What I Self-Host

The author, a longtime self-hosting enthusiast, transitioned from commercial streaming services to self-hosted Jellyfin after living in India, primarily to escape high western subscription costs and combat engagement-driven algorithms that conflicted with parenting goals. This shift expanded into hosting multiple services that reduce dependence on cloud providers while offering greater control and stability, though the author maintains strict security rules, such as never exposing services directly to the public internet and preferring lightweight, single-binary applications over complex containerized deployments.