About self-hosting

Self-hosting is the activity of owning and administrating your own server, typically at home, to host your personal data and services yourself instead of relying exclusively on third-parties. For instance, you can self-host your blog, such that it 'lives' on a machine that you have control of, instead of having it on somebody else's computer (a.k.a. FAANGS or The Cloud) in exchange for money, advertisement or private data.

Self-hosting implies owning a server. A server is a computer which is typically accessible on the network 24/7, and usually does not have any screen or keyboard (it is instead controlled remotely). Contrarily to a popular belief, a server is not necessarily a huge and extra-powerful machine: nowadays, a small, ~$30 ARM board is adequate for self-hosting.

Self-hosting is not about making "your Internet" more secure and does not provide anonymity by itself. Instead, it is about being autonomous, and in control of your services and data - which also means being responsible for them.