You don't need to be a hacker to defend yourself from surveillance. You just
need to change some of your practices.
For protecting your anonymity when browsing the Web, the best tool is Tor,
and the easiest way to get that working properly is to use the Tor Browser
Bundle. To use Tor with software other than Web browsers (such as an email
client or a feed reader), you will want Tails. If you use Tor correctly, no
one will be able to find out who you are.
To prevent parties other than intended recipients from listening in on what
you're saying, you want to use end-to-end encryption. This one requires
cooperation with whoever you're communicating with, but it's not difficult.
What type of encryption you use depends on the communication, but for
encrypting emails, the best tool is GnuPG. See:
https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org
GnuPG is also what you would likely use to encrypt files before entrusting
them to someone else's server e.g. as a backup.
