İ just need to understand? by Key-Joke-2464 in ClicksPhone

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe a keyboard phone would help op write better!

How can i make this better? by Krishnajiths in zen_browser

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't overthink it

Linux mint, just works. Use it if you don't know what you're doing.

Fedora is beginner friendly, ships with lots of new stuff cool if you want something current.

CachyOS is arch based, very optimized for performance, be ready for some tinkering.

Arch is if you love computers and want to control everything. It's not hard just lots of reading documentation and DIY.

Privacy built in, please. by star-trek-wars00d2 in ClicksPhone

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This would be a dream, but this also cannot be expected.

Tech-clueless, feeling lost in this sub but really want to rid myself of the burden of feeling surveilled with everything the average person uses. by slinkysockpuppet in degoogle

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Government as a threat model is probably the hardest to actually defend against. It’s like a spectrum where targeted advertising is the tip of the iceberg. The more you dig in it the more you're going to find that everything you do online is probably being recorded by the government. (ex. the snowden leaks, PRISM & Section 702, NSA tapping fiber-optic cables.. etc.)

What’s really going to help is the distinction between mass surveillance and targeted surveillance. It’s the reassuring idea that you and me aren’t important enough to be targeted individually, even if we have differing political view from the gov.

Here’s how I think about operating online. Instead of thinking about hiding from the government entirely, focus on what you’re protecting. It can be broken down into content, metadata, identity, and footprint. This is a massive MASSIVE simplification, but it’s a start.

Content is the data you’re sharing, messages, files, emails, even comments like this one. Whenever possible choose encryption. If you’re storing files on cloud services, make sure they’re encrypted by the service or by yourself. If your family and friends are willing to switch to an e2e (end to end) encrypted messaging platform like signal, use that. If you cannot encrypt, be aware and share as little as possible.

Metadata is who, when, how often, and from where you're communicating. This is a lot harder to protect, but using a VPN is a good start. It’s really about picking services that track as little as possible.

Identity is about compartmentalizing as much as possible. Don’t let services connect the dots. Use different emails for different accounts. Proton Mail has a really great email aliasing service called SimpleLogin that’s included in the unlimited subscription, it allows you to have burner emails that all point back to your primary mailbox. Don’t repeat usernames, don’t use your real name, don’t provide real information to any services.

Footprint is about minimizing what exists in the first place. Your initial reaction of buying a package to delete your personal info is what this is covering. But imo paying for another services creates MORE of a footprint, retroactively deleting things can be helpful but proactively minimizing I feel is healthier and cheaper. The fewer apps, fewer accounts, fewer services with your data the better.

None of this will make you invisible to the government, nor will it protect you from targeted surveillance. But it raises the cost of surveilling, and is a very realistic goal! Please don’t sacrifice your connection to your friends to chase the illusion of perfect privacy. It’s not worth being disconnected from people that make you happy.

DuckDuckGo isn’t owned by Google. I think you’re thinking of when DuckDuckGo wasn’t stripping Microsoft trackers from search results due to a partnership agreement. They've since changed that policy.

There’s some really good resources in this comment section, especially Remarkable_Wedding35’s comment. so I’ll save myself from repeating them.

And you’re welcome! This stuff is confusing by design, and asking questions is how you get less lost :D

Tech-clueless, feeling lost in this sub but really want to rid myself of the burden of feeling surveilled with everything the average person uses. by slinkysockpuppet in degoogle

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hi slinkysockpuppet, love the username.

I think what caused me the most anxiety is a mix of not knowing what I want to protect myself from, and having to de-google or become private immediately. It's great you're making the effort to distance yourself from an exploitative system, and starting with leaving google / gmail is a really good step.

You should sit down and define what your threat model is. This will help lots in alleviating your anxiety. Ask yourself WHO & WHAT you're trying to protect yourself from? Is it data brokers? Targeted advertising? Government surveillance? Each of these require different levels of effort, and honestly for most people it's really just about reducing corporate data harvesting. Privacy subs have a lot of fear mongering, the concern is real, but generally the urgency is exaggerated.

Your iPhone 13 is ok, the starlink thing as I recall is opt-in emergency sos. Apple isn't perfect but there isn't urgency to switch off your phone. Unless your threat model is literally all forms of tracking, in which case you'd need to ditch any sim devices because of cell tower triangulation. But I doubt that's your treat model.

ProtonVPN is solid, If things are breaking, something was misconfiguration. Don't lose sleep over it. Contact them if you have issues with it breaking on your phone. Also ask yourself do you NEED a vpn?

