My conscious uncoupling from Big Tech

- Apr 12, 2026

Hey friend,

It's been a heavy week (or weeks? year?). I won't dwell on the current world situation but I open with this because it's better to name the elephant in the room: things are not okay.

Meanwhile, life goes on.

Despite the deviliscious appeal of my desperately long to-do list, I made a wild choice: to invest a significant chunk of my time in something recommended by Scott Galloway and the Elysian Collective. Yes, I'm breaking up with Big Tech.

One at a time, over the past month, I've decoupled myself from Microsoft and OpenAI. ​
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And I left Amazon a while ago, although I still use Audible. I haven't solved it all just yet.

If you think, Anne, that's a bit drastic, well, yes, it is. And complicated. Disentangling myself from Google products it's not going to happen overnight. But there are good reasons to leave these tools behind. Did we ever mean to let any of these companies own us the way they do?

This wasn't entirely out of the blue. I'd been reflecting on it publicly in this very digest for a while. Eventually, I couldn't justify waiting any longer. As a private citizen, the ways I can effect change in the world are limited. And this is one of them.

OpenAI wasn't that hard to get over, there are alternatives: with Perplexity for example, you can choose which model you are using, so singling out ChatGPT is an option. There's also Claude AI, the lesser evil that we can turn to.
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But I'd been on Outlook for years. Scratch that. Decades. And Word. Excel.
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​Like all good break ups, I know it's good for me, and it's also better for the world, I hear. I'm hitting the tech bros where it hurts, in their pockets.
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As to what I will do with Instagram, Spotify (where I publish the Mettā Interview), I don't know. Again, it's just one step at a time.

If this feels crazy (or crazy smart), and you want to explore this idea further, the nice people at the Elysian have written a pamphlet on Internet Sovereignty, to help us reflect on the benefits from using, developing and accessing an alternative internet, one where we are not used as free labor and where more people benefit from the work done. Here's a quote to draw you in with a good retail analogy:
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​When we compare the internet to the brick-and-mortar world, the difference becomes particularly stark. As Glen Weyl points out in Radical Markets, “The share of income going to labor in the largest tech companies is roughly 5-15%," Weyl says. "Dramatically lower than service-sector companies like Walmart, where labor’s share is roughly 80%.”

“Facebook, for example, pays out only about 1% of its value each year to workers (programmers) because it gets the rest of its work for free from us! In contrast, Walmart pays out 40% of its value in wages.”

Translation: Tech companies use all of us who create the internet as free labor. Then they profit.

So I'm testing things for you, and I have a lot to say, but without wanting to get into a rant, I'll tell you what products I've been exploring, in case you fancy giving them a try. Let it be said that there's no affiliate links in this, I'm merely publicly sharing the platforms I'm choosing to use, in case that's helpful to you.

​Proton Suite (Mail, Calendar, docs, etc) - Swiss-based, high encryption, privacy-first. Main issue very hard to sync calendar because of the encryption, using a work-around with Cal.com for now for public booking. The easy import however is a joy.

​Le Chat by Mistral is the brand new AI chatbot from the French to rival Open AI. It's also got a tie-up with Agence France-Presse, meaning that it's allowed to cite responses based on sources that abide by a clear journalistic code. Allons-y!

​Ghost.io was presented to me last year as an alternative to Substack, Beehive and other newsletter platform providers. It has a robust design platform, is very easy to onboard. Crucially, you have complete control over the branding. If you have a friendly AI coding companion, you can whip up a website in no time. A lot of big businesses are using the platform to run their publishing/content arm. So far, I like it.

​Plausible.io is the simple, privacy-friendly and cookie-free option if you want to try something else than Google Analytics.

​Infomaniak kDrive is a cloud option to rival Google Drive or Dropbox, based in Switzerland. Cheaper than most of the others, I am giving this a try to make some space on my hard drive (all those podcasts, especially now that they're on video, and one wants to archive the work of course).

Other tools I'm trying Typeform was always on my radar as one of the slickest form builders, and it comes at a price, but now they have a built-in AI, which whips up forms in minutes, making the $30 subscription suddenly worth it.

I tried Gemini's Nano Banana 2 for some image and animation development after watching a great interview with designer and entrepreneur Emmett Shine, for Sublime App. Some of the interactions I found deeply frustrating, with prompts misunderstood, while others are joyful as this very nice animated version of illustrator Miki Lowe's work for Le Trente. Of course, Gemini belongs to Google so there's that.

