I have completely stopped using google services and software on my personal devices (even have lineageos + microg on my phone. The problem is that I can’t just explain to the technically uneducated people that I changed mail providers. How should I go about doing this?
Most of the reputable TLDs like .net can be had for around 10USD a year from providers like Porkbun.
Wait, could I set it up with something like duckdns?
No. You don’t own that. Plus you need direct control over DNS records since you need to set up MX and TXT records and I think some other records as well.
Oh, ok
Theoretically yes, but it is probably not a good idea to use it for email since duckdns might not exist in a few years meaning you cannot log into services that used that email.