# 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 file is the agent index for the public practice database. Fetch a linked Markdown file when you need the full record. Use the complete dump only when the whole corpus is required.

When to use this: reach for live #freewithtech when a person wants a concrete, adaptable pattern for putting life back in charge of technology — attention, privacy, ownership, relationships, AI boundaries, or maintenance. Search first, then open one practice. Do not use it to diagnose health, store private journals, or inspect the person's browser-local collection.

How to call it: POST JSON-RPC to the public MCP server, or call WebMCP `find_freewithtech_practices` in the current tab. Request `Accept: text/markdown` on any public page. Do not ask for private journal entries, account details, personal files, screenshots, credentials, health data, relationship details, or other sensitive personal information.

## 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.

## Concepts

- [Paper First Life](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/paper-first-life.md): Paper remains primary for thought and reflection; technology enters second and deliberately.
- [Journal Companions](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/journal-companions.md): Small digital tools support a paper-centered system without becoming its center.
- [local-first](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/local-first.md): Sensitive or durable information stays under personal control before remote convenience is added.
- [wrist-first](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/wrist-first.md): A constrained wearable handles essentials so a general-purpose phone can remain absent.
- [intentional friction](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/intentional-friction.md): A small obstacle creates time to reconsider an automatic digital action.
- [zero queues](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/zero-queues.md): A queue has a meaningful done state and can return to empty.
- [digital hygiene](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/digital-hygiene.md): Recurring maintenance keeps the digital footprint legible, private, and recoverable.
- [ownership and open exits](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/ownership-and-open-exits.md): A tool remains acceptable while data, access, and future choices can be retained or moved.
- [in-person first](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/in-person-first.md): Meaningful human connection moves into shared physical presence whenever circumstances allow.
- [purpose-separated contexts](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/purpose-separated-contexts.md): Devices and software contexts have clear roles so unrelated parts of life do not collapse into one surface.
- [minimal retention](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/minimal-retention.md): Data and digital residue are kept only while they continue to serve a deliberate purpose.
- [phone dumbification](https://live.freewithtech.com/concepts/phone-dumbification.md): Deliberately reduce a smartphone to chosen roles so it behaves like a focused utility.

## Positions

- [Decide what may interrupt](https://live.freewithtech.com/by/deciding-what-may-interrupt.md): Alerts and leftover counts on apps badges are different claims on attention. Decide each one on its own.
- [Keep social on purpose](https://live.freewithtech.com/by/keeping-social-on-purpose.md): A remaining social presence needs a named reason, a thin public record, and a way to leave.
- [Let chats expire](https://live.freewithtech.com/by/letting-chats-expire.md): Chat is a stream. What must last should leave it, and what is finished can disappear.
- [Review leftover access](https://live.freewithtech.com/by/reviewing-leftover-access.md): Permission is not a one-time choice. It expires when the job does.
- [Encrypt what is private](https://live.freewithtech.com/by/encrypting-what-is-private.md): Private words and private files should stay readable only by the people they belong to.
- [End the feed](https://live.freewithtech.com/by/ending-the-feed.md): A feed that cannot end will keep choosing for you.
- [Choose narrow access](https://live.freewithtech.com/by/choosing-narrow-access.md): A consent prompt is a decision. Answer with the access the task needs.

## Journey

- [reset](https://live.freewithtech.com/journey/reset.md): Reduce the strongest default pulls and regain enough space to choose deliberately. Use reset when technology interrupts attention, fills empty moments, or operates mainly through defaults. (15 practices)
- [reclaim](https://live.freewithtech.com/journey/reclaim.md): Establish chosen roles, boundaries, and routines for the technology that remains. Use reclaim when deciding what technology remains in your life and the terms under which it belongs. (11 practices)
- [optimize](https://live.freewithtech.com/journey/optimize.md): Make the tools you kept more durable, private, and possible to leave. Use optimize when the tools you kept still feel rented, exposed, fragile, or hard to leave. (20 practices)

## Topics

- [personal systems](https://live.freewithtech.com/?topic=personal-systems): Structures that decide where thinking, tools, devices, and contexts belong.
- [attention](https://live.freewithtech.com/?topic=attention): Boundaries that protect focus, presence, and deliberate use from digital pull.
- [relationships](https://live.freewithtech.com/?topic=relationships): Practices that keep communication in service of real human connection.
- [privacy](https://live.freewithtech.com/?topic=privacy): Choices that limit unnecessary access, tracking, and exposure of personal information.
- [ownership](https://live.freewithtech.com/?topic=ownership): Ways to keep data, tools, media, and future choices under personal control.
- [AI](https://live.freewithtech.com/?topic=ai): Boundaries that keep AI useful without surrendering sensitive context, memory, or system access.
- [maintenance](https://live.freewithtech.com/?topic=maintenance): Recurring review, cleanup, permission, and recovery work that keeps a digital life manageable.

