Hey everyone,
I’ve been thinking a lot about how to help my parents reduce their reliance on American Big Tech (Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, etc.). They’re not tech-savvy, and I don’t want to overwhelm them or make them feel like I’m forcing a radical change. At the same time, I’m concerned about privacy, data collection, and the monopolistic practices of these companies.
Any ideas? First of all I thought about ecosia, I see that it returns more similar results to google than Qwant.
I want to buy them Threema licence.
I installed Le Chat as chatgpt replacement, moved some documents to Synology Nas
What’s next?
Agree with @huppakee@piefed.social comment here about the importance of setting a north star and seeing the big picture.
I started idcaboutprivacy for exactly this. It’s an open source repository of articles and discussions to surface the importance of privacy how it affects our lives.
I’ve found that connecting the offline to the online is really helpful in translating concepts and answering the “Why should I care?” question.
On a more tactical level, I like to start off recommending Privacy Guides. Though not everyone agrees with 100% of their software recommendations, it’s a really solid starting point, and they also provide justifications for each one.
This journey that you wanna put your parents on is also endless, and we gotta adjust as necessary as things change. It’ll never be static. So consider that. Stay lean, open minded, and willing to adapt when necessary.
I’m gonna install linux xcfe on my grandma’s laptop from 2014, windows 10 reached end of life anyway.
So my grandparents had somehow signed up for a free trial of office or 365 or whatever. They ended up getting locked put of opening documents because they didn’t want to give the computer their credit card. I was able to fairly easily convince them that Libre office was the was to go. They were pretty thrilled.
I’m thinking of giving them a linux PC to try out at some point as they mostly use it for Facebook and excel spreadsheets anyway.
I explained the whole tech thing to my old dad who has an iPhone and an iPad and such. I didn’t tell him he should shift to non-american tech, I just reminded him that while he wants to boycott American products in the stores, he must be aware that the places where a boycott matters is also the places where a boycott is the most difficult. Getting our governments to stop investing in American weapons and American an tech. Us stopping investing in American tech in private and stop using American websites and software. X, Y and Z are American websites, software or tech.
I told him I would be looking into getting myself a European phone next time and I tried to explain what Linux was - despite not being anywhere close to knowledgeable about it myself lol.
I think it gave him something to think about, but I don’t expect him to change immediately. But I know that he might reach out to me if he needs a new device at some point.
I think that is the best method, honestly. Just plant the seeds in their heads, let them think about it over time, give them the information your can and be available if/when they reach out 🤗
Just tell them (the truth) that their emails are read, their keystrokes are sent, their messages are not safe either, tell them that they have no online privacy and America sees it all (that America that is currently shooting people for recording a video). Older generations, I found, expect privacy and they usually are shocked to find out that it is breached every moment they use their mail, os, phone, etc… It is the same with my parents. The change is not fast, we always talk about one particular area (like messaging) and then they ask me themselves what they can do to fix it (like installing signal).
You’re lucky there, my experience is the polar opposite and more aligned with “I got nothing to hide” It’s quite frustrating.
There is a great video from Naomi Brockwell who basically lays out all the arguments why “I have nohing to hide” is such a bs. I’d recommend watching it and arm yourself with good arguments. That said I partially agree with the other reply, if they don’t won’t, don’t force it. Usually its better to say your arguments for why it matters and then leave them to think about it. Often times they here it here and there and they come asking more later.
Let me give you the perspective of your parents - it’s frustrating being forced into changing everything I know and is working perfectly fine for no obvious negative consequences of keeping things as they are. The entire thing seems purely ideological. Why change everything and make things break and make me basically start from scratch learning all these new things?
Instead of wasting time changing people who do not want to change, why not focus the time and effort on people who are bit more modern, tech-sawy, aware of the situation and at worst, evaluating the switch but still unsure? Instead of walking through a creek, you are frustrated because you try to drill a tunnel through a mountain.
I partially agree with you. i think it is crutial to discuss and argue when there is a chance. Politely, not forcefully. Even people that don’t want to change things they may eventually change their mind. From my experience, when they hear it from more sources they become interested. And sometimes if its repeated enough they will begin to see it as truth. Doesn’t always work, but I saw it work with some pretty stubborn people 😀
Change happens in waves - first come the early-adopters and enthusiasts, then the curious, then the majority hits, then after the majority come the initial sceptics until everyone is there.
