A Whole Day Without Internet?

Would you accept that challenge?

I know the question seems a little bit silly, but I know a lot of people (by the way, some of them are my personal friends) who just can't get off their smartphones. It's kinda scary sometimes.

This addiction (although people don't assume this for themselves... which is obviously something very bad) is extremely damaging and many people don't seem to notice it unless something bad happens to them.

Are you one of those people?

 

I actually love taking a break from the internet for extended periods of time. It's something I feel like I crave - like the world of the internet just gets to be too much drama and I need to step away from it on occasion.

I think I'd be just fine without it, if I had to, permanently. Of course there are some conveniences that come along with having the internet, but generations and generations did just fine without it. Sometimes I actually think it has harmed our society more so than helped it at all!

 

well I'm on the internet a lot mainly promoting my business so I understand how a Internet Junkies feels, now I'm not a fan smartPhones, I never picked up on smartphones as I'm a bit older than the smartphone age we are in. I spend more time reading and using software on my computer than I do online.

 

I've actually tried staying off the internet at a time when I realized I was addicted to it. It was quite easy for me, since I wasn't so used to being non-stop online before I felt addicted, and reverting to the previous state felt natural. I spent some days in the mountain and didn't even craved or even need to use the internet. Right now I can no longer say I am addicted to it and that it's a challenge for me to stay offline even for a day.

 

I actually enjoy days without internet. Usually when that happens, there's usually a storm and the city cuts off the power for safety reasons. I play cards, take naps all day, and basically do chores around the apartment that I may have been neglecting when I am spending most of my time on the PC or at work. It's nice to have an off day from your routine, so I definitely can survive a day or two without internet. After that, well, maybe I'll get bored from playing cards all day.

 

Like the old song, "we did it before and we can do it again," it is most certainly possible. And I've done it voluntarily at times; that is take a "technology fast" consisting of no phones, Internet, et al. I'd much rather be out on a good hike than stuck behind a terminal most days.

 

I could easily survive a day without internet. I don't even pay for it on my smartphone anymore, so when I'm away I'm not distracted by the "internet", because I don't get messages from my friends in every minute.

 

Well, if it's just a day I'm sure I could do it! There are other things to do, like reading a book or watching a movie (on DVD of course, not on streaming or something). Or you could just go out, alone or with friends, etc...
I mean Internet is a necessity nowadays probably, but only one day doesn't sound that bad. One week or one month, however... that would be bad.

 

I would like to be in the past ,to live my life without these mind blowing.I have study for IT and the more I learn about tech, the more i don't like it.Every day I try to stay away from them ,but the INTERNET .

 

After Hurricane Rita, we were without internet for over two weeks. It was hard at first because that is the first place we go for news and updates, but we managed. We also had no television! Try no television and no internet together and that's a bigger challenge! It was nice though, talked more to my kids in those two weeks then I had in a lone time! I think they enjoyed it too, but would never admit it to their friends.

 

In your case, you have a real reason to be "addicted" on the internet / computer. So, I think it's completely understandable (and acceptable). But don't you feel that your
health is being harmed in some way because of the excess related to computer use? Do you do anything to try to prevent this?

 

It would be tough to get entirely off the Internet for an extended period of time. One of the beauties of working online is the location freedom allowing you to work from anywhere you can receive a signal. However, I still think that is a tremendous idea to clear our heads. I do very little online on Sundays as a rule, but I rarely stay totally away.

 

As false as it might sound, I've actually stayed off the internet for about two weeks.

I'm a photographer and I love writing, so staying off the internet for a day is not a big deal to me. I could always head out to take some pictures and put the rest of my energy into writing poems.

 

OMG... Two whole weeks? I do not think it's false, but... How could you do this magic? I mean... 14 days without internet. This is a long time! I think I would go into abstinence...

 

Considering my whole life is centered around the internet (my work, some friends and connections) I wouldn't be able to go without internet for a few days. I think I could sacrifice a day though, I'm planning on going on a survival trip at the start of August and I don't want my phone to interfere at all - I'm not going to bring any technology with me. Should be fun!

 

What actually happened was that I misplaced my mobile phone on a public transport and I couldn't have access to the internet at home, so I resorted to taking documentary shots around and writing poems.

I also couldn't believe I actually stayed off the internet for two weeks. It all felt like a dream.

