Being a bit of a Luddite isn't such a bad thing after all

JasonJason H. R. ChufnstufPDX Icrontian
edited July 2010 in Lifestyle

Comments

  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Jason,

    This article could not have been more timely for me. I just got back from a weeks vacation at the beach where I intentionally disconnect for a week. I have been doing this mid July for years. No laptop, no smart phone, not even a trip to the beach internet cafe. I just go dark.

    100% therapudic and and endorsed by me. Its not to say that I want to be without the internet, quite contrary, but a week a year to slow down and disconnect so you can re connect with the people that directly surround you, its extrodinarily therapudic.

    Even if just for one day, turn the computer off, put the phone down, and instead of typing to strangers go say hello to one somewhere, instead of fixing a problem for them across wires go over their house and do something with them, instead of planning everything to the letter with exact show times and directions, just get out there blind and explore. Surprise yourself for a change. Its good for ya.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    I try to spend at least one week a year totally disconnected from the internet. Usually, I just head to visit my parents in Vermont. I find that week to be very relaxing, either hiking in the mountains or just sitting on the back patio watching the sun set over the lake. Everyone needs this.
  • Gate28Gate28 Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Being from the first generation raised on the Internet, I can honestly say that I get nervous when I'm not connected to it. I don't find it relaxing or relieving to be disconnected, I find it nerve-racking or almost frightening, I guess, it's a hard feeling to explain.

    It's not really for social reasons, I've only had a Facebook or anything like that for a little over a year. I suppose its like if something major happens in the world it may be days before I read about it or see it on TV. Hell, there's a webcam set up watching the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. How would something as traumatic as that be received or reported on if the Internet doesn't exist?

    I've got a bit of a story: About 4 years ago I went on vacation to south Florida, and I didn't take any electronics that could connect to the Internet with me. The day after I left, a good friend of mine was murdered. I was gone for over a week and I didn't hear about it until I got back, when I had missed the memorial. If I had known something like this had happened, I would have come back from my vacation early to go to a memorial.

    I guess for me it's really just about knowing when and how things happen that makes me able to be comfortable on the Internet and call a community like ICrontic my home on it.
  • JokkeJokke Bergen, Norway Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    I'm a disconnected from the internet for three out of six weeks. Being on a boat, way up in an icebelt really kills any sort of connection..
  • litenkulitenku Maryland Member
    edited July 2010
    I was thinking about the situation Gate28 described. Back even 15 years ago, that sort of thing would have happened "all the time". Unless you left a forwarding number, there was no way to get back in touch with the people around you 24/7.

    I started writing a long rambling piece about what I thought about that situation, but then realized I was being kind of a cold jerk, so I deleted it and wrote this instead.

    I suppose being a Luddite isn't all great...
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Well written article, Jason. I just took a week's vacation, most of which was spent without the internet. The day I traveled out of town I even spent without a phone, since mine had broken the day before. After two days out of communication, I was itching for some social media. After two more days, I was fine without.

    I think you're 100% correct that a balance point is necessary, lest we rely too much on an external brain and too little on what rests between our ears.
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