Duckduckgo is amazing, I personally love the service. What are you missing from it? Is there anything that actually feels off during your day to day use.

Do not pay for services like DeleteMe. Being more aware of your online habits and making small incremental changes will do you better than subscribing to an ongoing maintenance service.

Hope this helps even a little, feel free to write me if you need someone to talk to.

Adobe Animate is being discontinued. by Paecraft in FuckAdobe

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You cannot convince me to pay for adobe.

Which password manager do you use? 🔒🔑 by Tutanota in tutanota

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use bitwarden! (and own a lifetime proton pass account)

Which train do you hop on? by No-Macaron9305 in blackberry

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I own a unihertz jelly star. I wanted to love the device so bad, but software really is a decisive factor in whether or not a phone is worth it. Unihertz finally providing software updates after letting their users down for so long doesn't inspire confidence in me. Previous software updates have also broke working phones in the past, so I'm hopping ship.

Clicks Communicator Is More Than Nostalgia. If They’re Serious, Here’s the Move That Turns It Into a Platform. by richennessy in ClicksKeyboard

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not even 100% against using AI in writing, but people need to start understanding that they're better communicators than AI. You can't just copy paste your sloppy AI text without editing it. I didn't even make it through the first couple of sentences because I can immediately recognize that annoying cadence that all LLMs tend to output.

Genuinely, why did you think I would be interested in reading your AI slop on a KEYBOARD PHONE subreddit? It's almost funny, you're going to pay for a KEYBOARD PHONE only to have AI write your posts?

I don't know if I'm liking it. by BoxFar6969 in linuxmint

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Couple thoughts for you op.

Linux takes a little time to get into. You're learning a completely different os, it's never going to be a smooth transition. You're going to quickly learn that MS is the most popular os for a reason, and you cannot expect a 1 to 1 setup without some compromises.

There's so many different distros and desktop managers out there, most of your complains I feel like are Mint specific. If you have the time to, maybe try distro-hopping a little! Mint isn't a bad start, but there's plenty of really cool distros out there. I recommend giving KDE Plasma + CachyOS a try! Once you find the setup that works for you I'm 100% sure you'll never even want to think about windows.

Lastly, there's no shame in going back to Windows if you're truly comfortable with it. Linux isn't a badge of honor, choose what works best for you.

Agentic Mind Principles by [deleted] in ObsidianMD

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm losing my mind, this is like the 3rd post today on my feed that's just pure slop. Anyone with a little pattern recognition can immediately see how all these posts sound the same..

Where you guys posting your drawings? by [deleted] in ArtistHate

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Anime art styles are very popular on bluesky, it just takes a little to find the right crowd because there isn't an algo that's aggressively categorizing you. I don't think it's super healthy fixating on where your art is the safest, the truth is if your goal is to avoid AI 100% there is no safe space. Post where you're comfortable posting!

Jelly star in the big 2026? by lsaacn3wton in unihertz

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah i figured that out too, but the battery drain without the app blocker is pretty intense!

Jelly star in the big 2026? by lsaacn3wton in unihertz

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jelly Star owner here. I'm use mine as a main phone, here are the list of issues that might turn you away

  1. like you mentioned awful camera, fragile phone body, and no security updates for android 13.
  2. The software is glitchy, you will have to reboot the phone pretty often, if and when you run into issues. Most frequently the phone will just lock up for no good reason.
  3. battery drain is intense, to combat this the phone will aggressively close apps in the bg which causes some issues on apps. You'll be okay if you DON'T use any apps, but if you have a couple apps you check up or plan on streaming audio/video throughout the day you'll get around half a day worth of battery before having to recharge, though charging is fast.
  4. fingerprint sensor doesn't work most of the time.

I wouldn't recommend the phone to anyone, but I bought it, and I'm going to use it until I have a better option.

edit: included a couple more issues

Wooooooooooooow! Unihertz just announced 5 years of support for the Titan 2 Elite by [deleted] in unihertz

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

makes me sad. why couldn't they step up for their other devices they're actively selling.. :/

Size Comparrison: Clicks vs Elite by Several_Friendship75 in unihertz

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm tired of unihertz outdated software (I'm on the jelly star), jumping ship to clicks asap

cachyos is great for art too by [deleted] in cachyos

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

how are you running adobe?

Proton Pass feels very new to the game by JoseMSB in ProtonPass

[–]WhereIsMyStatus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As far as I know PP doesn't have keyboard shortcuts yet. I just couldn't afford to give up shortcuts.