I often can’t decide if I want to focus on “digital minimalism” or “avoiding all capitalism” when it comes to my computing habits.
When I’m in a Digitally Minimalistic mindset, it’s all about the MacBook Air, my iPhone, and occasionally my iPad. I reduce the number of applications I’m using to the bare minimum and I focus on what works without a lot of tinkering. It’s during these moods that I usually step aside from all forms of social media.
But then the pendulum swings the other way and I get all “avoiding all capitalism”, where I decide that even though I believe Apple still provides the best consumer grade computing experience out there, they’re too expensive and they want me to buy too many apps, so then I resurrect an old laptop with the latest flavor of Hip-Linux and focus on that. I get rid of all the apps, move my data somewhere else (again!) and start chatting with folks online about the benefits of using a home grown operating system and the like. Then I apply an update, the computer goes completely sideways, forcing me to punch out an email via telegram and/or Ye Old Scroll, and then I give the pendulum a shove back in the original direction.
Such a quandry.
I look at all sides of a problem or a puzzle or an opportunity and then I look at all sides again. I see all the goods, all the bads, and all the maybes, so then I look at all sides again. Then I start spinning around and try as I might, there’s no bright flash of light with a thunderclap and, to the relief of memory, I do not find myself in star spangled shorts with matching cape.
I think I’ll just stick to the Mac.
I feel this SO much! My pendulum swings between Apple, Microsoft, and Google. I went through a phase earlier this year where I wanted to give Google a chance and bought some hardware, migrated to Workspace, and then realized I forgot the most important thing about Google: I’m not the customer, I’m the product they sell to their actual customers. Then I swing HARD to Proton which I liked but they were expensive and their customer service sucked. Meanwhile Troy liked Microsoft Excel but wanted email in the Apple Mail app so I had him on Microsoft 365. So faced with a $350 Proton bill and an upcoming $300 renewal on M365 we came to an agreement: we’re 100% Apple now. Apple hardware and iCloud mail, drive, etc.
I’m curious how much influence on your choices you feel from those you live with? Do you all share an email domain? Are you their “tech guy” or do they basically all do their own thing leaving your pendulum free to swing?
I tried to adopt Proton but like you I found the customer service a little too shaky and the service a bit too expensive, though their server locations are very appealing.
Three out of five of us here are “IT folks” and the household has settled on iCloud. We have a couple of network NAS devices as well, and there’s all Dropbox since one of us has a graphic design business and he needs to share with customers. We are pretty much Apple across the board, except one who went with a PC because the Mac with the necessary horsepower for the apps was just too expensive at the time (before the “M” series chips).
I’ve been asked to not swing away from iCloud to avoid disruption for the rest of the family, so there’s always that component regardless of what OS I’m using. We have the most expensive iCloud plan and will probably have to bump the storage above 2TB in the next year or so.
At the moment I am feeling so much subscription fatigue that this week I’ve settled on the base Apple apps … Notes, Reminders, Weather, Pages/Numbers/Keynote, etc. We’ll see how long that lasts. I also gave my Linux laptop a spin again this week and while it’s lightyears ahead of where it was even a few years ago, it’s still requires to much futzing, which detracts from my other more creative efforts.
We’re in the same boat then! I guess as a “lowest common denominator Apple ain’t too shabby. At least I’m not being forced into Windows. Yeah, the “my data lives in Switzerland” thing was REALLY attractive – not that I have anything to hide – but dragging the husband onto Proton seemed like a losing battle and we, too, are fighting subscription creep. No more Proton subscription, no more Microsoft subscription, and no more Google subscription. Just the Apple One Premier shared with the family. If we bump above 1.5 TB used I’ll bump the storage on that plan, like you said.