Hi there,
I’m currently going through some significant changes in my life. I’ll be making a professional transition soon by leaving Paris for a more rural area, but I won’t bore you with all the details.
My issue is that I really value my privacy and dislike big tech companies like gafam. To protect myself, I use Pihole and only allow an old phone to have access to meta products.
I recently caved in and reactivated my old Facebook and Instagram accounts to help with advertising, along with using a platform similar to Hootsuite to streamline things. When responding to private messages on Instagram, I use Aeroinsta to block ads and telemetry.
I’m managing okay so far, but I’ve seen the success some people have on TikTok and feel tempted to create an account. The thought of it turns my stomach, though.
If you’re in a similar situation where online communication is vital, how do you navigate it? Have you found any alternative apps for TikTok like Aerosinsta ?
I’d really appreciate hearing from you and getting some insights. Thank you for your input.
IMHO the question isn’t as much you as a user of such platforms is “f*cked” because you sound both mindful and technically savvy. So, on that front, you will be OK.
The harder question I would say is how morally bankrupt you will feel by contributing to worsening the privacy of others for profit. Namely that yes by using Facebook/Insta/TikTok/etc you will gain more customers but those customers are gradually losing their privacy while you make those companies bigger by paying them. That means you depend on those companies more while they get more power.
Because of that I would argue that sure, do everything you can to protect yourself but it can’t stop there. I would argue then than the question is rather, where else can you find more clients, and maybe even “better” clients who are more aligned with your own views on privacy, and maybe even more. It’s definitely a challenge, especially seeing the trend of surveillance capitalism, but as you acknowledge yourself by using Lemmy, there are actual alternatives.
That’s great reading something else than “use a work computer”.
Actually, this is the root of my problem, I don’t really seek clients that are people using tiktok. My target customer doesn’t use any of this crap, but before I can count on word of mouth, I need to eat, and I’ll make some profit when I’ve finally met my target customers.
In the meantime, it’s thin line to walk on.
Have you considered using a sandbox app such as Insular which is available on F-droid or Shelter.
Shelter creates a work profile, isolating apps installed in this profile from the mainland. Shelter has the advantage of supporting per-site data isolation with Android 13, which achieves the same goal as sandboxing.
You can isolate entirely your contacts from being seen by other apps if set up correctly. Furthermore, Shelter allows for a VPN only for the work profile, which is a useful feature for enhancing privacy.
I have used an app called island in the past, but sadly it’s been discontinued,it was great as it allowed a VPN both outside and inside the sandbox.
Thanks for your input.
I’m using Insular atm, which I like.
I was curious so I installed Shelter, but I can’t find how to setup a VPN for the work profile as you mentioned.