## Concerns

- [My attention is constantly interrupted.](https://live.freewithtech.com/?concern=sustained-attention#practices): sustained attention. Alerts, badges, and visual cues can fracture concentration before you decide to change context.
- [I keep checking or scrolling without deciding to.](https://live.freewithtech.com/?concern=deliberate-technology-use#practices): deliberate technology use. Infinite feeds, high-pull apps, and constant connectivity can turn a choice into a reflex.
- [Technology makes it hard to be fully present with people.](https://live.freewithtech.com/?concern=protected-presence#practices): protected human presence. Phones, reachability, and digital communication can divide attention during relationships that deserve it.
- [Screens have become the default place for thinking and organizing my life.](https://live.freewithtech.com/?concern=clear-place-to-think-and-organize#practices): a clear place to think and organize. General-purpose digital tools can become the center of reflection, memory, and organization. A deliberately chosen center makes their supporting role clearer.
- [My digital life feels scattered, cluttered, and difficult to maintain.](https://live.freewithtech.com/?concern=legible-digital-life#practices): a legible, maintainable digital life. Accounts, messages, tabs, queues, and overlapping contexts can make the whole system difficult to understand and maintain.
- [My data, memories, or tools feel rented or trapped.](https://live.freewithtech.com/?concern=ownership-and-open-exits#practices): ownership and open exits. Subscriptions, proprietary formats, concentrated providers, and closed hardware can make continued access or departure depend on someone else.
- [I worry that important data could disappear.](https://live.freewithtech.com/?concern=recoverable-digital-life#practices): a recoverable digital life. Devices, cloud services, synchronization, and personally managed storage can all fail without independent, tested recovery.
- [I do not know who can access, track, or use my data.](https://live.freewithtech.com/?concern=privacy-clarity#practices): privacy clarity. Communication, storage, tracking, account identifiers, and changing defaults can expose more information than expected.
- [I do not know what AI can see, remember, or do.](https://live.freewithtech.com/?concern=visible-ai-boundaries#practices): AI with visible, owned boundaries. AI systems may receive sensitive context, retain important memory inside proprietary services, or act across files and applications.

## Ways to start

- [quick win](https://live.freewithtech.com/index.md): An immediate, self-contained move that needs no deeper setup.
- [habit](https://live.freewithtech.com/index.md): A recurring behavior that becomes useful through deliberate practice over time.
- [setup](https://live.freewithtech.com/index.md): A primarily one-time configuration or structural change.
- [technical](https://live.freewithtech.com/index.md): A change that requires specialist configuration, hosting, migration, or maintenance knowledge.

## Pages

- [Practice database](https://live.freewithtech.com/index.md): human homepage and Markdown catalog.
- [About](https://live.freewithtech.com/about.md): Samuel Pitonak and the origin of the database.
- [Elsewhere](https://live.freewithtech.com/elsewhere.md): work outside the site that Samuel keeps pointing at.
- [freewith.tech docs](https://live.freewithtech.com/docs.md): MCP server, Markdown negotiation, and named developer entry points.
- [Contact](https://live.freewithtech.com/contact.md): how to reach Samuel.
- [Privacy](https://live.freewithtech.com/privacy.md): fwt. list data handling and site analytics.
- [Sitemap](https://live.freewithtech.com/sitemap.md): the public page hierarchy.
- [MCP server](https://live.freewithtech.com/mcp): Streamable HTTP tools `find_freewithtech_practices` and `get_freewithtech_practice`.
- [MCP server card](https://live.freewithtech.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json): discovery metadata for MCP clients.

## Optional

- [Complete database dump](https://live.freewithtech.com/llms-full.txt): every practice, app, and video in one file.
- [Compact practice catalog](https://live.freewithtech.com/practice-catalog.json): IDs, slugs, topics, and concept links for Zone and scripts.
- [fwt. axis](https://fwt.wtf/axis-app-store?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): paid Apple Watch Journal Companion. A habit tracker for Apple Watch with integrations to Health for mood and mindful session tracking.
- [fwt. joex](https://fwt.wtf/joex-app-store?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): paid Apple Watch Journal Companion. A capture tool for Apple Watch that makes offloading super easy in order to remain present.
- [my phone addiction damaged real connection](https://fwt.wtf/rebuild-relationships?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): public trail context, not universal proof.
- [a jury hit Meta and YouTube for $6M and why it matters](https://fwt.wtf/addictive-design?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): public trail context, not universal proof.
- [your phone is ruining this moment](https://fwt.wtf/think-twice?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): public trail context, not universal proof.
- [how I fixed my relationship with technology (4 steps)](https://fwt.wtf/dumbscrolling?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): public trail context, not universal proof.
- [100 days with my Apple Watch as my main device](https://fwt.wtf/phone-who-needs-it?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): public trail context, not universal proof.
- [Paper First Life: the human OS for the AI era](https://fwt.wtf/ai-cant-replace-this?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): public trail context, not universal proof.
- [why I tripled my phone bill to use my watch](https://fwt.wtf/did-i-really-need-this?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): public trail context, not universal proof.
- [your phone is too capable (and it’s hurting your focus)](https://fwt.wtf/deferred-complexity?utm_source=live.freewithtech.com): public trail context, not universal proof.