My Life Without Internet...

I chose to abstain from internet use beginning Sunday, June 28 at 10pm through Monday, June 29 at 10pm. I am not typically one to procrastinate and leave assignments until the last minute, but my family was on vacation all last week and I knew I would not feel the real effect of no internet usage if I did it while I was on vacation and had other activities to occupy me. I waited until we returned to see what a typical day would be like without internet.

I started this project knowing that it would be hard for me since I am someone that occupies my free time surfing the internet. I started Sunday night by logging onto Facebook and changing my “status” so everyone would know that I would not be available via internet for 24 hours, I also checked my e-mail one last time and finished up some assignments on Blackboard.

My first experience that had me staring longingly at my computer happened at 7:45 Monday morning. I had the great idea that I could work on organizing a photo album of our family vacation with my children. Unfortunately, I quickly remembered that this would involve uploading my pictures to Wal-Mart (via internet) so that project was discarded. A few minutes later I remembered that I had meant to research hip problems in dogs since my Siberian Husky had been limping around, but since I was unable to do any research online, I decided to just contact my vet and make an appointment…of course, I usually just look online to find the phone number so I had to search for our phone book instead! By 8:15am, I realized just how much I come to rely on using the internet and laughing at myself for being annoyed I had to search out the phone book…something so simple that I take for granted online. To replace the time I spend online during the morning, I played a board game with my kids, folded laundry while watching some television shows I had recorded, and organized my digital pictures by event, something I had been meaning to do for years but, just never had the time.

During the afternoon, the absence of the internet didn’t bother me quite as much since I was busy taking care of my three children plus the two I babysit and I don’t have as much time anyways. There was a short period where the kids were watching television when I normally would have used the quiet time to check out what was happening online, since I was getting antsy to do something, I ended up baking a new dessert recipe, something I enjoy, but haven’t done in awhile (this made my husband think the abstinence from the internet was a great idea since he got dessert out of the assignment!).

The real test was the evening, my typical routine after putting my kids to bed is to use the internet for a few hours. This is the time when I work on homework, e-mail and catching up with friends and look at anything else that I may find interesting online. During this time, my husband sits nearby reading or watching television, due to my abstinence from the internet, I sat with him and we watched our favorite shows together. At exactly 10pm I jumped up, opened my laptop and anxiously found out what all I had missed during the long 24 hour period. Surprisingly, I only had 28 e-mails and the world went on as usual without my online activities!

I found that this assignment was just as difficult as I expected it to be. I know that I rely on the use of the internet in my everyday life (sometimes too much) and for me, it is a way to relax during my hectic days. I have learned from this assignment that the some of time I spend on the internet can be used for much more important activities, especially the extra time I had to spend with my kids, my number one priority. I also found that without the internet, I probably would not communicate with friends as much. I use e-mail constantly as a way for me to contact people that I work with in my volunteer activities, without e-mail I would spend a lot of time making phone calls to relay information which would not be nearly as convenient. I use Facebook as a way to stay in contact with friends, without this types of communication tool I think I would be less likely to stay in close contact with people who live in other states.

I agree completely with the reading from Postman in Chapter 1 of Technopoly when he says “New technologies alter the structure of our interests: the things we think about.” Things that I am interested in today are shaped by the new technologies that have come along during my lifetime. Fifteen years ago, I would have never dreamed of using the internet for everyday things like communicating with friends, finding a phone number or checking bank balances and I certainly would have never thought that internet would become such an important part of my daily life as it is today. The use of the internet has really shaped what I think about and what I do daily and all technology can shape peoples lives and interests in many ways.