Avoiding FAANG's Poison | Chaos Lever

Are your bones creaking? Is your back mysteriously acquiring new joints just to ache in fresh and exciting ways? Welcome to adulthood—and welcome back to Chaos Lever. In this episode, Ned and Chris dive into the literal pain of aging and the metaphorical pain of living under the digital thumbs of FAANG companies. We’re talking Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google—and how to maybe, just maybe, live without feeding their bottomless data maws.

We’re not just here to complain (though we are very, very good at that). This week, we explore the subtle art of escaping the FAANG ecosystem. Think Signal instead of WhatsApp, Linux instead of Windows, Discord instead of Facebook. You know—radical stuff like using a local bookstore or not accidentally setting your house on fire with a food dehydrator.

It’s part one of a two-parter, because wow, turns out there’s a *lot* of tech giants behaving badly. If you’ve ever wondered what your privacy is worth (spoiler: $20 if you’re lucky), or just need an excuse to finally ditch Instagram, this episode is for you. And hey, we even managed to get through it without a single lawsuit. So far.

📌 LINKS 
🔗 FAANG data munching: https://human-id.org/blog/faangs-out-what-big-tech-wants-with-your-data/
🔗 Pixel Fed: https://www.androidheadlines.com/2025/01/pixelfed-decentralized-instagram-competitor.html
🔗 Windows 11 will require an account: https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-just-blocked-this-popular-windows-11-local-account-trick-but-workarounds-remain/
🔗 Framework laptops are pretty neat: https://frame.work
🔗 System76 is too: https://system76.com
🔗 Check out BookShop: http://bookshop.com