One year without internet. Could you do it?

Interesting article

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/1/4279674/im-still-here-back-online-after-a-year-without-the-internet

"there's a lot of "reality" in the virtual, and a lot of "virtual" in our reality"

I think that phrase sums it up nicely. The internet is a very interesting thing. We are connected but at the same time it also "disconnects" us from real life and experiences somehow. Though we are probably so used to it now that even if we disconnect from it we remain connected in a way because everyone around us is. So we are basically dependant on it. I imagine a similar thing happened with writing. When writing was invented I guess the need for it developed slowly until it is basically universally necessary to subsist. I sometimes enjoy going to the beach or the mountain and stay disconnected for a while but staying disconnected seems so hard and unreal, I think something similar to what this guy experienced will happen to me. Is invention the mother of necessity? Seems to be that way...

How can we stay connected and yet avoid some of the "disconnection" that being connected brings? This is something we will have to figure out somehow. I guess it's all a balance in the end. How well do you manage it?

Could I do it? Yes. Some of us are old enough to remember life before the internet. We somehow managed.

Could I do it? Yes. Some of us are old enough to remember life before the internet. We somehow managed.

Pirate700

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

Could I do it? Yes. Some of us are old enough to remember life before the internet. We somehow managed.

kuraimen

I could yes, but it'd be an extremely difficult and painful year. I would definitely be hanging out with people a lot more than I do now.

[QUOTE="kuraimen"][QUOTE="Pirate700"]

Could I do it? Yes. Some of us are old enough to remember life before the internet. We somehow managed.

Pirate700

I could yes, but it'd be an extremely difficult and painful year. I would definitely be hanging out with people a lot more than I do now.

RadecSupreme

No. I once did, but I simply can't now.

I would be 100x more productive and drown in vagina

In early 2012 I was 26 years old and burnt out. I wanted a break from modern life the hamster wheel of an email inbox, the constant flood of WWW information which drowned out my sanity. I wanted to escape. I thought the internet might be an unnatural state for us humans, or at least for me. Maybe I was too ADD to handle it, or too impulsive to restrain my usage. I'd used the internet constantly since I was twelve, and as my livelihood since I was fourteen. I'd gone from paperboy, to web designer, to technology writer in under a decade. I didn't know myself apart from a sense of ubiquitous connection and endless information. I wondered what else there was to life. "Real life," perhaps, was waiting for me on the other side of the web browser. My plan was to quit my job, move home with my parents, read books, write books, and wallow in my spare time. In one glorious gesture I'd outdo all quarter-life crises to come before me. I'd find the real Paul, far away from all the noise, and become a better me.

In early 2012 I was 26 years old and burnt out. I wanted a break from modern life the hamster wheel of an email inbox, the constant flood of WWW information which drowned out my sanity. I wanted to escape. I thought the internet might be an unnatural state for us humans, or at least for me. Maybe I was too ADD to handle it, or too impulsive to restrain my usage. I'd used the internet constantly since I was twelve, and as my livelihood since I was fourteen. I'd gone from paperboy, to web designer, to technology writer in under a decade. I didn't know myself apart from a sense of ubiquitous connection and endless information. I wondered what else there was to life. "Real life," perhaps, was waiting for me on the other side of the web browser. My plan was to quit my job, move home with my parents, read books, write books, and wallow in my spare time. In one glorious gesture I'd outdo all quarter-life crises to come before me. I'd find the real Paul, far away from all the noise, and become a better me.

Not currently as my job is heavily based on the internet. In my spare time? Maybe, but not having access to email and Facebook to keep in touch with my parents/girlfriend would be incredibly hard.General_X

I could do it.....but I won't.

Could I do it? Yes. Some of us are old enough to remember life before the internet. We somehow managed.

Pirate700

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

Could I do it? Yes. Some of us are old enough to remember life before the internet. We somehow managed.

Fightingfan

[QUOTE="Fightingfan"][QUOTE="Pirate700"]

Could I do it? Yes. Some of us are old enough to remember life before the internet. We somehow managed.

Pirate700

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

[QUOTE="Fightingfan"] Internet has been around since the 60s you ain't in your 50s. Fightingfan

[QUOTE="Fightingfan"][QUOTE="Pirate700"]You know what I mean. Home internet wasn't standard until the mid 90s.

Pirate700

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

[QUOTE="Fightingfan"] I was actually wrong. Internet invent in 1958, and no I don't know what you mean. Fightingfan

One year without the internet? But that's where Gamespot is :( themajormayor

[QUOTE="Fightingfan"][QUOTE="Pirate700"]I hope you're joking...

Pirate700

[QUOTE="themajormayor"]One year without the internet? But that's where Gamespot is :( kuraimen

Absolutely, I do my best to stay away from it unless I'm on this site or I want it for some reason. I don't ever need it, but the world functions that way now so it's tough to avoid.

The internet is terrible socially; checking up on a friend should never mean entering your password and scrolling through your feed or wall or whatever, and in that regard I would openly welcome it's non-existence.

I'm older than the internet anyhow, so it isn't like I'm unaware of how to enjoy life without the web.

I could but to be blunt, it would suck.

Not sure I could, but I planning on doing 3 months when I finish school on may 15. Living online for 12 years didn't bring me anything, so may as well go see what the real world looks like again lol

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

[QUOTE="Fightingfan"] http://hnn.us/articles/when-was-internet-invented http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_InternetFightingfan

[QUOTE="General_X"]Not currently as my job is heavily based on the internet. In my spare time? Maybe, but not having access to email and Facebook to keep in touch with my parents/girlfriend would be incredibly hard.Pirate700

Nope

Impossible since half my college course consists of doing computer work :p

I think this question also depends on if the internet ceases to exist for everyone for a year. I would think it's a lot easier to live without it if everyone has has to also.

I wouldn't be able to do a lot of essential things without it. But I probably would enjoy it. I would hike the appalachian trail and read a lot of books. Get back in touch with nature.

Probably not.

I wouldn't be able to do a lot of essential things without it. But I probably would enjoy it. I would hike the appalachian trail and read a lot of books. Get back in touch with nature.

nooblet69

I have too many friends online to want to do that. 

I think this question also depends on if the internet ceases to exist for everyone for a year. I would think it's a lot easier to live without it if everyone has has to also.

Pirate700

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

I think this question also depends on if the internet ceases to exist for everyone for a year. I would think it's a lot easier to live without it if everyone has has to also.

JML897

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

I think this question also depends on if the internet ceases to exist for everyone for a year. I would think it's a lot easier to live without it if everyone has has to also.

JML897

[QUOTE="Pirate700"]

I think this question also depends on if the internet ceases to exist for everyone for a year. I would think it's a lot easier to live without it if everyone has has to also.

JML897