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The question here leaves out so much! Some responses, and my first instinct, were to note that spending time in nature away from an ability to reach networks c

by abeppu 5y ago

The question here leaves out so much! Some responses, and my first instinct, were to note that spending time in nature away from an ability to reach networks can actually feel really great -- e.g. for me this is backpacking/trekking. Bring a book, paper topo maps, and just enjoy the natural world around you. But I think maybe a tougher question is, how could one be a useful, productive human in society without constant reliance on networks? Could you be productive if you had to get information from books you acquired ahead of time, navigate effectively paper maps, etc? My first instinct is that this is impossible -- and yet almost every other generation in the history of the species managed this way.

asdff 5y ago
Not impossible without some planning. When I'm navigating around my city I'm pretty familiar with the arterial roads that run across the county, so even in a new neighborhood I can feel my way out without anything. If I had a map in my car like my parents growing up, it wouldn't be hard to trace a simple route and drive along it. That's how I mostly use mapping software on my phone anyhow, preplanning the route then just driving it, maybe reviewing briefly at a red light or if I need longer I just pull over for a second. I don't like having to look away from the road at a screen mounted on my dash to navigate, feels dangerous. I feel like I also have a much stronger sense of direction now from navigating like this vs just blithely following the blue line. In college I would often study on my laptop outdoors where there wasn't any wifi. I would just download all the stuff I needed to read in advance. You could use the 7th day of the week to just pull stuff you need: relevant technical documentation, cache a few stack over flow threads, update your RSS feeds to keep track of websites you follow, refresh your email (if you have a job where you can get away with replying once a week), etc. Even if your job demanded you be connected to the internet all day, disconnecting after the working day would probably be a nice detox.

by abeppu 5y ago

asdff 5y ago

Not impossible without some planning. When I'm navigating around my city I'm pretty familiar with the arterial roads that run across the county, so even in a new neighborhood I can feel my way out without anything. If I had a map in my car like my parents growing up, it wouldn't be hard to trace a simple route and drive along it. That's how I mostly use mapping software on my phone anyhow, preplanning the route then just driving it, maybe reviewing briefly at a red light or if I need longer I just pull over for a second. I don't like having to look away from the road at a screen mounted on my dash to navigate, feels dangerous. I feel like I also have a much stronger sense of direction now from navigating like this vs just blithely following the blue line. In college I would often study on my laptop outdoors where there wasn't any wifi. I would just download all the stuff I needed to read in advance. You could use the 7th day of the week to just pull stuff you need: relevant technical documentation, cache a few stack over flow threads, update your RSS feeds to keep track of websites you follow, refresh your email (if you have a job where you can get away with replying once a week), etc. Even if your job demanded you be connected to the internet all day, disconnecting after the working day would probably be a nice detox.