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living without gadgets
genkaku
Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
Jan 18, 12:45 PM (ET)
By BETH J. HARPAZ
NEW YORK (AP) - Susan Maushart lived out every parent's fantasy: She unplugged her teenagers.
For six months, she took away the Internet, TV, iPods, cell phones and video games. The eerie glow of screens stopped lighting up the family room. Electronic devices no longer chirped through the night like "evil crickets." And she stopped carrying her iPhone into the bathroom.
The result of what she grandly calls "The Experiment" was more OMG than LOL - and nothing less than an immersion in RL (real life).
Complete story: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110118/D9KQT36O0.html
By BETH J. HARPAZ
NEW YORK (AP) - Susan Maushart lived out every parent's fantasy: She unplugged her teenagers.
For six months, she took away the Internet, TV, iPods, cell phones and video games. The eerie glow of screens stopped lighting up the family room. Electronic devices no longer chirped through the night like "evil crickets." And she stopped carrying her iPhone into the bathroom.
The result of what she grandly calls "The Experiment" was more OMG than LOL - and nothing less than an immersion in RL (real life).
Complete story: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110118/D9KQT36O0.html
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Comments
I just spent a week "unplugged" over the holidays - no TV, no internet, no cell phone, no landline phone, no nothing. It was pure bliss, let me tell you.
There is such a thing as too much information. An that pretty much describes life in the developed world these days. The nanosecond I'm financially able to do so, I plan on moving somewhere warm and being as unplugged as I can possibly be.
But 2 weeks without the internet is a welcome respite, and I find I don't miss it a single bit.
probably because I actually share very little about myself on-line. I'm not one of those who bares her soul or conducts an on-line expose on herself. I pretty much join in with others, but me? I'm a closed book, and only give out what I feel is necessary. I don't live out my life on a screen....
You wouldn't believe the sheer number of comments or posts/threads I haven't bothered putting on forum because frankly? It's more often than not better left unsaid....
Belize has always been notorious for crime, BTW. Maybe the tourist resorts have their own private security guard force, or something. Belize has always been the Hole of Central America, unless it's changed in the last decade or so (hard to imagine). Oh well--there's always my other suggestions (Italy, southern France).
I still don't watch television shows unless I'm at someone's place and they have it on. The tv in my room is strictly for playing (certain) games (on occasion) and watching movies. Besides, why pay for cable when wifi is free?
Wifi for now, soon you won't even have that...
Internet Neutrality...
This is a great post!
I am working on cutting out my gadgets!
I am getting there!
Thanks for the reminder!
but i have to say, although i don't want it ALL the time, i do love the internet. when i was a kid, i used to read the encyclopedia all the time, but now, i can learn so much via the internet. i will never say i hate the internet because i think that it is changing the world for the better through our simple awareness of each other.
Even the thought of being forcibly removed from my gadgets brings me out in a cold sweat - I love my gadgets & I am currently sat in my work office with the work PC, iPhone, laptop & iPad all on ...... :aol:
I spend my of my day online in one form or another & if I forget to take my mobile phone with me I feel like something is missing.
So he lived the last ten years of the computer revolution from behind : old slow machines, and seems to have had an awakening.
When you are old and slow of limb but still young in heart and a seeker, this machine has no equal.
Anyone for a chat on the role of the Ottomans in the Middle East... you may find him there.
I think a push should be made for computer stations in all homes for the aged (no , dad is not in one).
The one thing I miss about not having a TV is PBS documentaries.
People look at me as if I had three heads when I tell them I don't watch TV (or shop at Walmart)...
I watch a lot of TV. My excuse is that I live alone and have no one to talk to, but actually I enjoy the home renovation shows with people who think they can renovate their kitchen for $500. I just sit back and watch the train wreck about to happen! I've switched to a different cable provider, which also provides my telephone service. It gives me call display a nano second before the phone rings, and displays on my TV who is about to call me!
Interesting phone call display svce you have on your TV.
