been able to make has been getting a couple people to re-think what they consume from fascist-enabling big tech companies. Small wins.

I don’t shop if i can help it. I buy used whenever possible and repair things even when the cost is almost the same as replacement. when i do have to shop, i favour small local businesses. i also avoid american goods and services like the plague.

All Linux. No Amazon. Support local. Hosting my own pages, servers and not using online clouds. Changing habits on what sites to use to avoid AWS where possible

I’m trying to build a small business that replaces SSO mass surveillance (think Sign In With Google, LinkedIn, etc) with a privacy respecting alternative where the technology makes it impossible for me, the service operator, to know what the users are signing into.

Mostly just leaning hard into ad blocking extensions and apps.

aligning my focus back to art, people, listening, empathy, understanding,

(versus the separation they want us to live, and away from the phone that stole so much time from me)

adblocking, barely buying, if buying then second hand, gifting stuff in sharing is caring groups,

praying, staying kind and calm, spending time in nature, staying healthy

Myself, I am becoming as much "anti-consumption" as possible. I am removing myself from capitalism, as much as possible.

I still have to eat, of course, so I buy food. But I don't buy food from corporations. As an example, I don't buy anything from Nestle, nor from any big corporations. Gadgets and tech, I will be avoiding as much as possible, and if I do find myself needing to buy, I will do so but not from the usual corporations.

Social networks: only lemmy and mastodon sometimes. Fuck reddit and instagram and facebook. Don't have an account there and never will. I don't go there anymore.

I try to keep a "solarpunk" attitude. I do things for the good of the environment. I do/will-be-doing things such as composting, reducing the use of plastic, avoiding cars.

I am also trying to get people on board with my view of things, but I haven't been much successful. I think principled people are very rare. People just don't care.

Well we could all gently suggest to people that are having a crisis in continued existance, first that we want them to remain with us, but if you must go, why not take some trash out with you? If only we could tune in somehow, we could all play the new mario brothers game multiplayer and drop out of politics.

I’ve concluded that with personal boycotts, perfect is the enemy of good. Time was I’d decide to boycott someone like Nestle but then fall off the wagon when I had a Smarties craving and then just sort of stop doing the rest of it.

So now I take the approach of trying to look for an alternative, but if I can’t find it then I won’t beat myself up about it, I’ll keep trying tomorrow. It’s not great but it’s better than what I was doing before.

That said, it wasn’t at all difficult to cut all the US grocery brands out of my shopping when Trump started his tariff bullshit, cause it’s all hyper-processed artificially coloured crap to begin with.

I put bologna on their car so it eats holes in the paint. 😤

Ive started saving and only buy what i need, when needed

Mostly i buy real food, so no processed foods like corn flakes or whatever. So i avoid those asshole companies, like nestle, kelloggs etc

Clothing, here i just buy what i like.. but i buy it from good reputable brands, and if possible from local stores (i live in a tiny town but i try!)

As for electronics things are .. well impossible. So here i buy less often. I upgraded my pc this summer of 2025, and i replaced one from 2017. I hope my new one can last roughly as long. We will see (i buy somewhat high end when i do buy, because I want it for a long time)

I dont have a car currently

All the savings i can manage based on this, is going towards a house, so i dont have to rent. Though I currently dont rent from a “landlord” but more like a housing association which helps keep costs down. We are quite a bit below the avg rent price currently.

I work for a large non profit owned business, which i like

Fix things and keep them, fix things and sell them on the secondhand market, or fix things owned by friends who have broken things. By applying my technical knowledge to repairing computers, appliances, tools, furniture, plumbing, I'm building my own self-sustainability, I'm enabling others to avoid buying new things and instead spend their money in better ways, I'm networking with people who have skills that I lack, I'm denying the manufacturers the revenue they would get if there wasn't someone like me to fix their shit, and I'm denying the govt the taxes involved in new purchases and income tax on my secondhand sales, and I'm denying the voracious landfill of its tasty, tasty whitegoods.

I'm loving those around me and feeling empathy for everyone on the planet even harder. They can throw me in a concentration camp or kill me, but they can't make me not love.

I donate to open source / non-profit projects as much as I can. I'm on very few social media platforms and try to stay as private as possible with my data.

I don't buy stuff. I haven't bought clothes in 5+ years (new or thrifted). I pirate epubs, games, shows, and movies. I don't have any monthly subscription--no Deezer, Netflix, AppleSomething, Amazon, nothing. I grow 90% of the veggies I eat, most of the fruit. I trade for meat and bread.
I've never used Uber, UberEats, Doordash, AirB&B, or any of their competitors.
I'm happy.

Never in my life have I given 2 week's notice. If they can fire me without warning I can quit whenever the fuck I feel like it.

I decided to move away from big american tech companies. When I started, the hardest part was finding an alternative to Google Maps.

I decided to be the change I want to see and have been contributing to OpenStreetMap nearly every day for 5 years as I update my local community.

I cycle and don't own a car. I will not be registered or licensed to move around under my own power. Do as much bike maintenance myself as I can.

I even brew my own mead

I’m here, for starters.

I’ve been systematically removing as many parts of myself from the corporate internet over the course of years. So far I’ve managed to drop:

• Facebook
• GMail
• Netflix
• Reddit
• Windows
• Prime
• HBO

I still have some stragglers, like YouTube, that I doubt will go anytime soon, but for the most part, I don’t have to deal with:

• Dark patterns
• Advertisements
• Anti-features (updates that remove functionality)
• FOMO
• Advertisements again
• Advertisements a third time

Really, I just do not like being advertised to, and outside YouTube sponsorships, which can be skipped, I can go whole days without ever coming across an ad on the internet, and even that feels high.

On top of all this, I’ve massively reduced my data collection footprint, meaning there’s far less info available to said advertisers and data collectors that they can use to manipulate me.

I also regularly try to provide some of this to my friends to also help cut them away from the propaganda machine.

Just not buying new shit anymore unless it is something I need. And then? The cheap one. And I will make it last until it screeches out its last death rattle. I even swapped to scrubs so I can wear the same outfit every day.

Not workin and not having kids to force them into wage servitude, now into the climate hellhole we're creating.

Started a mutual aid group in our small town. Mostly deals with some local agriculture etc but hoping to expand it to more community needs etc. Trying to make the local community more resilient in turbulent times

Does not dying of cancer out of spite count?

Working on Lemmy, instead of selling my soul to a company.