The uncomfortable truth about getting people off US tech

TL;DR: People don't switch tech because it's better; they switch when a crisis makes staying feel dangerous and when others switch too.

I'm a big fan of Paris Marx's work over at Disconnect. In fact, I became a paid supporter recently after listening to his podcasts and reading his work a lot last year.

His article on reassessing our relationship to digital tech is excellent. You should definitely read it.

However, Marx's guide to getting off US tech, while well-intentioned and containing genuinely useful information, makes a fundamental error about human nature. It assumes we are primarily rational creatures.

We are not.

People are emotional. We are habitual. We use what our friends use. We value the familiar over having an optimal setup. So when someone hands you a 50-item menu across 15 categories, the rational response is not “excellent, I will now review these methodically and start my migration plan.”

Nope. Most people close the tab and check Instagram instead.

The Disconnect guide reads like a technical specification. What we actually need is to understand what the Jeeves calls understanding the “psychology of the individual.” – and recognise of when it is that people actually change.

Why lists don't work

Climate change communication is not so different from what we're discussing. Researchers have documented for years, if not decades at this point, irrefutable facts about global warming. Yet facts alone do not shift behaviour.

What actually drives climate policy support? Emotion. Things like hope, worry, and anger predict whether people will support climate action far more effectively than providing them with raw temperature and CO2 data.

It's the same with political beliefs. When researchers test whether changing people's convictions translates into changed behaviour, they discover it hinges entirely on political identity. Evidence shifts beliefs, but only if it aligns with tribal belonging.

On contentious issues, rational evidence provokes... nothing. People maintain their positions because of group membership, not logical evaluation

I'd say switching technologies operates in the same way, with one crucial exception: sometimes, specific events do break people loose.

Crisis creates permission

When WhatsApp announced in January 2021 that users would have to share data with Facebook, Signal saw downloads spike by around 5,000% in a single week. This wasn't because Signal suddenly became better than it had been the week before. It was because there was a defined crisis. It was a concrete moment in time when people felt their privacy was actively threatened.

That is the insight missing from the Disconnect guide: it assumes people need philosophical reasons to switch. Often they don't; they need a specific event that makes staying on their current course feel somehow “dangerous.

I'd been using Signal for years and tried to convince my own family to switch many times. They studiously ignored me because I'm technical. Then, when the WhatsApp scandal broke, it was actually my wife's aunt who made the suggestion.

Suddenly, it was not paranoia fuelling the migration; it was common sense. The crisis gave social permission to be “people who use Signal.” Beforehand it seemed you would have to be some kind of weird privacy obsessive to use it. Now, my family members were just responding to the news. The crisis reframed the switch from individual choice to a collective sensible reaction.

Status quo bias is not irrational – it's conservative risk management. It's fair enough that, when you've invested time and effort mastering Facebook, your contacts are in WhatsApp, and you like scrolling Instagram, that switching away from Meta would involve genuine costs for you. The familiar has what's called a psychological anchor which makes migration feel like pushing uphill.

But an external event such as a scandal, public figures endorsing an alternative, or some kind of regulatory threat emerges, the “anchor” loosens a bit. Switching no longer feels like you are choosing to be different; it feels like you are responding to something real.

This crisis-driven shift points to something deeper about why people resist change in normal times. Let's dig into that.

Stand out? Me?

The Disconnect guide recommends a few non-US messaging apps while also noting that they have much smaller user bases, which of course makes it harder to use them to chat with people. That's quite the statement to make without exploring the psychological weight of this constraint.

These apps are not just smaller. There's a real friction in having to accept that you will be the person asking your mother to download a new app. In fact, social influence is one of the main drivers of technology adoption.You will be the one explaining why you do not use WhatsApp like everyone else. You will, to some extent, be marked as different.

Conformity bias is not a character flaw but rather a survival instinct. People do not want to be perceived as weird, paranoid, or difficult. Research shows that people adjust their behaviour to match group norms specifically to avoid social rejection. When you alone use a minority app, there is a psychological cost – well documented in research on social influence in technology adoption.

It's external justification that breaks this pattern. When a breach makes headlines, using an alternative is no longer “being difficult.” The crisis provides social cover as everyone knows what happened and switching doesn't seem eccentric.

The Disconnect doesn't address this. It assumes people are willing to stand out. Most people are not; they will switch when everyone else does. Understanding these psychological barriers helps point us toward more realistic strategies.

So, what works?

If the problem here is emotional and social, not just technical, then any solution has to acknowledge those constraints. The UK Government has a good primer on behaviour change communications that maps out exactly this kind of thinking for public campaigns, and a lot of it applies here too.

Here are some ideas:

1. Crisis moments count

I think the Disconnect guide would be much stronger and realistic if it acknowledged that moments of crisis make a difference. Rather than presenting alternatives as “better,” it could note that when a major scandal happens, Signal's download graph goes very much up and to the right. Similarly, if and when an email provider suffers a breach, people become receptive to migration.

This reframes what we're asking people. Instead of asking people to be visionary privacy advocates, we're helping them prepare so when a crisis comes, they're ready to switch quickly. You're giving them a migration plan for the moment when the existing service fails them.

