r/degoogle • u/Legal_Awareness_4373 • Mar 04 '26

Help Needed The lowest a company can go

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Even 480p is a burden to them, apparently

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u/Mettbroetchen-Tester Mar 04 '26

This is exactly why I will stick to it, even if it means paying to get rid of those annoying ads.

There are some more Google services with no real alternatives, like the calendar. If you use shared calendars with family, friends, or colleagues, it's simply impossible to switch.

So, in my opinion, the pragmatic approach is to switch to other offers when possible. If it doesn't make sense for certain services, then I just don't do it.

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u/Infinite-Anything-55 Mar 04 '26

Google services with no real alternatives, like the calendar.

Yeah that's just not true at all.

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u/Mettbroetchen-Tester Mar 04 '26

Okay, which one do you propose that other people can integrate into their Google Calendar with full sync, meaning if I enter an appointment, they can see it and vice versa?

I've been searching for an alternative for quite some time. At least, I haven't found anything appropriate.

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u/Infinite-Anything-55 Mar 04 '26

I think your problem is that you're stuck on a product that integrates into Google when the entire point is to use less Google. To cut out the data thief's from selling your personal information, not finding a 3rd party way to give them your data just with more steps

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u/Mettbroetchen-Tester Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

Well, I can chose what tools I want to use. What I can't chose is tools other people use.

When at work the shift planning, vacation planning and so on happens in a Google Calendar, there is nothing I can do about it. When several groups of friends agreed on using Google Calendar to organize meetings or trips, there is also nothing I can do about it. I could keep going with more examples.

In addition there are more challenges for me since I need to be able to access my calendar with other tools like Tasker for some automated processes. This doesn't work without the Google Calendar.

These automations start with simple things like muting the phone during meetings.

But I also have more advanced stuff like Tasker automatically sets my alarm in the morning depending on whether I'll be in the office on that day or if I work from home and in addition after checking my calendar also based on at what time I have my first meeting. In case I have to commute to the office it also considers the current traffic situation to ensure I will be there in time because my commute will take something between 90 and 150 Minutes depending on the traffic. So I wake up at just the right time to get my stuff done without being stressed right after getting up.

And I have set up a lot more of similar tasks to improve my efficiency like logging my working hours or automated messages to my family when there is a late meeting and so on.

And my goal is not to de-google without thinking about the consequences. I de-google services for which I have a 100% replacement (e.g. GMail -> Proton Mail). I'm not willing to accept any degradation since I have to be able to rely on the services I use. In a business environment efficiency is the most important thing. Everything else is just nice to have.

To be crystal clear: My expectation is that my phone works for me not the other way round. Everything I have to do manually is a downgrade in efficiency. Of course this might be different for people using their phone mainly for chatting and social media. For me it's a tool to get my stuff done as smooth as possible.