This blog documents an attempt to build a more resilient and sovereign digital life. Today, my digital stack is almost entirely US-based.

The trigger was Greenland.
Not Greenland itself, but what it symbolised: a United States that is becoming more unpredictable, more transactional, more willing to use power — legal, economic, technological — as leverage. That moment made something click for me. If geopolitical assumptions are shifting, then so should personal and professional dependencies.

And mine are… extensive.

How locked-in I actually am

Like many people in tech, my daily stack is overwhelmingly American:

• Gmail and Google Drive for email and documents
• Google search and Chrome for my web browsing
• Bluesky to keep track of events
• LinkedIn to reach out professionally
• iCloud and Bear to keep notes
• iPhoto to keep memories
• Google Docs and Sheets for thinking and organising
• 1Password for passwords
• GitHub, VS Code
• ChatGPT to help organise my thoughts
• Amazon Kindle library for most of my favourite books
• Netflix, Spotify, DisneyPlus for entertainment
• MacBook, iPhone and Kindle as my go-to devices
• Other stuff I haven’t even realised yet

None of this felt risky for years. It felt convenient. Invisible. “Just how things work.”

Until you look at it through the lens of jurisdiction, sanctions, policy shifts, or simple unreliability. Then it starts to look less like convenience and more like single-point-of-failure design.

The challenge ahead

This blog documents an attempt to reduce dependency on US platforms where reasonable alternatives exist, especially European or open systems governed by different legal and political assumptions.

Some transitions will be easy. Others will be painful. Some may fail entirely.

Passwords depend on cloud storage.
Cloud storage depends on devices.
Devices depend on ecosystems.
Ecosystems depend on law.

Everything is connected. I’m learning that the hard way.

Even finding a place to write was hard

Ironically, just finding a place to write about this turned out to be part of the journey.

I didn’t want:

• US-based platforms
• Algorithmic feeds
• Subscriptions that monetise attention
• Something that could disappear or change rules overnight

I wanted:

• Simple publishing
• Open standards
• A space that feels closer to the web as infrastructure, not as a product

That search led me here: WriteFreely, hosted on tchncs.de, part of the Fediverse. Not perfect, not mainstream — but aligned with the values behind this experiment.

What to expect

My intention is to write roughly weekly about this journey:

• tools I replace (or fail to)
• trade-offs I didn’t expect
• things that work surprisingly well
• things that absolutely don’t

Occasionally, I’ll also write about woodworking and 3D printing — because making physical things, understanding materials, and building objects you can actually hold feels like a good counterbalance to abstract digital dependency.

Final note

This is not about rejecting America as a culture or its people.
It’s about resilience, plurality, and not assuming that yesterday’s stability will automatically exist tomorrow.

If nothing else, this blog is a way to think out loud — in public — while trying to regain a bit of agency.

Let’s see where it goes.