Have you felt it lately? That subtle, creeping fatigue when you open your standard suite of apps? It’s the feeling that the tools you rely on are becoming less about helping you and more about keeping you trapped in a specific ecosystem. You aren’t alone. There is a growing movement among power users and tech insiders to “un-Big Tech” their lives, swapping out bloated, all-encompassing platforms for sharper, independent alternatives.
This sentiment was captured perfectly in the latest edition of Installer, the newsletter by The Verge’s Editor-at-Large David Pierce. In issue No. 116, Pierce dives into a collection of tools and media that signal a shift away from the algorithmic feed and toward a more curated, intentional digital existence. It’s a trend that goes beyond just trying a new app; it’s about reclaiming digital sovereignty in an era where the major platforms are increasingly focused on value extraction rather than user experience.
What is driving the shift toward independent software?
The tech world loves a buzzword, but the frustration driving this movement is very real. You might have heard the term “enshittification,” coined by author Cory Doctorow. It describes a lifecycle where platforms initially offer great value to users, then shift to exploiting those users to help business customers, and finally exploit both to claw back value for shareholders. The result? The user experience degrades.
In response, we are seeing a resurgence of interest in the “open web.” This isn’t just nostalgia; it’s a practical pivot toward local-first software and decentralized protocols. The research suggests a growing hunger for tools that don’t rely on a constant connection to a massive cloud server or an algorithm that decides what you should see next.
![Illustration related to Un-Big Tech Workflow: Escaping Walled Gardens [Guide]](https://bytewire.press/wp-content/uploads/bytewire-images/2026/02/un-big-tech-workflow-dot-app-timeline-trends-958dd700c8.webp)
David Pierce points to intellectual frameworks that help explain this cycle, specifically citing Tim Wu’s seminal book, The Master Switch. Wu’s work details the historical oscillation between open and closed information systems. We have spent the last decade deep in a “closed” cycle dominated by a few massive players. The current interest in independent apps suggests we might be pushing back toward an “open” phase, where the edges of the network—the users and developers—regain power from the center.
![Diagram related to Un-Big Tech Workflow: Escaping Walled Gardens [Guide]](https://bytewire.press/wp-content/uploads/bytewire-images/2026/02/un-big-tech-workflow-dot-app-timeline-trends-e72ed43cef.webp)
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