Life without Google: one of the most popular YouTubers has de-Googled and uses Steam Deck in a strange way

Vlogger PewDiePie decided to get rid of Google in his life — no Gmail, Android, etc. He highly praises Steam Deck as an aid to this.

Not the most popular YouTuber in the world (or maybe not) Felix «PewDiePie» Chjellberg recorded a video in which he talks about the reasons for complete de-glossing and how he does it. In short, it’s about concerns about surveillance, privacy, and the idea that there is always an alternative. Almost.

The YouTuber is concerned not only about personal privacy but also about control over devices. He believes that the alternatives to the company’s open-source services are even better, but simply do not have the multi-billion dollar budget and promotion. Specifically, he has switched to DuckDuckGo, as well as another browser and email client. But technically, the most difficult part was get rid of Android.

PewDiePie chose the open-source Graphene operating system to use his phone. He liked the ability to control access to files and folders in detail, as well as the equally meticulous control of programs’ access to the Internet. In the process, he discovered that his favorite note-taking app didn’t work on the Raspberry Pi. And that’s where Steam Deck came in.

Felix’s portable Valve console installed pure Arch Linux (SteamOS itself is also based on it). In this combination, the favorite program and much more started working. In particular, the enthusiast did optimization of energy consumption Steam Deck. And, oddly enough, he also plays it.

The point of the Steam Deck experiment is not that a console is essential to achieve its goal, but that anything available, device or program, can be used to achieve independence and privacy. The experiment drew a lot of criticism and different opinions, including political ones. However, PewDiePie managed to fulfill the task of creating hype and collecting views.

Source: PC Gamer