It is very hard to use Android without a Google account. Most people accept that. They must have learnt from that.
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Huawei famously shipped devices without Google Play and many were fine with it. And Samsung's devices, AFAIK the most popular Androids, can have the Google account removed. Play stops working, but you can still use Samsung's own app store.
That may not last, of course, Android could become closed source, but in the meantime I dare say it's strictly more open than Windows. And I hope Microsoft gets slapped by EU's DMA.
Once GrapheneOS is installed, no further interaction with Google is required. You can happily and easily use a main profile without play services/Gapps (and Graphene allows you to block 'network' at the socket layer if you do need to use apps).
You could then have a 'work' profile or use private space which is isolated from your main profile that uses play services/app store but it is absolutely not required.
It _is_ a learning curve for sure, but I do not feel Google is going out of its way like Microsoft is here to make it burdensome. (In fact, Google is quite welcoming to OEM unlocking unlike some other phone manufacturers)
[1]: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa...
Can one still assume one can install and operate those apps without Google Play?
[1]: https://github.com/PrivSec-dev/banking-apps-compat-report/is...
[2]: https://github.com/PrivSec-dev/banking-apps-compat-report/is...
My brother is stunned that I'm still using such an old phone (8 year old Moto). Unfortunately, no recent model Moto phones can run Lineage. My next phone will probably be a Pixel with Graphene or Lineage.
It depends on what type of user one is. If one wants to be spoon fed and data-raped by Google then your statement is true.
But there are other options that make an Android smartphone both functional and viable without both a Google account and Google apps.
Except for test accounts on test machines sans anything of any use to Google installed, I've never had a Google account and I manage perfectly well, and I've used Android since version 4.
On rooted devices I hack Google to pieces, all Google apps are removed so is just about any other software that communicates with Google. On devices that aren't rooted, I'll disable all Google apps including Google Play Services and the Play Store, make sure a firewall is installed and that all apps except those with explicit permission are blocked from internet access and rerouted via a VPN to a nonexistent network. And so on, and so on….
Everything I want to use works, Google software is replaced with apps from F-Droid and other sources of non-Google origin. Still, I've no trouble viewing YouTube and I do so without ads, also I've no difficulty using the Play Store and downloading apps without a Google account.
There's really nothing that Google can offer me in addition to the third party apps and services that I already use. This phone has 215 apps installed and a second phone has 307—these apps are sourced from both F-Droid and the Play Store. Most apps however are open source/from F-Droid, etc.
For those who don't want to go to the extremes that I have there are many halfway measures one can take to minimize Google's impact.
BTW, in the past I've uploaded stuff to YouTube which I've done with 'dummy' test accounts.