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I recently returned from a little over a week at a cottage with no phone, let alone internet. It was by no means low-tech - we mastered the art of the the froze

I recently returned from a little over a week at a cottage with no phone, let alone internet. It was by no means low-tech - we mastered the art of the the frozen margarita, one guest's mp3 player played a seemingly endless collection of grime and baile funk through the cottage stereo, and we had at least two laptops on hand (no wifi) - but the cottage wasn't connected to any information/communication networks. It was absolute bliss. The common assumption about time is that it passes quickly when you're having fun and drags when you're bored or frustrated. In this case, time passed slowly in a happy drift of relaxation. It was uncanny: we would spend what felt like several hours jamming with available instruments (two guitars and a flute), only to discover that it was still mid-afternoon - with plenty of time for a leisurely swim off the dock - rather than deep into dinner time. Over a period of a few days, I read a 900 page book and still managed to find time for dog walks, in-depth conversation, a long bike ride into town, a trip to a local farm, and so on. What happened when I got back for a second week of day trips around our house is interesting: I just couldn't muster up any enthusiasm for my usual online haunts. Why read reddit when I could dig into the next book? Why update my Twitter profile when I would take a stroll down by the waterfront? Why bother catching up on over 300 emails when my son was eager to hear the next chapter of The Hobbit? It was a few nagging responsibilities that got me back into the online swing, and as I reconnected, time seemed to speed up again to the usual blur of disconnected images and themes to which I was clearly accustomed before going away. I'm back to doing my usual activities, but like Aaron, I find it all feels strangely hollow - even this comment. If I don't take some kind of tangible lifestyle decision out of this experience and the slow epiphany that ran through it, I fear it will have been for nothing.

skolor 17y ago
Its rather interesting, but while I agree with the first half, about the trip itself, but when it comes down to it, I live to be online. While there are several things I do online that are superfluous, and tend to slip away after each of my breaks (last year, I stopped doing for-money blogging, the year before I dropped quite most of the games I played) and don't come back. While there are plenty of things that are fine to slip away, the constant flow of information, that fount of knowledge that the internet is, I really depend on that. The break from it is nice, to get my bearings again, but its just that: a break. Its not a way I would want to live my life, and not one I can see myself ever choosing.
- RyanMcGreal 17y ago
  Agreed. I don't think it would be practical or even beneficial for me to turn off. However, I think I need to get better at somehow reducing my exposure to the sheer, full-spectrum flow of stuff - particularly the trivialities - that consumes so much of my time and leaves the rest of my time feeling cramped and rushed.

skolor 17y ago

Its rather interesting, but while I agree with the first half, about the trip itself, but when it comes down to it, I live to be online. While there are several things I do online that are superfluous, and tend to slip away after each of my breaks (last year, I stopped doing for-money blogging, the year before I dropped quite most of the games I played) and don't come back. While there are plenty of things that are fine to slip away, the constant flow of information, that fount of knowledge that the internet is, I really depend on that. The break from it is nice, to get my bearings again, but its just that: a break. Its not a way I would want to live my life, and not one I can see myself ever choosing.

RyanMcGreal 17y ago
Agreed. I don't think it would be practical or even beneficial for me to turn off. However, I think I need to get better at somehow reducing my exposure to the sheer, full-spectrum flow of stuff - particularly the trivialities - that consumes so much of my time and leaves the rest of my time feeling cramped and rushed.