Friday, October 9, 2009
ME, UNPLUGGED
It’s not that I tweet all day, or collect friends on Facebook who, once friended, I’ll forever ignore, or spend hours wallowing in that abyss of addiction called Internet, but lets face it, I am web dependent.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I’m definitely not a 10. More like a 5. Or a 7.
I assure myself it’s strictly for business purposes.
Surely social networking with people and telling them more about my run-ins with Time-Warner or the hilarious hi-jinks of my new puppy will establish me as a writer meant to be read.
And then of course I’m always Googling, Mapquesting, searching, browsing, following blogs from here to Taiwan, and of course, checking my numbers on Amazon.
So yes, I need the Internet.
And cable. I need cable. When my wife isn’t home TV is my elevator music. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t eat breakfast without Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts enlightening me on some critical issue, ranging from tsunamis to the best ways to clean my oven.
Me, the Internet, and cable TV. And then at 5pm on Tuesday, there was only me.
Windstorm. Multiple outages. I live on a dead end road in the woods, with maybe eight cable/internet subscribers. I’m low on the totem pole.
My mind goes off on a rant. Don’t these people know who I am? Can’t they fix it faster? What if I were in an iron lung? How long would I have to hold my breath before the power came back on?
The answer, as it turned out was 23 hours. I was without email, without Google, without Oprah, without my fix for almost one full day.
And you know what happened?
I got a shitload of work accomplished. I read half a book. And when service came back on at 4pm on Wednesday you know what I felt?
Smug.
How about you? Could you live without technology for a day?
Marshall posted on October 9, 2009 12:40 PMAbsolutely. No *power* would be bad, but no TV/Internet/Email would be fine. The best days in the world to me are the ones spent curled up with a book... preferably next to a fire while it's cold and rainy out.
Elizabeth posted on October 9, 2009 1:36 PMI started replying to this but it's ended up becoming some kind of epic tale. The edited version is once - not at all. Now, I'm weaning myself off so much online time. I have no telly, no hand held games devices, so the computer is the big technology thang in the house - I am trying to remember that I don't have to connect to the net to use the computer. I'm heading back to the bookworm that will read a book in one sitting rather than going mad with Facebook apps.
Lizzie posted on October 9, 2009 1:49 PMI just returned from a 3 day internet blackout, imposed by AT&T. It was ugly. I got nothing done because I spent two of those days curled in the fetal position weeping on the couch because I couldn't access TVguide online to see when Project Runway is on. When my service was finally restored and I signed on, I think I finally understood the feeling a heroin addict has when the drug first hits. Ahhhhhhhhh. I'm trying to make up for lost time by posting lots of inane comments on message boards and blogs.
I'm so glad we're back!!!!
I just returned from a 3 day internet blackout, imposed by AT&T. It was ugly. I got nothing done because I spent two of those days curled in the fetal position weeping on the couch because I couldn't access TVguide online to see when Project Runway is on. When my service was finally restored and I signed on, I think I finally understood the feeling a heroin addict has when the drug first hits. Ahhhhhhhhh. I'm trying to make up for lost time by posting lots of inane comments on message boards and blogs.
I'm so glad we're back!!!!
Here in military housing in Germany, you often could lose internet for various reasons. We do not have ANY cable, other than what we watch for free online and our collection of DVDs. Since I have been here, I find it takes me about 2-3 days to read a book and I have been doing more on top of chasing 2 wild boys while 6 months pregnant.
After coming here I know I will never pay for TV again, and I wish that the US had great cell phone plans like here, they are pay as you with incoming calls being free, any incoming call is free. We don't use them that much and pay about 30€ (Is that $100 yet?) every 3 months. So about $15 a month(depending on the horrid exchange rate we have to deal with)
So yes, I could live without it. I see it as a great luxury that I do treasure, but could "live" without.
I can, do and have lived without the internet.
But I was glad I had it today, cause I went and reviewed The Rabbit Factory by this brilliant guy named Marshall Karp. You may have heard of him.
Here's the link to the review. My only complaint about Barnes and Noble is that the picture that they used along with the review really makes my head look fat.
Karen :0)
http://my.barnesandnoble.com/communityportal/review.aspx?reviewid=1226501
karen from mentor posted on October 9, 2009 3:59 PMOh, the ice storm in New England last December. I was out for five days, some people out for more than two weeks. I have a generator, wired into the house circuits; don't get any other. It took me a day to realize that Internet was on, just not powered (cable was too, but I don't really care). I went out and bought an extension cord that could reach from the closest powered outlet to my cable modem. I was set.
I work at home, too. The generator was a career saver.
Curmudgeon posted on October 12, 2009 5:49 PMtwo words: hyper. ventilation.
harmzie posted on October 13, 2009 11:44 PMI went through something similar when my husband forced me to go camping with him and our kids this summer. And I'm like you: tv always on, laptop always on, multiple firefox tabs open with twitter, facebook, blogger, gmail, etc. up and running. Drives my husband crazy.
But it turned out to be the best camping trip ever. I'm actually looking forward to next year's camping trip and being unplugged again.