And then they want $770 for a phone... I can understand selling information to some extent, but this omnipresent surveillance is ridiculous.

Their "slogan" don't be evil was always meant to be ironinc. Google is evil. Always has been.

You are at absolute liberty not to do any of this. Don't like the non-monetary cost of free services? Don't pay! And, as already noted, there is always a trade-off between utility, security and privacy. You want an efficient well-functioning state that talks to you digitally? That assumes you trust the state with some of your private data. Or keep paying for the inefficient services and absorb the cost of identity theft and such. It is your iwn choice.

So you've never sent an email to someone with a Gmail account? Or you've never let anyone with whatsapp on their phone, add you to their contacts?