I think if I had access to my phone, I wouldn't be able to stay off the internet for a day.

 

One day? at least give us a challenge, like one year?

I could easily do one day. I've done 2 months before - I was just too busy with other things, some health problems and so on and I didn't have any access to the internet at all. I was actually surprised that I didn't struggle without it. The only thing that did bother me though was that I felt very weird and ''disconnected'' from the world. I had no idea what was happening anywhere unless if I waited for the news on the television, or if another person told me.

It is a bizarre feeling but you can easily get used to it.

 

This is what I can call a true example of survival. I mean, nowadays it's complicated to stay without internet for a single day... So, imagine for 14 days in a row? Surreal! Congrats, you're a warrior!

 

Yes, I'm one of those people. I cannot be without access to the internet. I work online, so I am always online from dusk to dawn. Even while lying in bed, the last thing that I often do is check my phone for messages before turning out the lights.

Terrible I know, but hey..its not all bad..

 

hey I know the person you're describing there and that's no one else but me! I'm addicted to the internet and it's strange how I never run out of things to do on internet lol may be this is due to the fact that with internet you have all world in front of you and i admit that I like that feeling, after all who doesn't enjoy to talk with someone from miles away or strangers you don't even know having friends world wide browse everything and find it right away it is good right?

 

I am always using the internet on my computer and it would be a huge change to me if I were to live a day without internet but I wouldn't consider that a horrible experience because some people have it worse. I will then consider it an opportunity to go outside and meet new people. If I don't feel like going outside then I'm going to read all my unfinished books here.

 

A one day challenge is ok for me but not for a week. A smartphone and laptop cannot function well without internet. We need to use internet if we want to use some applications in our smartphone and if we are at work we need the internet to make our task easier.

 

I Use the internet quite often but when i want to clear my head and get back on track again, i just go off for about a day because constantly on the internet can really get one all mixed up with so many task at a go.

So just take the time and log off for a moment trust me you will be more productive that way.

 

Depends where I'm at. When I was out on the West Coast I was hardly home or on the computer. Screw that noise, I'm out hiking in the woods/mountains. Sometimes I would be gone for weeks on end and not bother with civilization. Where I'm at now is just depressing miles of cornfields and soy, super bi-polar weather and crap ton of pollution that burns my lungs. Developed severe allergies and asthma since moving here. Internet keeps me sane around here.

 

Nope. The air is super polluted here so I'd rather not. Inside I have filters that help mitigate the garbage that irritates my lungs so bad. Doesn't help that several buildings were illegally demolished recently that had a metric crap ton of asbestos in them. No thanks.

 

I am very addicted to the internet, but I do take my hands off the internet for some reasons, not till something bad happens. I do take break when I am hungry, sleepy, and when I want to go set my prayers.

 

How about weeks/months without the internet? A whole lot of control networks use the internet. Remote control of gas pipelines, electrical grid routing, military comm, financial transfers between banks between government agencies and banks, on and on, all are dependent on web integrity. With the internet out, it is much more that people not being able to email each other. Core infrastructure would be catastrophically impacted. We talk about how electrical grids are fragile; well, the internet is even more fragile.

"Growing risk of once-in-a-century solar superstorm that could knock out internet, study says"

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/gro...could-knock-out-internet-study-says-1.5579689

Quotations from article in color Blue:

TORONTO -- Imagine if one day the internet was down not just in your neighbourhood, but across the globe, knocked out by a threat from space: an enormous solar superstorm.

The paper, written by University of California assistant professor Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, is titled “Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse.”

It paints a scary picture of what could happen if an enormous solar storm hits us: submarine cables between countries shut down, power grids offline, data centres from web giants at risk of going dark.

Also known as a geomagnetic storm, a solar superstorm is what happens when something called a coronal mass ejection (CME) escapes the sun and strikes the Earth.

Solar activity isn’t easy to predict. While we know that the sun has an 11-year cycle that lets us track when solar activity will be higher, whether these high points will have harmless solar flares or large-scale solar weather events isn’t easy to pinpoint.

The sun also has a longer cycle that takes approximately 80-100 years called the Gleissberg cycle, in which large-scale solar events during solar maxima (the high point of the 11-year-cycle) become four times more likely to occur.

The two most recent solar cycles, from 1996-2008 and 2008-2020, were part of a minimum activity period during the Gleissberg cycle.

