I connect the phone with my computer (with USB cable) and copy the files (textfiles, PDFs, photos) to my computer and then to my backup drive.

I would love to read a wiki about degoogling phones. I am confused about rooting, changing the bootloader, custom ROMs, libre OS ontop of Android, etc.

I am still in the claws of Google. I use shitty Android (which is better than Apple). I use a Gmail account (and a self-run mail account). I use Chromium, but plan to pick a more lightweight, libre browser. I also plan to buy a Ubuntu Touch capable phone. [Edit: I use Duckduckgo.]

I don’t feel too bad about being dependent of Google because I’m optimistic to replace it step by step.

I also had the idea of a federated search engine, but I have other stuff with higher priority.

Windows -> GNU/Linux

KDE/Gnome -> JWM

TV -> Reading books

Twitter -> Fediverse

Coke/Cola -> Tea/infusion

Amazon -> Local bookshop

If the ecological costs would exist as financial costs for the companies, that would help a lot. Right now it is cheap to throw away poisonous waste, ship stuff from far away countries etc.

And I think you hit an important point when you said that the average consumer doesn’t reflect much.