(Sorry in advance for any formatting issues, I’m new to posting here) Hello! I’m a student at a US public high school, and really hate their over-dependence on Google. I’m curious of how to escape/minimize Google in my education. Any advice you can share is appreciated.
There are unfortunately going to be aspects of your life where you have to use Google. School, and later your job being major ones. If your teacher/boss says you have to use Google, you are going to use Google. With much love for the teachers, many are not good with technology and the convenience of Google makes their job easier.
Like many of us do at our jobs, just use Google to the minimum extent possible and try to minimize the personal information you give to Google. Then you can live the De-Google life in your free time.
This is probably not the answer you wanted, but it’s the practical one. Sometimes being the one person going against the grain can put a target on your back and you don’t want to get on the teacher’s bad side.
Of course, if your teacher is open to allowing you to use other tools, that’s great. I just wouldn’t get your hopes up.
“Fuck your principles; suck it up and use it anyway” is pragmatic but not really a great answer.
Especially for students, where there is a lot more room for flexibility, and the teachers incompetence shouldn’t enter into that.
Sometimes it puts a target on your back, but change can only happen when people recognize that there’s a problem with the status quo.
I understand the convenience, but I really can’t agree with their privacy policy. “We collect GPS info on an opt-out basis” no thanks.