hdusuensnsh Hey, I'm in a similar boat, and while I may be one (very tiny) step ahead of you, in that I got the Pixel and OS and have begun scratching the surface of the jargon, I share your lack of prior experience with the tech and jargon.
There is a small handful of folks who think beginners should F off, because they're jerks, but everyone deserves privacy, if they want it, whether or not they have a prior foundation in this stuff, and Graphene is a tool for that in a world that demands so much data from even the least tech-savvy. I couldn't disagree more with the people who tell beginners to run to Apple. That's there if you want it, but you shouldn't feel compelled to give up by gatekeepers who think "privacy" is a tech term rather than a social/behavioral impulse that merely extends to tech. We can take up space in wanting privacy.
There are also tons of friendly, helpful people here, whose insights and patience I've really appreciated, and it's absolutely worth continuing to dig through earlier threads on the forum and do some interwebs browsing to look up definitions here and there, as frustratingly tedious and interminable as that may be. I've become VERY overwhelmed, but it's slowly coming together.
That said, I think a solid opsec (operations security)/security culture foundation goes a long (albeit imperfect) way towards hopefully avoiding missteps when one doesn't fully understand the tech. I certainly don't understand it well, so it's best to try to head off the Dunning-Kruger Effect by knowing you have gaps and adjusting the information you make available accordingly. These are the two sometimes seemingly contradictory tidbits I'm trying to carry:
Provide as little information as possible, and you'll already be more private than you would have otherwise, regardless of the technology you're using. Loose lips sink ships.
Relax and use the easy tools if you need to, because this OS is already more secure and private than anything else you have used before. If you have to use Gmail, for example, but the app is able to gather less data on you, and you're also more careful about how you use it, you're already on the way to more privacy. This applies to Apple, too, if you were to decide to go a route like that.
My takeaway is then: tread carefully and don't lighten up too much, but don't run yourself into the ground trying to find some idealized maximum privacy/security, because that's elusive and a massive time suck.
I'd ignore my advice if you find yourself in a particularly vulnerable/targeted position; it might behoove a target to move as quickly as possible to lock everything down. However, if you're a regular phone user, settle in for a learning curve and consider treating it like Android, at first, knowing its a big step up, as is.
Mistakes can also usually be corrected.
A lot of this is takeaway I've gathered from the many fine people here, and the security culture stuff I picked up in a messy, flawed way in the real world (i.e. meatspace), and which I'm struggling with right now, but I think it's worthwhile. From a fellow beginner, for whatever it's worth. Here's to the journey.