Could you quit the internet for a week (or longer)? And what to do?
 

Tomorrow I have off work and will be casting an early vote.

I was thinking, once that was done, perhaps turning off the computer for a week or two and getting away from it all.

This got me thinking, what is the longest I have been away from connectivity. For example, I only have a flip phone, so when I go on vacation for a week or two, I have no internet. I miss it.. uhh... zero percent:D - but for some reason I am worried this time, perhaps because I am not leaving home.

Quickly! What are some good suggestions to do? I am looking forward to several projects around the house. I am also looking for some good things to do next tue/wed. night that don't involve computer or tv.... I need to change the oil in the 911, sharpen the blades on the garden tractor... etc...

I feel like an alcoholic "I can quit at ANY time!!!"

(All entries must be submitted by tomorrow by noon before shutdown occurs!) :)

Like any other addiction the first day or so is the worst.
Make it hard to get to.

Occupy your time with something better. Or go on an extended camping trip where data is not available....

Thanks-
This will be me!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1478140650.jpg

I could give up TV easily, internet might be a little tougher.

I lived most of my life without internet or cell phones. I lived for 10 years with no TV. I can't think of any reason to go back to no internet. I lived without AC in Alabama and Texas as well because almost no one had AC. I will give up internet and TV to keep my AC.

For me as long as I'm outside - I don't miss the Internet one bit.

When I'm inside.....different story.

I do plan on going off grid at some point in my life....not something you do like flipping a light switch. But it will happen.....

Bingo!
I'd almost rather lose power to my fridge than the internet.
I spend a ton of time on it... learning every day.

Easily. I'd play guitar.

Addictions....quittin' is easy, not resuming is the hard part :(

Hell, I've quit this place too many times to count...think my longest hiatus was more than a year....yet here I am :)

Drop some L..S..D..and you won't need to be connected to the internet anymore. You will become part of the internet.

Hmmm...I think I just "got" your screen name for the first time...no diet drink, no bar sign...now I understand :)

Just think back, what were you doing before this connection thing that ruined many lives? I am not sure if I can go dark? If i do, I may end up doing some house cleaning. The net is like a crutch. We go on it to escape some responsibilities like house cleaning, for me anyway. I sure can use the time to throw away some useless stuff. This reminds me of the young men and women who are really attached to their phones. Well, admitting to the problem is a good start. Hey how about cleaning your bikes, then show us pic them after your off line ordeal?

I'd read books. Listen to music. Ride my bike.

One of the older guys in our local Porsche Club region does not even have a cell phone, much less a computer. He bought his 1963 356 new and used it as a daily driver for 10 years.

At a recent car show the 356 was having real running problems. He wanted to drive it back home so another member followed him home in case he had a total breakdown the friend could call a tow truck. The carbs were full of junk from lack of driving the car.

I resisted cell phones until virtually everyone else had one and the price was under $30 per month. I resisted getting a smart phone until the iPhone 3 was out. I sipped the kool aide and I can never go back.

Going on a cruise means absence of emails, unless one(not me) pays an exorbitant amount for internet access

When on vacation I've gone 4 or 5 days without turning on a computer and didn't miss it at all.
A week wouldn't be hard.

I went float plane fly fishing in Alaska in July. The first two days I put my hand in my pocket every 30 seconds looking to check my phone. I was Jonesing. By day four I wasn't even thinking about it.

Could I go a week while at home...Not a frickin chance :eek:

Well, I went in and voted this a.m. Couldn't have had a better experience. Early vote, no lines, and a beautiful fall day in a beautiful county. Guess it's time to bite the bullet and turn it off. ( I give it 48 hours tops!)
Later,
Ron :)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1478183553.jpg

My wife got mad at me because I forgot my phone... Sunday... when I was in church :rolleyes:

I also unplug when I'm on vacation... thou it is much more difficult now with smart phones.

Are you a reader? If so get a couple good books, if you don't have some get down to the library.

+1 on getting out of the house and go camping or even get a hotel near someplace nice where you can go hiking.

Disclaimer: My wife went to visit family for a week and left me at home so I took the week off. Had grandiose plans of going camping and reading a couple books... somehow that degenerated in into laying on the couch drinking wine, cigars, and netflix.:confused:

Man is not an island. Socializing is good for a person even if through the internet. To realize that you have a problem you want to share here for instance likely will show you that there are others that feel the same and others different. Being alone too much I understand is not good for you mentally or physically.

