Well, I can tell you how I tackle it.
To set the context:-
I am a believer in freedom pure and simple. So, that means for me using 'Free' hardware and hardware and software wherever and whenever possible. Now, having said that we need to firstly define "Free" - - what I mean by that is the GNU's and FSF's definition:--
What is free software? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation and should not be confused with any linguistic word/s that imply that you pay no money.
Now when you spend a bit of time with this, you'll probably rightly come to the conclusion that you are going to have to compromise these lofty ideals to some degree or another. Perhaps a good example of that might be the binary blobs (effectively software), that are embedded or burned into many of the chips and components of the devices that we all use and that are not even open-source let alone 'free' (note there is a difference). It is therefore a case of having to decide what the extent of those compromises are and the likely outcome of going in any particular direction.
You give good examples of this above in now shunning the likes of Facebook and Whatsapp. Yes they have not charged you money in the past, but you have decided that the cost to you in using them is too high a price to pay. - - and I do agree with you in that.
This in turn leads me to a conundrum. I personally have never used facebook. I have never signed-up, never logged-in, and never consented in any context to have anything whatsoever to do with it. The whole principle of it is abhorrent to me. (I am sure that you already know why that is from the things we have been discussing here). However, wherever I travel on the internet and elsewhere I am always tracked and traced (and presumably monetised) by facebook and their affiliates. For example, I would be willing to bet that if a photo of a group of people that included my ugly-mug was posted on facebook, or twitter et-al (as people are wont to do) then the chances are that my name could be accurately appended (tagged) on that image along with all of the other people in it automatically by facebook's systems, and yet I have never consented to that and if I had been asked, I would not have consented, and yet Mark Zuc' will tell the world that "you the users are in control" - - - - -yeah right, welcome to the Hotel California my friend.........
So, what do I use:-
GNU Linux based operating system for all of the things. Desktops, laptops, phones. I have no workloads that require the use of any closed-source or non-free operating system. However, I do use some application software that is non-free, simply because it does a better job than the free alternative forcing me towards pragmatism and convenience. An example of that would be the excellent Balena Etcher app which is issued under the Apache license.
Other examples of things to think about: Never use cloud services that are not under you control. Words like cloud and online usually mean 'somebody else's computer' in practical terms which in turn works out to mean that "you are the product".
For messaging about the best of breed right now today is probably Signal.
When you get comfortable using something, keep an eye on the community and people around it. You might find that all it takes is a change of finance director or CEO in order for the whole thing to swing in the opposite direction (I'm looking at you Plex, Emby, Oracle, Amazon, Cisco, LinkSys, VM-Ware, Citrix), and be prepared to re-examine it in the light of the ever changing landscape.
When browsing, sure use things like Brave and if you want to join-in with their community efforts to change things if you agree with them and want to, but you don't have to feel obliged to do so. You can do simple things yourself (and probably should be doing them). For example, make use of your hosts file in whatever operating system that you use to simply block those people that you object to -- -- (man you should see the length of my own hosts file) - - - an example of what I mean can be found here:-
jmdugan/blocklists It's a bit old-fashioned I know, but hey it works and they can't do anything about it.
Use things like DNS over TLS or DNS over HTTPS for your DNS lookups so that they can't censor you or monetise your lookups.
Perhaps the main reason/s for doing stuff like that is to frustrate and limit their ability to monetise me. OK, so at the end of the day I am simply not actually going to see any adverts displayed, but that is actually the easy bit and for the big surveillance corporates only a drop in the ocean compared with the value they 'earn' from the hidden things like data brokering, and that is what I am trying to frustrate there.
It is also perhaps worth mentioning here the social aspects of all of this sort of thing. I see on a daily basis things like our children being forced into surrendering their biometric data in school as a matter of routine just so that they can use simple services that are actually a right. I see too the financial system of the world being weaponised against the everyman in the name of security and safety - - - to say that these things to my mind are wrong is a gross understatement..
I am keenly aware that I probably sound like a fully fledged tin-foil-hat-wearing member of..... well you get the idea. But hey in all honesty I have no problem with anyone earning a living anywhere. It's greed and dishonesty that I have a problem with.
In summary, it's all about trade-offs. Convenience -v- Freedom. We all do it in varying degrees, myself included.