Next stop? I'm contemplating purchasing an old fashioned Nokia flip phone to see if the hype is real and if my supposed smart phone is indeed making me dumber. I've pre-selected the Emporia Touch Smart 2, which is technically one step up from the 'real' dumb phones, as it will allow me to have WhatsApp. On that note, if they are actually better for us and our attention, now would be a good time to coin a new word. How about simple phone? As in, it's simply... a phone.

On that note, I'll leave you here to reflect on your relationship to big tech. And you'll find the digest below. Ah, before I forget, next Saturday is my next live Story of You Fundamentals workshop. If you've been thinking 'ah, could this be for me', don't be shy, join us. You'll find all the details below.

Wishing you a good rest of your Sunday.
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THIS WEEK'S GATHERINGS

We had a nice break over Easter and our contributor masterclasses resume at the end of the month, with Lucia Dami, who will talk to us about how to use divination for self-development. Details and registration here​→
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​Tomorrow — Mindful Together — live on Zoom, 1pm ET | 7pm CET

Join me for a 30 minute guided mindfulness meditation.

Thursday — Metta Together — live on Zoom, 7am ET | 1pm CET

​A philosopher whose work I read about days ago writes: “Connectedness to yourself, to other people, and to the world—those are the three dimensions that are measurable in meaning in life." What if you could access all three via this mantra-based, millenia-old practice? That's the offer. Join me if you can. Register here​ ​→​

Saturday 18th April — Story of You Fundamentals — 8am PT | 11am ET| 5pm CET

You know that gap — the one between who you are, what you have to offer, and what others perceive of you. Language doesn't seem to do justice, or it doesn't serve you the way you wish, doesn't create the connections you'd like to make.

What if there's something else you can reach for? Something buried, perhaps — values, stories — that can become that bridge, the vehicle for connection you were looking for.

Most workshops promise you'll leave knowing how to talk about yourself better. This one makes a different promise: you'll leave knowing something true about yourself that you didn't know when you walked in. What you do with that is up to you. Details and registration in this link ​→​

Sunday, 19 April — Guided Meditation on Insight Timer

A free weekly practice, join me via the Insight Timer app at 12pm ET / 6pm CET. →​

PAUSE HERE: A MEDITATION FOR YOUR WEEK

A grounded practice for every day, to help us reclaim our attention and come back to ourselves.

​Listen here ​→​

ON MY MIND

This week's links, colour-coded for your nervous system.
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🟢 Green: settle in, this one's good for you

The Elysian, mentioned above, is building their version of Kindle App after discovering that Kindle has complete control over what appears in your library (even if you've purchased the titles).
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Nils Gilman argues that a liberal arts education will soon be more valuable than ever in Noema Magazine.
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On my read list, three ways to prove you're human online, via Big Think.

No more dating apps. Pitch your friend via Powerpoint. Hot trend. I'm into it.

Stressed? Another trend, this time for a sonic sanctuary. ​

​Kelly Wearstler x H&M Home. I badly want that armless armchair.

​A reframe of ADHD via Aeon essays: The hypercurious mind. Not so much dysfunction, instead, an impulsive drive for novel information.

​Are we falling out of love with social media? Passive consumption on the rise, the Guardian explores the data.

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​​🟡 Yellow: important, but prepare yourself

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​Why it's worth breaking up with your Kindle (if you have one)

Guardian reporter was invited by an AI bot called Gaskell to a party in Manchester. Watch the story here.

​Is literacy the cornerstone of a democratic society? If so, our literacy rate is critical, and it's in decline. When was the last time you've picked up a book, asks the Times (on IG).

Horrible, horrible scammers, one star reviews threatening small businesses by destroying their online reputation.

The Trump administration denies threatening the Pope. That's not a sentence I expected to type. The article is free at the FT.​
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🔴 Red: brace yourself — but this is the most important thing I'm sending you this week

​A new phase in cyber risk is upon us with the pre-release of Mythos, a powerful new AI model from Anthropic.

​The visual pattern of the current war being waged in the Middle East.

SOCIAL SHOPPING

Lastly, if you are in Switzerland or nearby, please suppor the work of the Matter Fondazione. The aim of the foundation is to promote social inclusion through nutrition, to provide access to a balanced diet for vulnerable people or victims of social exclusion, and to combat food waste.you can purchase various products from their impact kitchen via this page. I'm partial to the cauliflower kimchi and the embroidered towels personally.

LISTEN

The Mettā Interview: a new episode with our friend and contributor Lucia Dami, who speaks to me about her big question: how to stop hiding her creative and spiritual voice? This echoes deeply in me, personally. I am also delighted to report that Lucia's latest creation, the Light in the Dark Oracle is out and you can purchase it via her website. → Listen here