2. Start with security

Switching to a new service does not guarantee perfect privacy and security. So, before doing this, it's a good idea to help people with a baseline privacy for their existing accounts.

Encourage others to enable multi-factor authentication for their accounts – especially with email and banking. Show them how to use a password manager. Help them block adverts. These actions help improve their privacy and security immediately without social friction or switching costs.

They build things which are massively undervalued: momentum and confidence. They feel achievable because you don't have to explain to other people why you've made the small changes.

Early wins help create more intrinsic motivation. You're not asking people to switch on principle, or on your terms. You are helping them get a taste of control.

3. Migrate one at a time

Not all services have equal impact in our lives. Our email inbox handles sensitive data and has zero network effects. In other words, no one particularly cares if you use GMail or Proton Mail.

Maps are something you just want to be reliable. Messaging, meanwhile, has maximal network effects: the service is pretty much useless without your “social graph.”

So starting with high-impact, low-friction services makes sense. Go with email, then search, then a password manager. No-one else needs to be involved in these decisions, and it involves zero social coordination or awkward conversations. It builds confidence.

Some recommendations:

• Email: Start with Proton Mail (Swiss, privacy-focused) or Tuta (German, encrypted). Both offer free tiers. Set up forwarding from Gmail and send new emails from Proton while gradually updating accounts over three months.
• Search: Switch to Qwant (French, independent index) or Ecosia (German, plants trees). Changing your default search engine takes 30 seconds and there's no real learning curve.
• Password Manager: Use Bitwarden (open source, zero-knowledge) or Proton Pass (Swiss, integrated with Proton Mail). Both have browser extensions that auto-fill passwords, making them easier than remembering passwords.

4. Employ a dual-app strategy

You don't have to make a decision one day and become isolated. If you use WhatsApp, for example, keep it for where you're connected to people.

Meanwhile, use Signal for conversations with privacy-conscious people. If a new group is being formed, suggest to use Signal instead of WhatsApp. Over months, as others migrate, network effects shift. This helps build the conditions for eventual mass switching.

The key thing is not to frame this as “I'm quitting WhatsApp!” It's much less emotive to say “Actually, I prefer Signal for sensitive conversations.” This avoids confrontation and helps people not feel judged.

The same is true of social media. If you need it, keep Instagram for work, but grow a presence on Mastodon or BlueSky gradually. The goal is not some kind of purity but being more intentional – a slow reduction in dependency.

Practical steps:

• Install Signal and start using it for new group chats. You could just say something like: “I prefer Signal for sensitive chats – it's like WhatsApp but doesn't share data with Facebook.” Given that it's free, most people won't mind downloading it, especially if there is a practical reason.
• For social media, try a more digital minimalist approach: delete apps from your phone, and access them via browser only. You could also try blocking them before or after a certain time using controls in your phone's screen time controls. This helps reduces dependency without requiring deletion or explanation.

5. Frame privacy as a sensible precaution

People respond to positive emotions such as hope and efficacy rather than guilt or fear of being judged as paranoid. The Disconnect guide mentions digital sovereignty as something of abstract geopolitical importance.

Concrete framing works better: “If you use Proton Mail it means that hostile governments can't subpoenaed your communications with your therapist” might be effective. It's also important to just normalise privacy. It should not come across as exceptional, but just what sensible people do.

The way I've explained it before is that privacy is why we have curtains on our windows, and security is why we have locks on our doors. The same applies in the digital world.

Research shows that solutions-focused messaging generates more sustained behaviour change than threat-focused messaging. Being told that companies are harvesting your data (result: defensiveness and denial) doesn't work as well as “here's how to achieve your goals without having to change your workflow." You're inviting participation rather than resistance.

Actionable guidance

The Disconnect guide provides a useful menu. But for actionable guidance, try:

• Privacy Guides – Structured, prioritised recommendations with migration guides for non-technical users
• Techlore's Migration Guides – Step-by-step video walkthroughs for moving email, password managers, and cloud storage. Designed for people with no technical background.
• Personal tech switching blogs — Medium has dozens of documented personal migrations. These work because they show real people, with real trade-offs, describing what actually worked. Social proof matters, and social support is among the most effective behaviour change techniques.

Specific migration guides worth reading:

• Proton's migration guide for moving from Gmail
• Privacy Guides' email security guide comparing providers
• The New Oil's privacy guides—practical, non-technical advice

What this looks like in practice

It is not perfect, pure, or sudden. Instead, it looks like setting up Proton Mail and forwarding your Gmail. You switch your search engine to something like Qwant. Your family uses Signal when there is something sensitive to discuss.

You check your privacy settings quarterly. You have a backup plan for when your current services fail. You don't announce this on social media. You are not trying to make a name for yourself or be “that guy” at social gatherings.

You are just someone who, quietly and steadily, became less dependent on US infrastructure. When the next WhatsApp scandal happens, your data is already across the border. When your email provider gets hacked, you know what to do.

You got there not because a guide listed better services, but because the old system created enough friction, a crisis gave you permission, and the switch finally felt sensible rather than eccentric. That's how change actually happens.