# live free with tech > Practical patterns for living free with tech. Free with tech is not about quitting technology. It is about changing the order of the relationship: paper first, technology second. Paper First Life is the what. A paper journal stays close to the center of thinking, reflection, and meaning-making. Journal Companions are the how. Digital tools can help with capture, review, reminders, storage, and coordination, but they should stay secondary. This page is an evolving knowledge base of practices I use or actively maintain. Treat them as patterns to adapt, not as a required stack to copy. You can use the AI-safe prompt under any practice to discuss implementation with an AI assistant. Do not paste private journal entries, private relationship details, personal identifiers, or sensitive account information into AI. Use generic context and keep the source of truth with you. Treat agentic AI with app, file, browser, or system-control access as a separate risk: it should not run in the same environment as sensitive personal apps and data. ## Navigation - [free with tech](https://freewith.tech/index.md) - [fwt. checkup](https://freewith.tech/checkup.md) - [fwt. Apps](https://freewith.tech/apps.md) ## Start here You do not need to adopt everything. Pick the area that hurts most right now. - **If the phone controls your attention:** start with [Notifications off by default](#notifications-off-by-default), [Keep infinite-content apps hard to reach](#keep-infinite-content-apps-hard-to-reach), and [Feed inbox instead of endless scrolling](#feed-inbox-instead-of-endless-scrolling). - **If your system feels scattered:** start with [Paper journal as life OS](#paper-journal-as-life-os), [Regular reflection](#regular-reflection), and [Zero queues](#zero-queues). - **If privacy and ownership are the concern:** start with [Email aliases](#email-aliases), [Password manager as footprint map](#password-manager-as-footprint-map), and [Quarterly digital audit](#quarterly-digital-audit). - **If AI is the concern:** start with [AI privacy boundary](#ai-privacy-boundary), [Opt out of AI training](#opt-out-of-ai-training), and [Keep agentic AI off sensitive systems](#keep-agentic-ai-off-sensitive-systems). - **If you want the core fwt. move:** start with [Paper journal as life OS](#paper-journal-as-life-os). ## Labels The labels are plain Markdown for now. They can become interactive filters later without changing the content. - Area: `foundation`, `attention`, `communication`, `ownership`, `maintenance` - Entry point: `reset`, `reclaim`, `optimize` - Effort: `low`, `medium`, `high` - Mode: `rule`, `ritual`, `setup`, `review` ## Practices ### Paper journal as life OS Area: `foundation` Entry point: `reset` Effort: `medium` Mode: `ritual` - **Pattern:** Put the slowest, most owned tool at the center. - **Practice:** Use a paper journal as the place where thinking, reflection, decisions, and life direction become clear. - **Start small:** Keep one notebook nearby and write one daily page about what matters today. - **Samuel's current form:** Paper is the life OS and source of truth; digital tools are allowed only as support around it. - **Watch out:** Paper can become decorative if decisions still happen inside apps and chats. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me design a paper-first life system using generic examples only. Keep paper as the source of truth and use digital tools only for support. ### Regular reflection Area: `foundation` Entry point: `reset` Effort: `low` Mode: `ritual` - **Pattern:** A calmer digital life needs recurring self-awareness, not only better settings. - **Practice:** Build a regular reflection rhythm that helps you notice what is working, what is drifting, and what needs to change. - **Start small:** Set one weekly reflection session and answer: what gave energy, what drained it, and what needs attention next. - **Samuel's current form:** Reflection is part of the paper-based system and keeps the broader practice honest. - **Watch out:** Reflection should not become another productivity performance loop. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me create a simple weekly reflection routine using generic examples. Do not ask for private journal content. ### Daily mood tracking Area: `foundation` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `low` Mode: `ritual` - **Pattern:** Track a small emotional signal without turning life into analytics. - **Practice:** Record mood daily so patterns become visible across time. - **Start small:** Use one number or word per day and review it weekly on paper. - **Samuel's current form:** Daily mood tracking supports awareness alongside the paper journal and balanced habits. - **Watch out:** Mood data should guide reflection, not replace it. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me add lightweight mood tracking to my routine using generic examples only. Keep the review process simple and paper-first. ### Six-axis habit check Area: `foundation` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `ritual` - **Pattern:** Track a small fixed set of habits that represents balanced living. - **Practice:** Choose a limited set of habits and review them consistently. - **Start small:** Pick six areas of life and mark each one once per day. - **Samuel's current form:** I use six Axis habits for balanced living, supported by `fwt. axis`. - **Watch out:** Habit tracking becomes unhealthy when the tracker becomes the center instead of the life it supports. