Tags
being offline for several days, facebook, going into wilderness without a hair dryer, iceland, internet, lack of conditioner, volcano, wired magazine
It is so very strange to be offline for a couple of days. Stranger still that I couldn’t have said that a mere 5 or 6 years ago. The internet with all of its social networking activities has become a daily routine for me and when I skip it for more than a day, I feel it. What has happened while I’ve been gone? What has everyone been up to? Any breaking news I should be aware of? (Yes, I heard about The Volcano in Iceland!) Did anyone miss me? (Oh, lord, does that sound narcissistic.)
Obviously I’m still around, a collection of atoms exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen, coming into contact with other carbon-based life forms and reading the new Wired magazine that came in the mail. (Y’all still get mail, don’t you?) But increasingly I’m feeling less dichotomous about these separate offline and online worlds and sense the need for both in varying amounts every day. That’s just the way it is. I could go into the wilderness without a hair dryer for two weeks, but I’m not so sure about being disconnected from the internet for that long.
On second thought, I’d probably get used to it after three or four days. Having grown up without it, I’d simply revert to my caveman-like disconnected origins. What about kids who’ve never known a world without the internet, though? How would they get along? Daughter was having conniptions about not having conditioner for her hair for two days. What would she do without Facebook? (She managed a little FB time during our trip, so she wasn’t starved for her social media. The whole lack of conditioner fiasco had her talking about cutting her hair due to the frizziness. Thankfully, she did not resort to such a drastic action.)
Have you reached a point where internet time is a routine and/or critical part of your day? Do you think you could live without it? If you skip several days of internet activity, do you start feeling less substantial in the world?
The Woo Woo Teacup Journal 
Not less substantial, but “out of it,” yeah…and a lot depends on what I’m doing offline. Sometimes I miss the internet, sometimes I don’t. It’s a quality indicator of my time offline.
The one thing I miss most when I’m offline is blogging, but I think that’s more about the writing than it is about whether I’m online or off.
I like your line about it being “a quality indicator of my time offline,” Judy. When I’m really engaged in life offline, I don’t miss the internet much. It’s when I’m diddling around offline, wasting time, that I want to be online. It makes me feel productive.
I totally get what you have posted here. I am temped to look up WP stats all the time. When I went on a vacation, I deliberately didn’t log in (although Internet was available). I didn’t miss – a quality vacation you would say 😀
But back from vacation, I find myself browsing, posting, and dithering away on the Internet. I am not offline, though the status says offline. 😦
Oh, those addictive WP stats, Jeena! Many a time they have sucked me in.
I sometimes have days where I deliberately don’t go online, but I find that I play catch-up the next day and spend MORE time online. (Just like this evening! 🙂 )