If you are flying under VFR you can pretty much do what you want. Climb, descend, turn, at will. You don’t need to let anyone know (unless you are in uncontrolled airspace… where you have to announce your new heading/altitude on the UNICOM frequency to let others know in case there is a conflict).

What would be the purpose of “flight following” then? What this means is that ATC will keep an eye on you and (I’m assuming) will advise you if there are any conflicts. However, since you are flying VFR its up to the pilot to make sure that no conflicts occur. The pilot is still responsible for avoiding collisions regardless if ATC is flight following or not.

So.. whats the advantage?