This is a narrative experiment rather than a systematic study: a POLITICO reporter attempts to live and work 72 hours without any US-controlled technology while based in Brussels, to test Europe's stated anxiety about tech dependency. The reported results are qualitative and anecdotal—he found switching to European alternatives (Proton Mail, Qwant, Vivaldi, LibreOffice, Linux) technically viable for solo work but socially isolating in practice, since colleagues and infrastructure still rely on US platforms. The real constraint wasn't availability of European tools but network effects: payment systems (Visa/Mastercard dominate), cloud infrastructure (Amazon/Microsoft/Google), app stores, and real-time collaboration all lock users into US stacks regardless of personal choice. He abandoned the experiment immediately upon finishing. The piece documents genuine friction in Europe's digital sovereignty goals—individual switching is possible but coordination problems remain unsolved—but offers no data on feasibility at scale, cost, or realistic migration timelines. One sharp question: does the author test whether European institutions or firms *have* successfully migrated off these stacks, or only report that he personally found it hard?