I don't disagree with Gmail being a major culprit. 

Maybe I'm catastrophizing, but given the interconnected nature of the economy, infrastructure, and livelihoods, I would think such a move would be more than the mere inconvenience of having to switch to protonmail or something.

There would be big ripple effects that do real damage.

Maybe that level of pain is inescapable if we want to tear free of the surveillance state. But it makes for a pretty effective lever of influence in the meantime.