If Google were a supermarket, we’d run away

Recent unrest over tariff wars with the United States has prompted public authorities, private companies and private individuals to reflect on our choice of digital service solutions, a good deal of which are from the United States. If this uncertainty was not enough motivation, the rising costs of the systems (acting in practice as monopolies) that control everything from our self-igniting lamp down to our healthcare system have also led us to consider whether we should switch to European IT solutions, or at least open source.

Toward personal digital sovereignty

For me, this geopolitical uncertainty was the push for digital sovereignty that made me take the first step towards what I had long wanted: To make my digital actions my own. That’s why I deleted the Google browser, swapped it out with the French Vivaldi, and swapped Google Maps out with the open source program Organic Maps. Many decisions had already been made on my behalf, in the world of monopoly I had lost part of my autonomy, just to list a few examples:

When I bought my Lenovo computer windows were already installed, and it was quite convenient, so I didn’t have to think at all. And just as convenient as it is for me to keep up with the flow along with the billions of other Windows users, just as convenient is it for the tech giant Windows.

In my laziness I keep Microsoft’s own Internet browser Edge, which automatically uses Microsoft’s Bing, which automatically comes with news on the front page from Microsoft’s MSN. In my frustration, I open word to write a debate post, only to remind you that Word is also owned by Microsoft.

Now MSN’s news is fortunately so rarely relevant that it is difficult to describe them as political, but it does not take much imagination to imagine that Microsoft was owned by, for example, Elon Musk or Rupert Murdoch – and then MSN could have been swapped for Twitter, Fox News or Wall street Journal.

But luckily I also have other devices than my computer, so I bought a Samsung mobile; I didn’t have to think about anything here either. I could just sit back while my Samsung downloaded Google’s android operating system, and to my “lucky”, Android automatically downloads Playstore… which is also owned by Google. And it’s not the only thing that is automatically downloaded, there are Google browser, google drive, google TV, google Meet, google Photos, Gmail and Google Maps. Digital considerations and free choice have become (and have long been) a thing of the past.

It is not surprising that in 2021, Google was behind 10% (50) of the 500 most downloaded apps, of which all apps in the top 10. These 50 Google apps were downloaded an average of 2.7 billion times, which is on average 4 times higher than the remaining 450 apps. In addition, Google’s third-party services are present in 88% of the 1 million most popular apps on google play (Lai & Flensburg: “Invasive Species of the App Eco System”).

If Google was a supermarket

The monopoly of the tech giants has become everyday for us and seems like the most natural thing – because everything else would be inconvenient. But let me give you some examples/metaphors that can put it into perspective.

You go down to shop in Netto (google play), and of course you could go to another grocery store, but you don’t actually know any others, and even if you did, you would have to create a user profile and yet another new password before the doorkeeper would let you go into the store. So you choose net. As soon as you get into the net, there is an employee who puts one milk, one bag of flour and toilet paper into your basket (GMail, Google Maps etc.). You don’t think about it because you needed the items anyway, and therefore you don’t think about the fact that the items that have been put into your basket are made of net (google), you go on in the store, the thousands of items (apps) on the shelves give you the fantastic illusion of freedom that makes you forget that they are carefully selected by net (google). You buy fruit and vegetables that you can see are not made of net, what you can’t see is that the seed is developed in collaboration with net and the pesticides (third party services) on its exterior are produced from net.

It can be difficult to imagine this reality, but it exists and we allow its existence because so far we have not prepared for the alternative, and the tech giants are therefore allowed to have a special monopoly we would never have allowed other industries.

What can we do?

We are not completely helpless we have a choice to make. A super inconvenient choice that makes everyday life in the coming time more difficult. But in this inconvenience lies hidden advantages. Not only do we break away from the tyranny of the monopoly, promote the free market and democracy, but I also believe that a reflected choice of “technological backsliding” can bring personal progress.

The Open Source program “Organic Maps” is not as well-functioning and intuitive as Google maps, but in a world where we are used to getting the quick answer every time we can-, should and have access to everything, there is a liberation in being forced to limit themselves.

In cognitive psychology, it is an important element for the well-being of individuals that we actively think about our actions and thoughts and do not let them control us – whether it involves brushing our teeth with the opposite hand or using an app that feels like left-handed work – it strengthens our brain mentally and physically. Whether in our real life or digital life, autonomy prevents anxiety and depression.

Therefore, I would argue that when we choose to use programs that are less convenient and intuitive, we make sure that it becomes an active choice. Every time I use “Organic Maps” I consider: Would this be easier with Google Maps? Here I emphasize the word “consider”, because it is this reflection that promotes us not just as digital citizens, but as self-thinking critical individuals.

Open source strengthens not only the free market and democracy, but also us as individuals. If we do not have free choice and free thought, what does it mean for our status as individuals and what does it do for our quality of life?

My future ambitions

My hope is that in a few years I can tell you about how ProtonMail has taken over my GMail, Linux my windows, and Word has been replaced with Overleaf. My hope is a European Union that should not fear a digital war with the United States. My hope is a free market in which individual companies do not buy up its competitors in order to maintain the illusion of free choice; Companies see the benefit in sharing knowledge and opening APIs for the benefit of all. My hope is that, as citizens, we will regain our freedom of choice, our individualism and thus our psychic well-being.