Having said that there are times like holidays it is good to get away from the internet. The cell phone is necessary for safety and staying in touch with friends and relatives. Nothing wrong as mentioned above with reading a real book....:)

I still have a flip phone. My wife has a smart phone, but she still works and uses it as well as participating on different social sites. If my flip phone dies, I have another as a back up. We don't have a cell signal where we live, and the only time I use mine is when I go running errands and maybe check in with the wife about something. I use the internet a decent amount but sometimes just forget about it for a day or two. I do love the internet. It's like having almost any tidbit of info at your fingertips. I could probably skip it for a week or longer with little effort.

No disrespect but...

Somehow I made it well into my 30's without the 'safety' of a cell phone.
Sure they are handy and convenient, in my 40's I got a job where I had to travel all over the united states and it helped a lot to connect with co-workers and family while on the road.

As far as social media, sure I have a facebook and linkedin account... but as I heard on the radio the other day "social media isn't social", I am somewhat concert we are raising a generation that will be socially handicap.

Just my two cents

Well I'm in software development and the app we're developing is SaaS/cloud based, so the internet is sorta my bread and butter. I could give up surfing other sites (only allowed to use the internet to work on my software) but I would have a hard time not checking Pelican or Amazon. Pelican is really the only "social media" outlet I have. I gave up on Facebook many many years ago. And I haven't warmed up to Twitter or Instagram. Yeah, it would be tough.

As for what to do, I'd spend more time in the garage and out riding my BMX bike.

I might actually save some money, as I'm an avid online shopper.

no internet..
easy once home..
Lady,dogs,books & guitar..
cell phone..
I misplace all the time..
still can't recite my#..
& I will only answer if your 1 of very few....

Rika

Where would I get photos of nekkid women?

sure, be tough to do my charting though

About 30 yrs. ago (don't remember the time exactly) I had a client who would call me frequently and cancel our scheduled meeting - a walk through of a commercial property (property management was my business at the time).
One day I asked her what she did that compelled her to leave the state (CA) so frequently and on such short notice. She said that she was working with a group of politicians and dignitudes in Washington on a project.
When I asked further, she said, "I'm working on a high-speed global communications network. At this present time some are calling it the Information Super Highway.
You'll hear about it one day."

If I were on vacation, yes. Backpack in the mountains with a couple of Hienlein novels and I'd be fine .

No way I can give up the computers for work.

Back in the days when we were running DOS 3.3 or 4 I was in a little computer group of top engineers and scientists. They met at my office.Guys like engineers at Segate Technology (It might have been MPI still back then.) The man that was Engineer of the year twice at AT&T in the 80s was in the group as well. He took us on a tour of the local AT&T plant where they manufactured the components that AT&T used to connect long distance calls.

We were all using dial up of course and waiting for the days of a fast connection like 38.8 baud and 56.6 baud was a far off dream. He showed us a system they were designing then that would allow people to live stream a movie. Basically Netflix like features only we were all on dial up. We asked a lot of questions and he admitted it was years away and we would need much faster connection methods and blew us away when he said someday people at home will have connections that could download a full MB per second. ;)

I am still amazed when I see a update to software and the update is several hundred MB and it download in seconds. I was on my third or fourth computer before I had a 200 MB hard drive.

My iPhone has 128 Gig of RAM. It is just hard to believe.

In 1986 I bought a Macintosh and a dot matrix printer to do my invoices. To me, it was amazing (prior to that I was using an IBM Selectric and tons of Liquid White).
Years later a client asked me if I was on the "Internet."
I barely knew what the word meant. I said, "Not yet."
She said, "You ought to, it will change your life."
Months later I called a computer store and told them what I had and asked what I needed to upgrade my Mac to get on to the "Internet."
Obviously technology had left me behind...the person would pause frequently as he tried to educate me (I didn't know a byte from a bite), and I could hear him chuckle now/then.
When it became clear to me that I was still back in 1986 (could have easily been 1947) - light years away from where technology was at the time - I asked him what I ought to do with the Mac.
He said, "You could use it as a door stop."
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