See also: my work environment.
I use GNU Emacs. I find this editor powerful yet still not as resource-consuming as other capable environments. See my configuration to get a feeling what this editor can do and how flexible it is.
My main means of communicating is email, since it doesn’t distract me from my work nor does it require permanent connection to the internet. I usually check my mail twice a day: in the morning and in the evening.
For a discussion of browsers and their configuration, see web browsers.
Please note, that privacy and security tools are not panacea. None of them can protect you completely — each of them will still require you to build healthy habits.
EFF has a good self-learning materials in their Surveillane Self-Defence.
curl http://wttr.in/Gdansk
.This work by Piotr Mieszkowski is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0