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Logging Off The Internet
from the can-you-do-without-it dept
Steve Cisler is getting some publicity for his decision to log off the internet for a while and drive around the country trying to figure out how people get by without the internet. While some of his friends think it's the equivalent of committing suicide, others say they envy him, as they're sick of being inundated with spam and adware and such. My guess is that he won't have that much trouble going offline. People spend a lot of time online because it's there, and it's very very useful for a lot of things, but I still don't think that too many people absolutely rely on the internet for being able to exist.
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Steve Cisler unplugs his modem
Steve consults for social and economic groups and companies, on topics like the digital divide and infrastructure development in third-world countries.
Oddly enough, none of these agencies would fund this research into the Unconnected. He's funding it himself. Seems strange, no?
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Akin to suicide?
I've gone offline for weeks at a time without really noticing it. Anytime I'm on vacation I don't check email and I rarely watch TV. I don't see how it's a big deal. If I took off more time, I'd be "unplugged" for more time. As to how I'd cope, I assume I'd use the phone more, and see people in person more. Now give me a research grant.
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The Internet is Dead... Long Live the Internet!
Stopped reading e-mail about 6 months ago... haven't looked back.
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No Subject Given
This past summer I got away from everything when I worked at a camp. I didn't miss the internet that much but then again I was out of the loop about was going on in the world anyway. So it didn't bother me.
Now I think it would be difficult if I was trying to live my normal life without it. If I hear about something on the radio and it peaks my interest I usually run a search to get more info.
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Internet cold turkey -- less and less possible???
An Internet connection is almost becoming a necessity to using your computer at all.
No question that the Internet is one of the greatest inventions for sharing information and communicating with others, but it's also become a key tool for software/hardware vendors to track customers and control computer usage.
Distribution of patches, updates, etc. over the Internet has quickly become a standard, and many companies don't offer any alternative. Companies like Microsoft reportedly have been mulling over the idea of forcing users to apply critical patches to improve security -- a task that almost certainly will require Internet access.
And more and more companies are following Microsoft's lead in requiring product activation. In some cases(apparently to save money on operators and postage) this HAS to be done over the Internet.
Finally, as more vendors embrace digital rights management, its posible to that offline usage (where there's less ability for a 3rd party to "manage" your digital rights) may become practically impossible...
Jim
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Re: Internet cold turkey -- less and less possible
I regularly try to leave the net alone.
I find that if i have something more interesting and engaging,,, i can quite happily live without a computor and connection completely.
The problem comes when the weather is bad or i am bored and i switch the computor on and dial up for five minutes which as always leads to 5 hours.
I ahve been doing my own study on people without access to a pc or connection and they are quite happy and tend to have a more active life and a much bigger social circle.
I am working on re-building my social circle and spending more time interacting with real people and i fell sure that i will be able to pack all but one of my computers away and just use the one i keep out for recieving business mail and less mindless surfing.
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