Question: How exactly is just changing the email client or browser you use actually protecting you from Google? For example, how does using ddg protect you if you use it with chrome? It sounds like actually de-google ing is a lot of fucking work.

So far, other than work partially using Google, switching *mostly* away has been pretty easy. DDG gives me better results so far, nightly is more responsive. I sort of miss using "ok google" on my phone, but I'll survive without it.

It's not much extra work to stay away from it.

Use it with Internet Explorer?

Well for example, using Firefox instead of Chrome already reduces the google-call-homes to the one on sites through Google :)