Even though you cannot really escape the surveillance state, you can minimize your exposure to it! You are exploring the right rabbit hole and asking the right questions @cryptoctopus.

We all need to re-asses who we want to keep within our tribe. Basically, who do we want to maintain connections with, and risk loss of personal information for? I sure as hell do not want to put my information out there just to maintain a relationship with someone who I do not know very well, or care about. It is all about reducing your cyber footprint. Highly encourage everyone to get an email with ProtonMail as your first step.