Life without the Internet! Seriously.

5 days without the internet.

There are a lot of devices in my house that use the internet.  Doing a rough count in my head I come up with seven items.  So when we accidently cut the line during some yard work it was immediately noticed.  The kids came running out of the house like they were being chased by a bear.  "The internet died!", said the first.  "I need wi-fi!", screamed the second.

On the second day I was still going to the computer with the impulse of opening a browser window.  Missing the internet wasn't a big deal at this point.  I started to realize how much I use the internet and how I wasn't really missing anything.   So what if I miss the latest video of a cuddly kitty on YouTube or the latest headlines in technology news.  It wasn't the end of the world and I didn't think much about it.  I found other things, probably better things, to occupy my time.

On the fourth day I started to miss the internet.  I started to miss having easy access to update my blog.  I missed those cuddly kitty videos on YouTube.  It wasn't the end of the world so I continued to occupy myself by working in the yard.   I started to think about Paul Miller while I was in the yard.  Paul is an editor for the technology website, The Verge, and this year he left the internet.  He is living completely free of the internet for one year.

I am not going to argue for living completely free of the internet.  That plan doesn't make sense to me.  Even without having internet at the house I was still using the internet on my smart phone everyday.  News headlines, social media, and even an occasional kitty video all found their way onto my phone.  Still, using the internet on my phone is much lower than if I had that vital connection to my computer.  As I thought about how we use the internet, and my four days without it, I started to think that Paul was onto something.  We don't need to go to the extreme that he did, but maybe it was time to cut back and evaluate how we are spending our time.

On the fifth day I came home from work to a house with an internet connection. I was really really happy.  Immediately after dinner I started uploading my hiking video to YouTube and logged onto a few technology sites.  One of my seven browser tabs even had a cuddly kitty video pulled up on YouTube.  Fifteen minutes later the connection dropped.  My eyes darted over to the modem to see that of the four connection lights only the top one was blinking.  The internet was dead. Again.  I picked up my keyboard with the mindset to throw it to the ground.  With a small amount of control I gently set the keyboard down and put my head on the desk.  I was ready for the internet.  I survived four days without much issue but on this fifth day, when the internet was presented to me, and then snatched away, I became frustrated.

5 days without the internet was enough.  You can survive without it but life is more comfortable with it. 5 days of discomfort is enough.  I still think that we can be smarter about how we use the internet and about how we use our time but there are enough valid reasons to using the internet to justify having it in every house. Using the internet is like having electricity in the house.  It's like having a television signal.  We don't have to have those things but we are happier when we have them.

On that fifth day my kids came up and gave me a hug.  "Thanks for bringing back wi-fi", said the first.   "Please don't let this happen again.", said the second.