Leaving Big Tech (or trying to): an in-progress dispatch

I promised to report back. So here I am, a little wide-eyed from frontal cortex overload and only partially victorious.

I just wanted to move away from the big tech machine and the always-available pull of contractual, fear-driven connection.

Meta and LinkedIn: secured and locked down. Email: migrated to Proton Mail – personal and professional. Google Drive: in progress, moving across to Proton Drive. Less functionality, but a layout I’m warming to. These things take longer than a single hyperfocus-driven afternoon.

What I didn’t factor in: the research spiral. I spent longer than I’d like to admit debating and prevaricating, only to lurch into impulsive action – the kind of hyperfocus where you forget you’re attached to a body and need to stop for a wee. It wasn’t even the work I’d planned for the day. No matter.

The ADHD tax isn’t just the time. It’s choosing between twelve imperfect alternatives when your brain needs one obvious right answer that doesn’t exist.

What actually helped: getting an overview with Claude’s assistance, then deciding – based on my own whys, budget, and practical needs – that good enough was the goal, not perfection.

What genuinely surprised me: I dropped a quiet heads-up on both the school parents’ WhatsApp and my street group – no recruitment drive, just a brief note that I’d be leaving WhatsApp (or whatever) and where I could be found. Eleven parents from the forthcoming sixth form group have already migrated to Signal, with appetite to meet up in person – just people on a shared path, no fundraising or helicopter parenting agendas in sight. Many from the street group have expressed interest in doing the same. I wasn't trying to organise anyone. I just wanted to move away from the big tech machine and the always-available pull of contractual, fear-driven connection – the kind where you stay because leaving feels rude, or because you might miss something, or because you've been quietly recruited into someone else's agenda.

I’m not done. But I’m less of a product than I was six months – even six days – ago, and I didn’t let it encroach on my birthday and Mother’s day celebrations combined. That feels like something.

If you want the practical detail – what I moved to, how – drop a comment, new friends on Substack. Happy to share.