Set a realistic threat level that meets your balance of privacy/convienience and stick to it. I know it is easier said than done, but once you start to get used to it, then you can think about making slight adjustments to better your privacy here and there. If you try to go full privacy right off the bat, you are going to get frustrated.

Start with changing 1-2 things at a time and go from there. Perhaps just change your browser/settings and your email. Adjust from there after a few months

Accept that privacy is important, but being able to live normally is more important. That means if you have to choose between the two, you compromise and do the not-really-privacy-friendly thing.

A common example might be WhatsApp. Depening on where you live and your circle of friends, not having it has serious real-world consequences - social exclusion, missing out on important information. If that’s your situation, you get it. You can still use Signal with any contact that has it and ask “do you have Signal instead” if someone offers you their WhatsApp contact and explain why you prefer it, but absolutism doesn’t work.

So many great comments here, from thinking people who often struggle with the same thing. I have my own story with its ups and downs.

My view of privacy these days for the most part is of owning my data. If my information is on my own server/devices and off the cloud then I have it private for the most part.

This can sound contradictory at times, for example: Signal is not private to me because my chats and data is still only available through their app and only their app, and a plain text file ilcan be more private if only stored locally. For the most part though, this model works and allows me to think id something is intended to be private or public.

The most important thing in all these things is to actually consider what you need, and what your’re willing to pay for it. The Internet is both extremely good and telling you about niche but really really good sorts of things, while really really bad at not making perfect the enemy of the good.

So, as an example - look up any product category. The highly advertised options are rarely the absolute best option, but the absolute best option is often like getting sold on a McClaren when you need a Toyota. Or an F350 when you really need Ranger.

So - in privacy, often the online people are talking about avoiding government “Enemy of the State” type surveillance and risks (look up the movie if you don’t get the reference). And that level of opsec and precautions are going to do the job, but at a huge cost in practicality and connection with the rest of the world. Now, are you going up against a government? If not, you have to figure what you are going against, @RandomDude said - do a threat assessment.

I will say one thing - I won’t publicly disclose my own threat assessment for several reasons, but I’m sure online there are some examples you can look up. Are you looking to weaken Google / Ad tracking? Are you looking to not send all data to your ISP for marketing? etc. And there are reasonable things you can do there.

How do you all find a balance that works for you? Or do you just change things constantly?

Honestly, for me it’s a hobby to see how far I can take it while also having all the ease of modern life, and my partner supports that but doesn’t follow it all himself. It takes some time researching and setting stuff up, but after that you cán have most modern ease and fancy things. As it’s a hobby for me, I never felt burned out by it.

That being said, if it’s not your hobby I can totally understand it feels like a rabbithole and becomes a bit much. Just remember that everything you do is better than nothing. If it’s getting too much, take a halt, and take satisfaction in what you did already do instead of worrying about all that you didn’t. Every step taken is one, they all count.

There is always more you cán do. Everything is hackable, if not technically then by social hacking. Nothing is 100% safe. In the end, there is always a risk somewhere. If that risk is likely, is a different question. So just look at what is worth it for you, how far yóu want to take it. Understand that understanding the risks doesn’t mean you have to block it. It just means you can do a proper assessment about if something needs to be done about it or not. Sometimes, it’s ok to say the risk is acceptable. It depends on your situation really.

Thing is with all or nothing, once you start learning more about just how much services can really get on you, you’ll realize that you’ll never have a perfectly private existence as long as you’re on the internet at all. Being online at all is the comprimise that breaks the all or nothing mindset haha. Just take all the steps you’re comfortable with, you definitely don’t need to go all in. You don’t need to go into running custom roms on a fairphone, but you certainly can do small things.