I think what you’re asking is not so much about docker, but rather about self hosting in general. If you don’t want to do that, you probably don’t need docker. If you do want to run some services, you still don’t need docker, but using containers can make it easier to manage. If you want to use containers, docker is one way to do that.
Honestly, for me it’s been a godsend when it comes to versioning. New version of software comes out, I pull the new container and flip to it. If there are issues, roll it back and stay there until the next release. I’ve had various DLL/pkg hell over the years. Plex, sure, but Jesus the problems my group has had with BG3 and other apps have made me wish I could better compartmentalize apps. Oh there’s another one. Ancient piece of software? Run it in a container with the ancient version of ,Net or VB or Python or whatever.
Same. I was long reluctant to use docker due to it's cognitive and performance overhead, but once setting my system to just ignore postgresql in automatic updates settings proved insufficient and I realized I'd have to rollback ICU with all it's dependencies as well, I've decided to say fuck it, I'll use docker and if docker pisses me off, I'll just hop to Nix.
This is exactly how I felt, I was reluctant then I started using docker and now I try and put most of my applications in some sort of container
If you don't wanna use docker don't, there's no reason you should try to use or do something you don't need or want.
Instead of minutia, I'm just going to mention the few reasons that really sold me on containers.
Security: Being able to host external services that only have access to the folders I map to it.
Compartmentalization: I can specify exactly what resources I want to limit/control for each individual service. I.E. stacking a VPN on top of services for a 100% guaranteed Killswitch.
Automation: Docker is an incredible tool for automatically restarting services whenever they hit a snag and keeping your services up to date with the latest version.
I'm confused by what you're asking. I'm gonna answer this in the way I interpreted it. Docker isn't just for hosting, but also making sure everything is consistent when running. I prefer dockerizing some of my applications because it makes debugging easier or I don't want a web server I'm running directly connected to my main machine. It's literally ab comfort, so if you don't feel comfortable using docker, there's no reason to use it :)
Docker is simply a way to package everything the app needs to run into a nice binary you can execute locally.
It has all the dependencies, files etc. needed to run it all put together.
If you don't need more than an adblocker then it's all good.
You don't need to rely on Google or Apple or give them your data?