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me define six balanced life habits using generic categories. Keep the tracking lightweight and secondary to paper reflection. ### Portable Markdown notes Area: `foundation` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `low` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Digital notes are safer when they stay portable and readable. - **Practice:** Use Markdown for notes that need to live digitally. - **Start small:** Keep important digital notes as plain Markdown files instead of locking them into a proprietary format. - **Samuel's current form:** I use Markdown for note-taking in Obsidian. - **Watch out:** Digital notes can quietly become the real source of truth if paper stops leading. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me design a portable Markdown note setup using generic examples. Keep paper as the primary thinking system. ### Journal Companions as secondary tools Area: `foundation` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Good digital tools support the paper loop and then get out of the way. - **Practice:** Use small companion tools for capture, light tracking, reminders, or review without letting them become a life-management center. - **Start small:** Pick one narrow digital job that paper handles poorly in the moment, then return the important result to paper. - **Samuel's current form:** Journal Companions help maintain a paper-based life OS; `fwt. axis` and `fwt. joex` are first-party examples. - **Watch out:** A companion stops being a companion when it becomes the place where life is planned and interpreted. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me identify one narrow digital companion role using generic examples. Keep the tool secondary to a paper journal. ### Offload without staying in the screen Area: `foundation` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `low` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Capture is useful when it protects presence. - **Practice:** Offload thoughts quickly when paper is unavailable, then return to the moment and migrate only what still matters back into paper. - **Start small:** Create one capture path for quick notes, review it later, rewrite what matters into paper, and discard the rest. - **Samuel's current form:** I use `fwt. joex` on Apple Watch to offload quickly without staying in the phone. - **Watch out:** Capture becomes a trap when every thought turns into screen time or when captured items never migrate back into the trusted system. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me design a quick capture and migration workflow using generic examples. The goal is to return to the moment and move only useful items back to paper. ### No default social media Area: `attention` Entry point: `reset` Effort: `high` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** Remove default feeds from daily life before optimizing anything else. - **Practice:** Do not keep social media as an ambient place to live. - **Start small:** Remove one feed from your phone and decide what real job, if any, it still serves. - **Samuel's current form:** I do not use social media by default, with Strava as a bounded exception for movement motivation and inspiration. - **Watch out:** A justified exception can become a default feed again if the purpose is not explicit. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me audit social media use with generic examples. Focus on purpose, boundaries, and what can be removed without needing private details. ### Feed inbox instead of endless scrolling Area: `attention` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `ritual` - **Pattern:** Feeds become safer when browsing and consuming are separated. - **Practice:** Timebox feed browsing, save only points of interest into an inbox or Watch Later queue, then either walk away or intentionally empty that queue. - **Start small:** Set a five-minute timer, save interesting items instead of opening them immediately, and stop when the timer ends. - **Samuel's current form:** I keep zero Watch Later lists as an intentional done state and avoid letting saved content become another endless feed. - **Watch out:** The inbox can become a second feed if it is never emptied. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me design a feed-inbox routine using generic examples. Do not ask for my subscriptions, watch history, or private interests. ### Browser blocking for trackers and distracting elements Area: `attention` Entry point: `reset` Effort: `low` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Reduce manipulation before it reaches attention. - **Practice:** Use a browser and blocker setup that limits tracking and distracting web elements. - **Start small:** Install a reputable content blocker and block the web elements that most often pull you off course. - **Samuel's current form:** I use `uBlock Origin` in the Firefox-based `Zen` browser, partly because it still supports this style of blocking well. - **Watch out:** Blocking tools should support intentional browsing, not become another configuration hobby. