Pity the person who chooses an email address and then grows unsatisfied with it as they progress into old age.

Perhaps with the internet’s once-bright, freewheeling promise of impermanence, people didn’t realize they’d be stuck with their email addresses for a decade, tied into their other accounts too, to ever think about cutting ties and starting over from scratch.

Because Google owns YouTube, if you wanted to change up your YouTube account, too bad, you were stuck. There was no way to divorce it from the Google account you’d chosen and to which you’d linked it. Not until now, it seems, although the feature is only rolling out slowly at first.

a slow leak of information…

Google didn’t seem ready to let everybody know about it just yet, because the feature was spotted only on the Hindi-language version of a Google support page titled “Change the Email Address for Your Account.”

“The ability to change your Google Account email address is gradually rolling out to all users, so this option may not be available to you right now,” it said, seemingly confirming that the feature is first appearing for Hindi-language Google users but won’t be limited to them.

If you’re one of those allowed to change their email address this early, you’ll find the ability by going into your Gmail account’s settings via Personal Info, then Email, and then Google Account Email. There should be an option next to your Gmail address titled “Edit.” If you don’t see it yet, don’t fret. You’ll (probably) be able to edit your Gmail address later on.

Can’t read Hindi? Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you’ll see a small dropdown box hugging the bottom edge of your browser window. It says languages. Trust me, because it’ll also say that in Hindi. But it’s the only dropdown box there, so click it. Then, in the menu that appears, find a language you can read and click it.