As for myself, if i didn't have my computers i know pretty good what would change (as this is usually what happens if the power goes out here):
- instead of reading textbooks, which tend to be heavy to carry around and thus not always be on hand, i'd be reading mindless fiction again (quite a favorite pastime of mine in the days before the internet)
- when i'd have to study, instead of just charging up my netbook and go anywhere to study (my room, kitchen, attic, garden, university library, university wall, city park) id probably always be at home over what in its original form (i'm pretty much all digital now, except for a small notebook and some pens) would probably weigh 3kg for each subject; so i'd go to great lengths not to go anywhere, since moving all at once would be such a pain, could get damaged, and if i did go somewhere i couldn't study the subject i felt like reading about at the moment.
- connecting with people wouldn't change much, except i'd waste time finding the place where we were supposed to meet (no internet map that finds the location instantly, no GPS), and if i were at a place a friend would likely to be we'd miss each other since we couldn't just send a message/call and ask.
- i don't own a TV, but i suppose the "no gadgets rule" would mean i couldn't watch the occasional documentary or movie - i don't really see some huge benefit in that
- when someone called me he'd have to go through all my family first since when phones are shared i'm usually the last one to answer
- if i had an idea or question that would be relevant to a small group of people (like for example, about buddhism) it would stay unsaid and unanswered
- i'd spend great amounts of time cooking and preparing food (which is one of my very favorite distractions when i have things to do) - unless the stove's a gadget? Than i'd spend days firing up the grill.
That person in the article finds playing a saxophone and board games better than playing GTA and talking to friends by SMS. The former are not inherently better than the latter - both are waste time in pretty much the same way, its just that persons nostalgia that makes the former seem so much better.
So, well, i have days without gadgets (mostly when hiking, going diving and such), and it can be great. Well no, actually i'm lying: id have no cellphone on me to call for help if something went wrong (ok though it is true that i don't have a cell phone on me while underwater
Cell phones don't help much when you're hiking in mountainous terrain; the mountains get in the way of the transmission. They're useful for driving emergencies, I'll admit. My cell phone is for emergencies only.
Stoves aren't gadgets. Microwaves are, but some may debate that. I consider washers and dryers "gadgets"; they make a lot of noise, and dryers consume a lot of electricity, most of which in the US comes from coal-fired plants. I go to the laundromat to wash clothes, then bring them home wet to line-dry them.
I am interested, if you don't mind...
Dakini January 20
Barra, I live alone and have no one to talk to, but I much prefer reading to sitting mindlessly in front of the TV. (I'm not sure what living alone has to do with choosing TV...) I learn a lot by reading. So much more satisfying and educational! And quiet. If you want to talk to someone, you can go out and visit friends. I'm all for reviving the lost custom of "going visiting". Friends and neighbors used to drop in on each other regularly, to chat over tea. They still do in some parts of the world. Imagine--interacting with live humans!
Interesting phone call display svce you have on your TV.
;;;;;;;
Youza! that smarts!
I know that I don't have to do this, but thought I'd let you know that I watch tv when I'm not: chasing down issues as chair of my strata council, volunteering in the community, reading (4 books concurrently), doing needlework, sewing complex constructions etc etc etc.......
(there, now I feel better... ):o
It *is* possible to occupy your time without TV. Millions of us do it
Sorry, Barra; I didn't mean you were watching TV mindlessly, merely expressing my own sentiments toward my own TV watching. I hate the way one tunes in to a specific show, but then, somehow, the TV stays on, sometimes for hours, and one ends up watching programs one has no real interest in, just staring at the thing. That's why I gave mine away.
This is not true where i live - i never had a problem with using my cell phone on any of the mountains around here (there are big antennas on some of the mountains, might have something to do with this).
Besides i found another good thing about gadgets that i didn't mention. My schoolmates tend to get all whiny if some lecturer dims the light because of his presentation for to long, since they can't take notes. Well i don't look at the keyboard as a write, and the characters on the screen are backlit, so i don't care even if someone decided to lecture in the pitch dark =D And this can be quite a problem for some students nowadays, since most of the lecturers use some kind of presentation material to cast on the screen (which does not go well with a well lit room).
I'm interested in a form of rejection of the kindle as if somehow reading on a kindle is 'inferior' to reading paper books. It does feel different, but it is great in many ways.