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me set up distraction and tracker blocking using generic browsing habits. Do not ask for my private browsing history. ### Keep infinite-content apps hard to reach Area: `attention` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Apps with infinite content should not be one tap away. - **Practice:** Keep infinite-content apps desktop-only where possible. If they must stay installed, remove notifications, turn off background refresh, hide them from the home screen, and add authentication friction. - **Start small:** Pick one app with an endless feed and either remove it from the phone or hide it behind friction. - **Samuel's current form:** I keep distracting tools bounded and make the phone less inviting through restrictions, disabled notifications, and intentional friction. - **Watch out:** Friction only works when the app still has a clear purpose; otherwise removal is cleaner. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me add friction around infinite-content apps using generic app categories. Do not ask for my private app list or usage history. ### Low-stimulation phone Area: `attention` Entry point: `reset` Effort: `low` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Make the phone less rewarding by default. - **Practice:** Reduce visual stimulation and easy entry points on the phone. - **Start small:** Turn icons grayscale, remove unused apps, and put distracting apps away from the first screen. - **Samuel's current form:** My phone uses gray icons and intentional friction. - **Watch out:** Cosmetic minimalism is not enough if the same compulsive loops remain one tap away. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me make a phone less stimulating using generic examples. Focus on friction, fewer triggers, and practical access. ### Notifications off by default Area: `attention` Entry point: `reset` Effort: `low` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** Interruption should be earned. - **Practice:** Turn app notifications off by default and allow only rare high-signal exceptions. - **Start small:** Disable notifications for every non-human or non-urgent app. - **Samuel's current form:** App notifications are turned off. - **Watch out:** Badges, unread counts, and quiet notifications can still create pressure if they remain visible. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me create a notification policy using generic app categories. Do not ask for personal contact names or private app content. ### Low mobile data and offline-first apps Area: `attention` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Useful scarcity creates boundaries. - **Practice:** Use low mobile data and offline-first tools to prevent endless connection from becoming the default. - **Start small:** Lower one always-online dependency and make one essential workflow available offline. - **Samuel's current form:** I use a low mobile data plan and offline-first apps as boundaries. - **Watch out:** Offline-first should reduce pull, not create fragility when you actually need something. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me design a low-data, offline-first setup using generic use cases. Keep essential access reliable. ### Wrist-first phone detachment Area: `attention` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `high` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** A smaller device can satisfy essentials without opening the full phone. - **Practice:** Use a restricted watch or similar device for essential communication and capture so the phone can stay away more often. - **Start small:** Try one phone-free block where only essential communication remains available. - **Samuel's current form:** I use an Apple Watch with eSIM as a mini phone with restrictions and intentional friction. - **Watch out:** A watch can become a smaller version of the same distraction if it receives too much. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me test a wrist-first setup using generic constraints. Keep the goal phone detachment, not more notifications. ### Dedicated entertainment devices Area: `attention` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Entertainment becomes easier to bound when it has a place. - **Practice:** Keep gaming, watching, and reading on dedicated devices where possible. - **Start small:** Move one entertainment activity away from the phone. - **Samuel's current form:** I use Steam Deck and PC for gaming, and a tablet for watching and reading. - **Watch out:** Dedicated devices still need boundaries; separation is not permission for endless sessions. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me separate entertainment from daily phone use using generic device categories and time boundaries. ### Zero queues Area: `attention` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `ritual` - **Pattern:** Open loops should close or move into a trusted system. - **Practice:** Keep inboxes, browser tabs, Watch Later lists, and similar queues near zero. - **Start small:** Clear one queue and define what counts as done. - **Samuel's current form:** I archive mail, delete resolved chats, keep Watch Later empty, and close browser tabs intentionally. - **Watch out:** Zero can become theater if the important thing is merely hidden elsewhere. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me create done states for digital queues using generic examples. Do not ask for private message or email contents. ### Operational chats only Area: `communication` Entry point: `reset` Effort: `medium` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** Digital communication should support real life, not become the place where life happens. - **Practice:** Use chat apps for coordination and necessary information; keep deeper relationship work in person when possible. - **Start small:** Define chats as tools for time, place, logistics, and practical details. - **Samuel's current form:** Online communication is mainly for operative use, such as agreeing on time and place. - **Watch out:** Long-running chat intimacy can quietly replace presence and direct connection. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me define chat boundaries using generic examples. Do not ask for private conversations or relationship details. ### Delete resolved chats Area: `communication` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `low` Mode: `ritual` - **Pattern:** Chat threads should not become an accidental archive of life. - **Practice:** Delete resolved chats after the exchange is finished and move anything important to a system you own. - **Start small:** Delete one finished thread after extracting any needed action or note. - **Samuel's current form:** Resolved chats get deleted; anything important gets moved to paper that I own. - **Watch out:** Do not delete material you still need for legal, financial, work, or safety reasons. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me design a chat cleanup habit using generic examples. Do not ask me to paste chat content. ### Encrypted communication Area: `communication` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `medium` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Private communication deserves private channels. - **Practice:** Prefer end-to-end encrypted communication for email or chat when the content matters. - **Start small:** Move one sensitive communication path to an encrypted option. - **Samuel's current form:** I use encrypted online communication where possible. - **Watch out:** Encryption does not solve attention, retention, or bad sharing habits by itself. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me identify which communication categories should use encryption using generic examples. Do not ask for message contents. ### Email aliases Area: `ownership` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `low` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Your main email should not be handed to every service. - **Practice:** Use aliases for websites that want to target you or do not need your primary address. - **Start small:** Use aliases for ecommerce and new accounts. - **Samuel's current form:** I use email aliases to keep my main email private. - **Watch out:** Aliases need a naming and management pattern or they become clutter. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me design an email alias system using generic account categories. Do not ask for my real email addresses. ### Personal/work account separation Area: `ownership` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** Personal privacy and business visibility have different needs. - **Practice:** Separate personal and work services so convenience in one area does not weaken control in the other. - **Start small:** Identify which accounts are personal, work, public, or mixed. - **Samuel's current form:** I keep strict separation between personal and business services: privacy and control for personal, convenience and visibility for business. - **Watch out:** Mixed accounts create messy boundaries, especially around identity, data, and public presence. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me map account categories using generic examples. Do not ask for usernames, emails, or client details. ### Password manager as footprint map Area: `ownership` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `review` - **Pattern:** A password manager can show what your digital life depends on. - **Practice:** Use it not only for passwords, but also as a map of accounts, services, and cleanup targets. - **Start small:** Review one folder or category and remove accounts you no longer need. - **Samuel's current form:** I use a multi-platform password manager and keep a digital footprint overview through it. - **Watch out:** Do not turn the password manager into the only place where critical recovery knowledge exists. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me plan a password-manager review using generic account categories. Do not ask for passwords, domains tied to private identity, or recovery details. ### Delete unused accounts Area: `ownership` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `medium` Mode: `review` - **Pattern:** Exit is part of ownership. - **Practice:** Review digital dependencies, export anything worth keeping, and delete accounts that no longer serve a clear purpose. - **Start small:** Pick one category in the password manager, export needed data from unused services, then close the accounts you no longer need. - **Samuel's current form:** Account deletion belongs inside my recurring digital dependency review. - **Watch out:** Do not delete accounts that hold legal, financial, warranty, recovery, or work information before preserving what matters. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me create an account-deletion checklist using generic service categories. Do not ask for account names, emails, passwords, or recovery details. ### Own your photo library Area: `ownership` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `high` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Personal photos should not depend only on a default cloud platform. - **Practice:** Store photos on storage you control, with backups and a sharing path that does not force everything through large platforms. - **Start small:** Export recent photos and create one local backup before changing the whole system. - **Samuel's current form:** Photos live on my own disk instead of only in the cloud, backed by a self-hosted instance such as Immich; my phone stays low-storage with only recent photos local. - **Watch out:** Self-hosting photos is only better if backup, recovery, and maintenance are realistic. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me design a photo ownership workflow using generic requirements. Do not ask for personal photos, locations, or family details. ### Encrypted cloud storage and stronger account protection Area: `ownership` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `medium` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Cloud can be useful when control and protection are part of the setup. - **Practice:** Use encrypted cloud storage, privacy-oriented two-factor authentication, and stronger account protection for files and accounts that need sync, backup, or remote access. - **Start small:** Turn on stronger protection for one account, review 2FA, and move sensitive files into an encrypted storage path. - **Samuel's current form:** I use encrypted cloud storage, Apple Enhanced Data Protection, and privacy-oriented account-protection choices where possible. - **Watch out:** Encryption does not remove the need for exports, backups, and recovery planning. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me review cloud storage and account protection using generic file categories. Do not ask for filenames or private document contents. ### Provider diversification Area: `ownership` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `medium` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** Too much dependence on one provider weakens exit. - **Practice:** Avoid stacking too many critical tools from a single company. - **Start small:** List your top five digital dependencies by provider and find one unnecessary concentration. - **Samuel's current form:** I avoid stacking too many apps from one provider to reduce lock-in. - **Watch out:** Diversification can become complexity if every tool is split for theoretical purity. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me map provider dependence using generic service categories. Do not ask for account identifiers or private data. ### Subscription rule Area: `ownership` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `medium` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** Recurring payments should be reserved for recurring value. - **Practice:** Keep subscriptions mainly for content services; prefer lifetime licenses or durable ownership for other tools when reasonable. - **Start small:** Review subscriptions and mark each as content, utility, business, or unnecessary. - **Samuel's current form:** I keep subscriptions mostly to content-based apps, with Spotify and YouTube as current exceptions. - **Watch out:** Lifetime licenses are not automatically better if the tool is bad, unmaintained, or hard to exit. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me audit subscriptions using generic categories and decision rules. Do not ask for billing details. ### AI privacy boundary Area: `ownership` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `low` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** AI can help with implementation without becoming a container for private life. - **Practice:** Keep personal material out of mainstream AI systems by default. - **Start small:** Define what counts as public, business, personal, and private before using AI. - **Samuel's current form:** I do not talk to mainstream AI about personal stuff; private AI may be used for personal topics only with intentional boundaries. - **Watch out:** Convenience makes it easy to turn AI into a diary, therapist, or private archive. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me define AI-sharing boundaries using generic examples. Do not ask for private journal entries, relationship details, or sensitive identifiers. ### Opt out of AI training Area: `ownership` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `low` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** AI settings are part of privacy maintenance. - **Practice:** Opt out of model training or data retention where the option exists. - **Start small:** Review the settings of one AI tool you use. - **Samuel's current form:** I opt out of AI training when I use AI. - **Watch out:** Opt-out settings vary and can change; this needs periodic review. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me create a generic checklist for AI privacy settings. Do not ask which private prompts I have used. ### Keep agentic AI off sensitive systems Area: `ownership` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `medium` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** Agentic AI with broad app, browser, file, or system-control access should be treated like an operator inside that environment. - **Practice:** Do not run agentic AI on a system, user account, browser profile, or device where sensitive personal apps and data are available. - **Start small:** Use a separate browser profile, user account, device, or sandbox for agentic AI work, with no personal sessions, private files, or sensitive apps signed in. - **Samuel's current form:** I do not use agentic AI on systems where I use apps with sensitive personal information. - **Watch out:** YOLO modes, broad permissions, screen access, clipboard access, browser sessions, local files, and app automation can turn an AI tool into an OS-level backdoor even when the request sounds harmless. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me design an agentic AI separation policy using generic device, account, browser, and app categories. Do not ask for app names, files, account details, screenshots, or sensitive personal information. ### GPS only while using apps Area: `ownership` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `low` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Location access should be contextual, not ambient. - **Practice:** Allow GPS only while actively using an app unless there is a clear reason for background access. - **Start small:** Review location settings and remove background access from non-essential apps. - **Samuel's current form:** GPS is allowed only when inside an app, with no background activity by default. - **Watch out:** Some safety, navigation, or device-finding features may need careful exceptions. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me review location permissions using generic app categories. Do not ask for places I visit. ### Car privacy mode Area: `ownership` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `low` Mode: `setup` - **Pattern:** Connected devices outside the phone also collect data. - **Practice:** Use privacy mode or reduced-data settings in car infotainment systems when available. - **Start small:** Open the car privacy settings and turn off optional sharing. - **Samuel's current form:** My car has privacy mode enabled for limited data collection. - **Watch out:** Car settings can reset after service, updates, or account changes. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me create a generic car privacy settings checklist. Do not ask for vehicle identifiers or travel history. ### Quarterly digital audit Area: `maintenance` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `medium` Mode: `review` - **Pattern:** A healthier setup is maintained on purpose. - **Practice:** Review dependencies, export data, reassess tools, and refresh backups on a recurring schedule. - **Start small:** Schedule one review every four months and cover accounts, backups, subscriptions, and tools. - **Samuel's current form:** Every four months I map digital dependencies, export data, reassess tools, and refresh cloud backups. - **Watch out:** Maintenance should catch drift, not become a complicated ceremony. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me plan a quarterly digital audit using generic categories. Do not ask for account names, private files, or recovery secrets. ### Cookie rejection Area: `maintenance` Entry point: `reclaim` Effort: `low` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** Small tracking defaults compound across the web. - **Practice:** Reject optional cookies when visiting websites. - **Start small:** Deny optional cookies and keep only what is required for the site to work. - **Samuel's current form:** I deny cookies when visiting websites. - **Watch out:** Cookie banners can train automatic clicking; stay aware without overthinking every visit. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me create a simple cookie policy for everyday browsing using generic website types. ### Avoid default lock-in ecosystems Area: `ownership` Entry point: `optimize` Effort: `high` Mode: `rule` - **Pattern:** Default ecosystems often trade convenience for lock-in, tracking, or weak exit. - **Practice:** Avoid platforms that create bloat, ad-tech dependence, weak ownership, or locked purchases when a reasonable alternative exists. - **Start small:** Pick one ecosystem dependency and decide whether to keep, constrain, replace, or accept as a visible compromise. - **Samuel's current form:** I avoid Windows because of bloatware, Google and Meta where practical because of ad-tech dependence, and Kindle because of lock-in around digital purchases. - **Watch out:** Purity can backfire; keep practical exceptions visible instead of pretending they do not exist. - **AI-safe prompt:** Help me evaluate ecosystem lock-in using generic categories. Do not ask for private account details or purchase history. ## Current compromises Living free with tech is a practice, not a purity badge. These areas are still unresolved or accepted as practical compromises. - Private contacts - Private calendar - WhatsApp - Spotify - YouTube - Apple Notes sketches - Maps - Remaining Google or Meta dependency caused by practical constraints --- (c) 2026 [Samuel Pitonak](https://samuelpitonak.com/?utm_source=freewith.tech). All rights reserved.