I think you're describing ways to find good online services and avoid shady online services. It's a separate topic from what I was talking about, which is retaining control over your own computing by avoiding unnecessary dependency on a company after you've already received the product. For example, an app that does its processing and data storage on a remote server, when it's perfectly possible to build an app that could handle it all locally.

For the example of paid subscription, a good example of what I'm advising against is those new cars that require you to subscribe just to use some of the features of the car that you've already bought. And they can disable them if you stop paying.

Need email and phone number.

Uses google trackers or Facebook trackers even when unrelated.

Has a separate terms of service, privacy agreement, privacy statement, and 14 pages you need to go through to opt out, to obfuscate shadiness.

Endless acrolling.

Disagree with paid subscription though. I'd rather pay a tiny bit than have my info sold.

As for why they might want this - different people might have different reasons.

And they're all perfectly fine reasons, if you ask me. To give you some context, despite living in a big city with a real fast Internet access I worked my ass of in order to optimize my blog so that it loads as fast as possible even on a shitty connection. And will update it every time I find a new way to optimize it a little more. (if you're curious, switching to the AVIF file format for images was the most impactful change, next to using no script at all, it's only static HTML/CSS, obviously reducing the overall size of the pages ;)

I also moved back to reading print books/newspapers out of privacy and ownership concerns.

Thanks for commenting. I checked my comment, and it seems I did just write "Internet connection" - just a mistake from rewriting the comment and not leaving it in a coherent state. Sorry about that.

I use the Internet daily as well. I'd just like to avoid being locked-in to some remote service.

For someone to participate in this subreddit, they only need to want to rely more on hardware/software that they control instead of those controlled by someone else. As for why they might want this - different people might have different reasons.

A few possible reasons people might be interested:

• They have an unreliable Internet connection
• Concerns about the privacy implications of using centralised services
• Centralised services can arbitrarily change their behaviour or interface at any time
• "Smart" devices that require use of a networked app can often be less convenient than "dumb" alternatives
• Centralised control over one's operating system can mean unwanted updates being forced on the user
• Concerns about having access revoked due to financial difficulties or other issues

But the community is open to members regardless of why they are interested.

I'm not sure I understand the need to avoid the Internet connection?

For me, home computing is about:

• Making good use of the hardware one probably already owns. No need to constantly be purchasing the newest whatever. An dot favor easily upgradable/repairable hardware instead of the shiny expensive e-waste... something I know quite well from personal experience: I had been an Apple user since the early 80s up until maybe 6 years ago.
• Not relying on third party services, or as little as possible. And learn to do stuff ourself. Heck, I learned to use ssh to post my blog and image magick to optimize the size of the pictures, I was nearing my 60s... Like I learned to mend clothe, and to solder (I wanted to be able to fix our simplest electronic device) when I was in late 40s ;)

But I do use the Internet. Daily, or almost. I just seer away from the social media (I'm on the fediverse, that's all my online 'social' presence) and all the 'must have' trendy apps and services. Heck if I was not married already, I would not use an app to date. I would do like we used to do up until rather recently: I would go talk to any woman I would have deemed interesting enough.

I even use a cloud (just not GAFAM) ;)

Red Flags:

• Always Online
• User Account Sign-Up Required
• Paid Subscription
• Cloud Computing