alt Hacker News> The real problem is that @gmail.com or @icloud.com are now required to participate in society
They absolutely are not, though. I've been fully bought into the Apple ecosystem for nearly 2 decades and have used a Fastmail email address with it for the last decade (when I ditched my MobileMe email address). Similarly, I have never had an @gmail.com email address, though I've used various Google products.
They meant an apple or Google account, not literally the email address.
Try to live without an Apple ID or Google account. Probably about as difficult as living without an ID.