There is the ideal view that you should be able to have your own virtual island where absolutely nothing can deprive you of ownership (including existing govs. depending on your beliefs), and I kinda root for the people who try to push it as far as possible. But pragmatically, registering your domain goes a very long way and is IMO the best trade-off you can get without going crazy.

That potential is perhaps even greater with domain registrars and all the other service providers involved in email services (registrar, domain host, email provider). Any issue with any of these services could mean you're not getting notified of problems and you may no longer be able to get into the admin account.

And if you try to avoid that by storing a different notification/recovery email with them (if at all possible), it opens another can of worms. My main domain almost expired on one occasion because I didn't get the renewal reminders at the alternative address I had stored there years ago. I had simply forgotten about it.

And after I had canceled my legacy G Suite account recently, I received a message from Google at one of my old recovery addresses telling me that this G Suite (Workspace) account was going to be automatically upgraded unless I log in to check some box. Only I could no longer log in as the account didn't exist any more, nor could I contact support as that requires logging in as well.

Every single account I pay for requires some sort of constant monitoring and maintainance. Otherwise, things just degrade and access is eventually lost. That's why I'm not sure whether I would really recommend everyone rent their own domain.

Some people straight keep renewal schedules in their calendar like they do for anniversaries and tax filing deadlines. Funnily enough, registering domains at specific occasions makes it easier to remember to check the status (credit card registration etc)

At the core of it, I’m not sure it’s that different from anything you actually “own”. Someone “owning” a house would still probably get it seized if they disappeared for years without ever paying property and local taxes. Losing a house is pretty extreme, but to your point a domain name is also becoming a pretty big deal nowadays.

I do too, but will I still be using that same calendar in 6 or 7 years when the renewal comes up? The calendar is linked to some of the same subscriptions.

OP put own in quotes because of this.

Still, while horror stories with registrars certainly exist, they are vastly outnumbered by horror stories of gmail/et.al. locking people out for no reason and no recourse.