-by a lovely guest contributor
2 weeks, 5 days, 4 hours and 8 minutes.
Just kidding, but it has been about two weeks since I’ve been sans the world wide web. I’m not going to lie, it hurts. It hurts like giving up a cigarette, a Lenten promise, or quitting something cold turkey. When you grow used to the web…it’s tough. No internet means:
- No TV
- No Youtube
- No email
- No news
- No Google search
- No online banking (What? You mean I actually have to keep track of my spending!?!?)
The internet is the gateway, the key to the city, and without it, life is rough out here people. It’s hard to entertain a brain used to megapixels and Vine videos. I’ve learned two things on my journey without the web:
1. The real world is out there for you to see, with or without the internet. It’s like a really confident single woman. If you are into it, that’s cool, but if you aren’t…it’s not waiting around or pining over you. Sunsets don’t replay or stop and pick up where you left off to watch 6 straight episodes of “The New Girl.” Relationships don’t have pause buttons or text message breaks or instant replay.
The internet and media give the illusion that you have everything at your fingertips. When you have access to it, it transports you to a place where this illusion of everything warps the reality of what is around you. The world is happening when you are glued to your screen, and that screen is promising you something that can never fulfill you and forces you to miss out on Life.
2. The internet and technology make the pace of life so rapid that without it, you have to lag behind, often just enough to see how stupid it is to rush through life. My job is a constant race to complete task after task, compressing productivity into the pressure cooker that is my 8 hour day. Why should I spend my afternoon and night tripping over my laptop search button trying to find the quickest, easiest, closest, simplest way to make dinner, look up a phone number, or watch a 10 second cat video? Why should I attempt to crunch my thoughts into 140 characters when I can journal freely? Why should I catch the Grammy red carped highlights condensed version on Youtube when I can light a candle, sit on my back porch and watch my roommate’s dog run around in the yard? Technology tricks you into thinking what’s fastest is best, when really you want the best things in life to last as long as possible.
My journey ends here as I have internet again at last. Will I fall back into old habits (marathon episode viewings of The Only Way is Essex…don’t judge me)? Who knows, but I do know that I’ve seen the other side. I’ve been bored, slow, and out of the loop, and for some reason, it was great.
Run and tell that, Charter.
Please Tech Responsibly 