Decentralisation gets pitched like an all-or-nothing lifestyle.
Delete every account, run your own hardware, build your own mast.
Most people don’t need that. Most people can’t.
Digital sovereignty is about reducing dependencies, not pretending you have none.
Start With the Single Points of Failure
Ask: who can kick me off the internet tomorrow?
- Cloud mail host?
- Social media account?
- ISP?
Sovereignty starts by identifying choke points and building an exit plan.
Replace One Thing at a Time
Going fully self-hosted in a weekend is a fantasy.
Pick the worst dependency and swap it:
- Move chat groups to a federated protocol (Matrix, XMPP)
- Host a personal site on a static generator and cheap storage
- Keep your cloud account, but back up data locally
Small exits compound over time.
Federation Beats Isolation
Decentralisation doesn’t mean hermit mode.
It means:
- Using federated platforms where you can talk across servers
- Choosing protocols over brands (email has lasted because of this)
- Sharing infrastructure with friends or community projects when solo hosting is too heavy
You gain resilience without cutting yourself off.
Audit Your Exits
Having alternatives only helps if they work:
- Test restoring from your local backups
- Keep an alternate contact method outside walled gardens
- Know how to migrate if your provider locks you out
A dormant “escape hatch” is just wishful thinking. Test it before you need it.
Good Enough Sovereignty
Perfect decentralisation is a myth.
Practical decentralisation is about:
- Knowing your dependencies
- Reducing them incrementally
- Designing fallback plans for the ones you keep
Control what you can. Limit who can pull the plug.
That’s sovereignty most people can actually use.