“In other words, modern technological advancement coincided with a period of weak solar activity and the sun is expected to become more active in the near future,” the study stated.

This means that the modern internet infrastructure we’ve developed over the last few decades has never been tested by strong solar activity.

The first recorded CME to greatly impact Earth was in 1859. Known as the Carrington event, it caused large-scale telegraph outages in North America and Europe, with equipment fires and electric shocks to telegram operators reported across the globe.

The CME that caused it was travelling so fast it reached the Earth in only 17.6 hours, and scientists have theorized in the past that if such an event struck us today, it could knock out power for 20-40 million people in the U.S. alone for up to two years.

The strongest CME of the past century was in 1921. But smaller CMEs have impacted us since, including one that knocked out the power grid in Quebec in 1989, plunging the entire province into darkness.

Just when the next big CME could be isn’t certain. The study stated that this next solar cycle is on track to have between 210 and 260 sunspots at the height of the sun’s cycle, which is twice the amount that occurred at the peak in the last cycle. CMEs originate near sunspots, so this can be a predictor for the strength and likelihood of a CME.
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This sounds like a wonderful time to sit back relax , enjoy our preparations and get out the popcorn and watch the panicked unprepared scramble about .

 

Most kids these days can't add fast enough in their heads to do much of anything. They can't even do the simple things like if something cost a dollar fiftey and you give them two dollars a lot of them wouldn't even know how much change they owed you without using a paper and pencil. We have crippled our kids with all of these "thinking and adding" machines. They may be blazing fast at looking things up but actually know almost nothing.

Some years ago I was working with a bunch of kids that were mostly 10 to 15 years younger than me. At lunch I noticed that they were all bunched up doing some SERIOUS cyphering.

I walked of and asked what they were doing. They were trying to figher out what one guys bring home would be. They were trying to subtract 20% from his gross pay. I asked how much he had made and then told them what his net was. They were AMAZED. 350 gross minus 20% which is 70 bucks is 280 net. That is a do it in your head calculation. When I was in school were had math contests that were like spelling bees. We didn't have calculators and were expected to do at least some math in our heads. Now kids don't even know how to count change back without a calculator.

Without calculators now, most people would be mathematically illiterate.

 

I go without internet for days at a time, I do not have a smart phone. Just computer . I spend half my time up north (no internet ) or back in the city Montreal.

 

With so much automated control, no comm = no fuel, no food deliveries, no xfer of paycheck to your bank account, no gov check deposits, ... .

The heel of Achilles wasn't this vulnerable!
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"Banks Around World Are Suffering Big Outages, Leaving Millions Of Customers In Lurch At Worst Possible Time"

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/202...ustomers-in-lurch-at-worst-possible-time.html

"Twenty banks (some suffering repeated outages), six countries (one in lockdown), five continents, tens of millions of unhappy customers.

"There’s never a good time for your bank’s IT system to go down. But few can be worse than in the middle of a lockdown. It’s difficult to leave home, your local branch may not be open, and as a result you are more reliant than ever on digital banking services. In New Zealand, now in its seventh week of nationwide lockdown, one of the country’s largest lenders, Kiwibank, went down on Tuesday, leaving many of its customers in the lurch. It is one of a string of IT outages the bank has suffered over the past three weeks, after a DDoS attack on New Zealand’s third largest Internet provider caused IT crashes at a number of lenders, including Commonwealth Bank and Anz Bank.

"In a DDoS attack hackers overwhelm a site by getting huge numbers of bots to connect to it all at once, rendering it inaccessible. Servers are not breached, data is not stolen but it can still cause plenty of disruption.

"24 Million Unhappy Customers

"New Zealand is not the only country to have suffered major outages within its banking system in recent weeks. Other countries include the UK, Japan, South Africa, Venezuela and Mexico, though there are no doubt more (if you know of any, It would be great if you could provide details in the comments section). "
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I was talking to an old boyfriend the other day (from back in the late 70's). I wondered how on earth we planned anything without a mobile phone.

 

Back in those days you had to plan. You didn't have the luxury of simply pulling out your mobile. Very different days indeed.

 

You and me both. My old boyfriend and I had a wonderful night talking for 2 hours on the phone, reminiscing. Aaaaahhhh, the good old days.