# live #freewithtech > A practice database for digital freedom. I am Samuel Pitonak . These practices come from my own attempt to change my relationship with technology, written so anyone can try them. This is the Markdown representation of the practice database homepage. Individual records live at `/practices/.md`. The agent index is `/llms.txt`. The public MCP server is `/mcp`. ## Practices - [Notifications off by default](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/notifications-off-by-default.md): Every alert competes for attention, so interruption should be reserved for communication and events that genuinely require a timely response. - [Keep phones away during social interactions](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/keep-phones-away-during-social-interactions.md): A person sharing the moment should not have to compete with an unneeded phone. - [Give infinite feeds an ending](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/give-infinite-feeds-an-ending.md): An infinite feed becomes more deliberate when browsing and consuming are separated by a finite queue with an empty state. - [Put paper first for reflection](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/put-paper-first-for-reflection.md): Thinking, reflection, and meaning-making can begin away from networked systems designed to pull attention elsewhere. - [Give your phone a narrow role](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/give-your-phone-a-narrow-role.md): A phone becomes less controlling when it is no longer expected to do everything. - [Block trackers and ads](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/block-trackers-and-ads.md): Attention and behavior should not automatically feed advertising and tracking systems across browsers, apps, and accounts. - [Own favorite media](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/own-favorite-media.md): Media that matters repeatedly should not remain available only at the discretion of a subscription catalog. - [Map your digital toolkit](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/map-your-digital-toolkit.md): A digital footprint is easier to control when its accounts, services, and dependencies are visible. - [Use private AI for sensitive topics](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/use-private-ai-for-sensitive-topics.md): Sensitive context belongs only in AI systems with privacy boundaries that match the risk. - [Delete unused online accounts](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/delete-unused-online-accounts.md): An account that no longer serves a purpose remains an unnecessary dependency and exposure. - [Badges signal only priority](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/badges-signal-only-priority.md): Notifications decide when an app may interrupt. Badges should show only the items that still require a deliberate response. - [Protect personal communication with E2EE](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/protect-personal-communication-with-e2ee.md): Private human communication should be readable only by the people taking part in it. - [Encrypt sensitive cloud storage](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/encrypt-sensitive-cloud-storage.md): Sensitive files need storage where the provider cannot read their contents. - [Own your photo library](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/own-your-photo-library.md): Memories containing intimate places and faces deserve an owned copy outside a platform's control. - [Prefer software you can keep](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/prefer-software-you-can-keep.md): A long-term tool is more dependable when continued access does not depend on recurring permission to rent it. - [Use personal social media only with a clear purpose](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/use-personal-social-media-only-with-purpose.md): Personal social media needs a named purpose and a boundary that keeps it from becoming an automatic part of daily life. - [Let resolved conversations expire](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/let-resolved-conversations-expire.md): A concluded conversation can expire once its lasting information has moved to the right place. - [Extract durable information from chat](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/extract-durable-information-from-chat.md): Tasks, events, decisions, and memories become easier to find when they leave the chat stream and enter the system that owns them. - [Choose tools with open exports](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/choose-tools-with-open-exports.md): The freedom to leave depends on exports that preserve useful data in standard, interoperable formats. - [Give digital tools a supporting role](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/give-digital-tools-a-supporting-role.md): A digital tool can support reflection while paper remains the source of truth. - [Use email aliases for online accounts](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/use-email-aliases-for-online-accounts.md): Using one primary email address across online accounts makes it easier to connect activity and harder to control unwanted contact. - [Use low data as a boundary](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/use-low-data-as-a-boundary.md): A deliberately limited mobile-data allowance turns constant connectivity into a conscious choice. - [Diversify service providers](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/diversify-service-providers.md): One provider should not control every important layer of a person's digital footprint. - [Prefer repairable hardware](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/prefer-repairable-hardware.md): Hardware is more ownable when it can be repaired, supported, and kept useful without complete vendor dependence. - [Reject optional cookies](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/reject-optional-cookies.md): Accessing a requested function should not imply consent to unrelated tracking. - [Grant apps limited access](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/grant-apps-limited-access.md): A permission prompt is a decision about how much of your device an app may reach. - [Reduce visual app pull](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/reduce-visual-app-pull.md): Interfaces deserve less power to attract attention before a person has chosen what to do. - [Add friction to addictive apps](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/add-friction-to-addictive-apps.md): A small delay can create enough space to notice and reconsider a reflexive app opening. - [Let a watch cover essential access](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/let-a-watch-cover-essential-access.md): A constrained wearable can cover essential access without bringing a general-purpose phone into every moment. - [Dedicate devices by purpose](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/dedicate-devices-by-purpose.md): A device with a clear role carries fewer unrelated temptations and makes its context easier to understand. - [Separate software contexts](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/separate-software-contexts.md): Work, personal life, reading, and other contexts are easier to enter deliberately when software makes their boundaries visible. - [Keep email inbox at zero](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/keep-email-inbox-at-zero.md): An inbox can represent communication that still requires attention. Processed messages can move into the archive. - [Keep only current-context tabs open](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/keep-only-current-context-tabs-open.md): Open tabs should represent the current browsing context. Future material belongs in a separate read-later system. - [Prefer in-person over chat](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/prefer-in-person-over-chat.md): Meaningful relationships often deserve richer shared presence than an extended stream of messages can provide. - [Prefer cross-platform tools](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/prefer-cross-platform-tools.md): A workflow is easier to keep when it does not depend on one operating system remaining available. - [Keep sensitive data local-first](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/keep-sensitive-data-local-first.md): Sensitive data should begin under personal control before remote convenience is added. - [Use the phone as temporary storage](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/use-the-phone-as-temporary-storage.md): A phone can capture new media temporarily while the long-term library lives in owned, recoverable storage. - [Keep AI memory in portable Markdown](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/keep-ai-memory-in-portable-markdown.md): Durable context for AI should remain readable, editable, and owned outside any one model provider. - [Isolate agentic AI from personal data](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/isolate-agentic-ai-from-personal-data.md): An agent able to use tools or act on a system should not share an environment with sensitive personal applications and data by default. - [Reassess your digital toolkit regularly](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/reassess-your-digital-toolkit-regularly.md): A tool should keep earning its place as needs, products, policies, and personal boundaries change. - [Review privacy settings regularly](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/review-privacy-settings-regularly.md): Privacy choices drift as products add features, change policies, and introduce new defaults. - [Maintain recoverable backups](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/maintain-recoverable-backups.md): Important data is not protected until an independent copy can actually be restored. - [Review connected apps and permissions](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/review-connected-apps-and-permissions.md): Connected apps can retain access to sensitive accounts and data after their original purpose has ended. - [Use social media on open protocols](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/use-social-media-on-open-protocols.md): A social presence is easier to keep or leave when identity and connections live on an open protocol that more than one app or host can use. - [Keep public profiles thin](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/keep-public-profiles-thin.md): A profile that holds a whole life becomes a reason to stay with the platform that hosts it. - [Leave groups whose purpose has ended](https://live.freewithtech.com/practices/leave-groups-whose-purpose-has-ended.md): A group made for an event or a season keeps a claim on you after that reason is gone. ## Continue - [Concepts](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts.md) - [Journey](https://live.freewithtech.com/journey.md) - [Positions](https://live.freewithtech.com/by.md) - [About](https://live.freewithtech.com/about.md) - [freewith.tech docs](https://live.freewithtech.com/docs.md) - [Contact](https://live.freewithtech.com/contact.md) - [Complete agent index](https://live.freewithtech.com/llms.txt)