I think the question "Can you even stop using it?" is closer to "Do you even have that choice anymore?" rather than "Can you avoid going to Google branded websites?". There are so many services either owned or somehow connected to Google that it would take some level of expertise to completely avoid sending at least some of your data to Google.
From Doubleclick to Google Analytics to reCAPTCHA, you can encounter Google without ever bringing up google.com or YouTube.
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I think the question "Can you even stop using it?" is closer to "Do you even have that choice anymore?" rather than "Can you avoid going to Google branded websites?". There are so many services either owned or somehow connected to Google that it would take some level of expertise to completely avoid sending at least some of your data to Google.
From Doubleclick to Google Analytics to reCAPTCHA, you can encounter Google without ever bringing up google.com or YouTube.