"Disconnecting/going back" on a budget.

Past few years or so I've been slowly disconnecting myself from a lot of modern tech culture for many reasons, and tons of other people have done the same, whether its just building a website and logging off of most giant social media platforms in favor of authenticity and creative freedom, to ditching steaming for CDs, or switching to using less apps and more physical items like a digital camera or an old iPod. Going back to simpler ways with tech, back when it wasn't so centered in all of our lives.

I've seen more extreme examples but it shows that you don't have to follow what's going on around you if just don't like it. 

Problems rise though when you consider how much of this is just buying ''new'' things and swapping out your current possessions for those, I'm very much a DIY guy and i value using what you already have and not always resorting to rapid spending, and i know there's a portion of people that want to disconnect themselves but may not have the money, so I'm here to show some of the solutions I've used before and I'm open to anyone else's ideas too, I'd love to learn more.

<disclaimer; these are all from my experience, so follow only what you'd like>

=COMPUTERS=

First one i can think of is this program called ''RetroBar'', it basically replaces your windows 10/11 taskbar with older versions of it, like around 98 to Vista, Super simple to download and get working, I'll link This tutorial which helped me out a lot during the setup.

Another one i want to mention but i put it lightly because it bugged my pc out one time, OpenShell. OpenShell's very similar to RetroBar, but instead it changes your start menu rather than your taskbar. It works great but a while ago i had issues with updating it, and it spiraled into my laptop freaking out slightly, and if you know anything about the internet its to be cautious, you don't know who is developing these programs and they could slip in something without anyone knowing, its been done before. One example being the sonic fangame; ''Sonic Gather Battle''. Now I'm not accusing OpenShell of being malware not at all, just something to keep a look out for with any software. Here's a tutorial for setting it up

CUSTOM CURSORS, love custom cursors and no software is needed to do it. It's not necessary at all to this lifestyle change but i like it. Tutorial

=SMARTPHONES=

This would probably be obvious to some, but unless you really want to (and I'm not going to stop you), You don't have to ditch your current Smartphone. What i have done personally is;

- Delete all social media apps, keeping all online distractions to only my pc, that way i have something to walk away from rather than just having it also be in my pocket. 

- Change app icons, this one was fun to do. If you have an iPhone, using the "Shortcuts'' app and using previous icons for apps, can be whatever icons you want honestly, doesn't have to be IOS.

- Removing all apps except for the necessities, (Ex: Text, Calls, Emails, Camera, Etc.) Basically turning your smartphone more into a dumbphone. Personally i don't entirely do this, as i like to have a few simple game apps and image apps for, but nothing that takes my attention away fully. But this options a good choice for those unable to buy another phone.

[edit 11/15]

One thing i've discovered thats dumbed my iphone down perfectly for me (since i still need a few apps for my job that just having a flip phone couldn't do unfortunately), was the "Assistive Access" mode in the settings, with how stupid simple its made using my phone along with being able to pick and chose what apps i'd still keep around instead of having to view all the bloatware-ish stuff i see in modern IOS and getting slightly annoyed with it. I don't even keep safari on this just to truly keep my phone down to communication, music, and photos.

=WEBSITES=

Algorithms suck. They've become the dictator to most of our online experience, and only praising those with more frequent posts and engagement compared to others. Its all luck of the draw.

Which is why some people, me included, have built our own spaces on the web. And to make your own site you'd have to take time to learn HTML and CSS, which is accessible to do. Plenty of sites exist with the soul purpose to make coding more accessible. But, for whatever reason it may be, some people just don't have the time to learn HTML.

The web should be accessible to all, even those with lesser coding skills. My first website was built on Carrd.co, which, in my opinion, is one of the better free code-free website builders. There's a slight learning curve, but compared to learning HTML, which can take months depending on who you are, you can learn Carrd through any Youtube tutorial. Throughout my time exploring websites, I've come across my fair share of Carrds that were genuine websites and not just some teenager's DNI page, I know it has potential.

Another website i must mention since we're on the topic, Straw.Page is a great beginner friendly site builder. Making the process more like building blocks and stickers rather than divs. I've experimented with StrawPage a couple times and while i don't see many StrawPages in the web compared to Carrd, and especially Neocites websites. That shouldn't mean people shouldn't use these platforms just due to their different fundamentals. Personally, the more accessible the web is to everyone the less power large social media sites are given.

=MISC.=

Here's some ideas I've had while writing this post, While not entirely free, they can be good alternatives. And, once again, feel free to comment any of your ideas.

-Thrift. For anything really, this should already be a given but the best and most affordable way to find old tech/physical media/Etc. is through thrift stores. Possibly Ebay but just be careful of people who overprice. 

- Just dig around your house. You could possibly find the older tech you already need just in your own home. You could even ask around if any friends or family has any old tech to lend you as well.

-Garage sales. Mentioning this as i remembered one time at the crack of noon, i was snooping around my neighborhood for any weekend garage sales and found one home with heaps of old computers, hard drives, PC boxes, and even some old game controllers. It was quite the marvel honestly. I'm very aware i just got really lucky that day, but its always fun to see what you can find at these sales.