Trendy minimalism is dying off and it's never been as irrelevant as right now but here's yet another post about it. Read more...

I have always advocated for using apps and tools that are open source and focus in the privacy of their users. I used to go as far as finding a self-hosted alternatives for every app I considered essential.

After years of an always open source unless unpractical philosophy and running my own Linux server I’ve given up on it and reduced significantly the number of tools I use on a daily basis.

Looking at what life became during the pandemic I hoped on the detachment train and disappeared from the Internet.

Even though it’s been 3 years since I deleted my Facebook account and one since I stopped using Google services altogether it wasn’t until I didn’t have a computer that I truly felt disconnected.

With no notifications nor social media all I really needed was a web browser and that fit in my my first gen iPhone SE.

I considered this such a radical change that I thought it deserved to be documented.

I took these screenshots back in December:

Here are a bunch of tools/services I considered absolutely essential back then and how I replaced them.

• Firefox
• Notion
• Thunderbird → Tutanota
• Beets/Tauon Music Box → Spotify
• VLC → Plex
• Foliate → Kybook 3
• Fluent Reader → Yarr → Feedly
• Eddie → OpenVPN
• Jekyll/Github/Netlify → Tumblr
• Libreoffice
• Visual Studio Code
• Discord
• Filezilla
• Oh My Zsh
• Apollo
• Forza Football
• Oak

I rarely have something to say but whenever I do Tumblr gets it out here, it supports custom domains and brought the most special person to my life (but that’s a story for another day), so it’s become my hosting platform of choice and even though I’m restarting my vinyl collection, Spotify flexibility and flawless import of all my playlists throughout the years was worth the subscription.

I guess everything does fit in here:

It’s been a year since I last posted something personal to the Internet. Little has happened really. Much like everyone else the pandemic vanished me, each quarantine disconnected me from the machines and the people that made me love or hate living.

However, each quarantine also brought along a new sobering layer of solitude and I realized I had nothing to say so I quietly removed myself from the Internet, lost all the connections to realize only a year later that everyone is online. Because everyone’s got something to say, everyone wants bits of attention.

This post might seem at least half a year late but this therapeutic experience called 2020 was a longer year because in many ways, for many people, it hasn’t ended yet, I’m wrapping it up once and for all just now. I’ve been humbled by this strange experience and after a year of isolation (and still with not much to say) I really feel like there needs to be more of me out here.

Dejé de escuchar activamente Pop el día que pude ver cómo la elaboración de sus álbumes se asemeja más a la cadena de producción de una empresa que al proceso creativo de un artista. El objetivo de la música Pop es vender un producto, no transmitir una idea o emoción.

En las ciudades la gente oprimida y en el campo masacrada. ¿Qué nos pasa Colombia?

And those years spent in uncertainty and fear were all a joke
We’ll just look back and laugh about it, ha!

111 days.

That’s how much I’ve spent in lockdown. Going out once or twice a week just to get the essentials.

I suppose like most of the fortunate ones I’ve gone through all the quarantine stages. I caught up with the reading list, ran out of Seinfeld episodes to re-rewatch, escaped cofinement through melted walls and enjoyed the privilege of comfort in these times.

I stopped complaining and entered a lethargic state filled with uncertainty.