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I'll add that baby steps is better than no steps.
Better to start slow, get used to the flow and improve over time than to get overwhelmed and annoyed and give up.
If your step 1 is just being aware of and tweaking privacy settings for every app you use, and turning off Bluetooth and location when not in use, then good.
If your step one is to implement a full stack right away, and go live in the mountains, also good.
Another good concept to read about is threat models. Everyone's threat model is different. You have celebrities, you have CEOs, you have Snowden, you have regular Joes, activists, parents, etc. each with their own needs.
Privacy often comes at the cost of convenience, though this improves over time as the tools improve.
Assess your threat model first.
I see so many instances in the privacy space where someone asks for help and everyone piles on aggressively opinionated. Don't let that discourage you and just keep in mind your threat model. In truth we can all point you in the right directions but we can't "prescribe" you a stack without knowing your threat model. And you probably shouldn't tell us :P
Others have given good suggestions. I like to tell new folks to bookmark Privacy Guides. As far as I remember they have some good reading on privacy concepts and suggestions for tools, browsers, apps and reasoning behind them.
With that said, I like to use:
  • GrapheneOS on phone
  • Brave & Firefox for browsers (some settings to be tweaked)
  • Fedora linux on laptop
  • Protonmail + simplelogin aliases for email (bonus: they accept BTC)
  • I bounce between a few VPNs that accept BTC as well
My setup isn't perfect, but it suits my current threat model fine. I still use Windows along with Ubuntu on desktops. I still have some big brother apps, but more limited and contained on GrapheneOS.
I've become a fan of "identity segregation" because of my tendencies for obssessing about details and OPSEC. I must've reinstalled all my OS a handful of times before settling for my current setup and realising that it makes the most sense to me with a balance between privacy+security and convenience when required to stay productive. e.g. I'm ok with some big brother apps to keep in touch with some friends and family especially, but I don't carry them with me and use them in a separate dumb chromium browser I don't use for anything else. If the situation in life or the world changes, threat model will be reassessed as needed.
Cheers and best of luck on your privacy endaevors!
Excellent suggestions. Thanks for sharing. I am hoping to make another post in the coming days distilling and curating these ideas for myself and other non techie folks like me.
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Good advice especially identity segregation. I used to be the opposite and realized that is a terrible idea
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