Offline
I'm still without the internet and I'm still frustrated about it. It's been almost two weeks (this Thursday) and VERY inconvenient as I have to drive downtown to find someplace with the internet and typically said places are coffee shops where I feel guilty not buying something for the use of their space. I end up spending money on gas and tea plus the time it takes to go to/from my internet destination(s)... and frankly, when I'm working downtown I run the risk of seeing friends who will easily distract me. It's a recipe for disaster - or at least aggravation...
This Sunday I didn't even get a chance to go online as I was working with a friend on getting my laptop upgraded. I won't go into detail about that situation since it's still a work in progress, but the result was that I spent almost the entire day with the project. In the end I had an internet-free day - probably the first such day in a very long time.
I confess it felt really weird... almost like a day without talking. I didn't miss it during the time that I was occupied*, but when the day was done I knew I'd missed something important. Conversations were lost, updates were ignored and surfing was... um... un-surfed.
*The friend I was working with is actually someone I didn't really know that well prior to Sunday, and it was a pleasant experience talking and getting to know him - plus, he has a wealth of information about things I find interesting but are outside of my usual scope so it was also immensely interesting to me.
...I guess this means I'm addicted...
Then Monday morning arrived and I got to work an hour early (a lack of internet at home has cut my usual morning prep time considerably) - I logged online ready to re-connect with all my online friends and dreading all the missed opportunities that I would find in my inboxes and on message boards.
It took me about ten minutes to search all of my inboxes and visit all of my usual online haunts to realize that I hadn't missed a thing!
There were no important opportunities lost... the internet hadn't come to a screeching halt... the world continued to rotate... I'd been offline for over 24 hours and nobody seemed to notice. And I was alright.
Somehow, the world had existed before the internet and during my brief holiday I had a chance to remember what that was like**. I've said on more than one occasion that I want to be "off the grid" and when the opportunity found me I was anxious... but it was good. What's more, it was enriching and a day better spent than it would have been otherwise.
**As much as one can while spending the "missed" time working on computers...
I currently try to have one day a week when I'm free from work and can focus on the things that are more important. After this weekend, I think I may add to that work-free day and make it a completely internet-free day. I'm not sure how realistic this is, but I think it's definitely worth looking into!
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