If you apply the same logic in the past, our parents were probably the sceptics who initally said why would they install an app to communicate when they already had perfectly fine cellular calls and SMS, and they had no reason to use WhatsApp.
The same tech we try to move them from, were the same tech we probably spent the same amount of effort trying to get them to use it in the first place.
My dad is smart he doesn’t use Facebook or Google messages or have a social media account. He only uses sms and Hotmail. My mom is everywhere and when I talk to her about moving to signal she just finds any change too complicated. I love her but she’s spending 10 hours a day on Facebook. She is literally rotting her brain at 76.
My whole family is left leaning, 100+ people, but almost none of them use alternatives like Signal Lemmy and whatnot. They’re almost all on Facebook daily…
My mom was also hanging on facebook way too much. Then they asked her to upload selfie video and her ID and she was like “no way I am gonna give them that” and that was that, problem solved I guess 😀 The issue with older people I find is that they are sceptical or even cynical, or they just think it doesn’t matter because they are reaching the end if you know what I mean.
Had to look this up, but there is this saying that might help you:
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Switching to Signal for family group chat is an easy move, as it’s the same user experience than Whatsapp. Note: it’s american but not GAFAM (open source and non-profit).
This has become increasingly easy in the Netherlands. A lot of people in my parents’ generation has started using the app. It’s now at a level (at least in the social circle of my parents), that everyone seems to use Signal. My father actually never made the switch. Signal is the very first chat app he’s ever used. He used to rely on SMS and e-mail before that.
Focus on the future, not the past.
Let your parents live like they used to, since they are probably not really impacted much anyway (until we are all impacted). Focus on teaching your kids who a) understand tech much more and b) will teach the next generations.
They are impacted more than you think. My mom uses chat gpt more often than I did.
Facebook, messenger, google as default browser and search engine. Even when she search for something she chooses „google” app instead of browser Google Chrome- so its harder to switch her to ecosia ;)
I see how much crap my dad and mom watch from facebook stories. Misinformation is on the other level there… (talking from Poland perspective, we have russian propaganda in our socials)
Is the problem the content or the platform? I thought it was the platform because crap content can be found everywhere, even in the non-US platforms. But I mean, as average people, what benefit do they have from switching their life? You would feel better, but what about them?
You already have quite a good start. Wait for them to adjust and hear feedback before you switch all of it out. A major component might be mail but you might find more reluctance for them to change if they have specific contacts and accounts added. Whats nice about proton tho is you can add a gmail account to easyswitch and for the time being it will just like import/forward all the mails towards their proton account so the switch is easier.
You need to see and feel it out how far they’re willing to go/what they’re comfortable with. It would be nice to know what they rely on and like maybe a country so we can suggest alternatives (for example for amazon it highly depends on the country)
I say Linux first.
My mom relies on office documents. We wanted replace office with libreoffice and that was painful for her :(
I gave her laptop with libreoffice and she still prefered to use old laptop with old office license
If you want no friction you could just ||pirate ms office 2021 ltsc|| or similar?
I’ve moved my father to Softmaker’s office suite. He’s completely sold. They have the option of using a UI remarkably similar to the old 2003 Office look. He’s been moaning about not being able to find anything ever since Microsoft moved away from that format. He’s happy to have something he feels more comfortable with back. Softmaker is a German company and offers a free version of its office suite. If you buy the full license you also have a license forever - no monthly/quarterly/yearly renewal necessary.
She could try out OnlyOffice. Maybe she’s happy with that. At least it looks very close to MS Office
☝🏼 this — with OnlyOffice I’ve had zero formatting differences sharing docx or xlsx files with M365 or Google Workspace. This was using the desktop version. No idea how real-time collaboration is with the OnlyOffice Workspace version, and would love to hear any experiences.
Thank you, I have never used it
Warning that OnlyOffice is Russian, “headquartered” in Latvia.
Yeah that’s tough. Libreoffice is definitely not polished. Two solutions, 1) you can fiddle with the settings to make it look and act more like MS office . With the ribbon instead of the drop-down etc. 2) You can run old office versions for free using Wine. From what I hear, haven’t done it myself.
This is a tricky thing to do. I’d say start with yourself. On your journey you will find what could be interesting to which family member. All of them doesn’t have to migrate at the same time with the same product.
Small steps is always easier to take.
