The Year Without Internet

Now I get it

2009-11-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered why it is that I'm so disinclined to disconnect. It's my grandma's fault. A few days ago, she got a new cell phone. Was her old one broken? Was there some problem with her service provider? Did she wager it at a bingo match and later regret her impulsiveness? No, no and no. (By the way, never, ever challenger her to a game of bingo -- she owns that game.) Instead, she

Notes from a day offline

2009-11-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

Thursday, October 30, 2009 [These start without a timestamp -- I started keeping track of that later] I left home this morning without my cell phone – possibly an effect of the stress this is causing, since I never forget that. Keys, maybe. Wallet – yesterday. Cell phone, never. I didn’t realize forgetting the cell was a good move until I went back and picked it up, and suddenly the internet

What I discovered after spending 24 hours offline

2009-11-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

I thought I would rush back here to report what my 24 hours offline were like. I thought being offline 24 hours would steer me away from this plan. But I did not. And it did not Instead, sharpened or dulled by a few days of perspective, here's what I have concluded after my test run of life offline. 1. Before anything, I guess I should start with a disclosure: I was forced to check

What have I done?

2009-10-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

Now that I have decreed I'm going offline tomorrow, I am petrified. What have I done?? In the last five minutes I've issued five pathetic tweets: Now my heart is beating faster, because it's sinking in. I won't be able to do this tomorrow. Or this or this or this or this or this or this or this or this or this or this or thisorthisorthisorthisorthisorthisorthis!! Ok. Here's the plan. I will

First moment of reckoning

2009-10-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I installed TimeTracker to find out how many hours I spend online. Now is the moment of reckoning. Since October 6, I have used the internet: 102 hours on my netbook 57 hours on my desktop About 15 hours on AR's laptop. A guesstimate, since I didn't install the tracking program there. 174 hours in 22 days = 7.9 hours per day. Now let's add in the cell phone data usage. I use

77 Simple Living Blogs

2009-10-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Phoebe, the lovely life force behind of Silk Felt Soil, for sending me this list of Top Simple Living Blogs. Organicasm put out the list a little more than a year ago -- in August 2008 -- and clicking through, I was struck by how many of these sites are now defunct. I've decided to cross out anything with a dead URL or no updates in more than six months. Then again, I guess it's a

Fantastic

2009-10-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

This is fantastic. While everyone thought the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot their target airport were either sleeping, taking the mile high club to new depths, temporarily abducted by aliens or perhaps caught up in a game of Cat's Cradle, no one suggested the most plausible explanation of all. They were on their computers!!! The AP reports: Cole and Cheney told investigators

A net quitter walks into a hacker convention

2009-10-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

"What else are you going to do? Cut a hole through a sheet and fuck through it? Do you have a telephone you can crank up? And how are you going to get around? Let me guess, you're gonna use a wheelbarrow." So answered the guy with the cherry red hair and beer stained t-shirt when I told him about what I'm contemplating. I was hanging out at the 11th annual Toorcon convention, a gathering of

Guest Blogger: For those in denial, know this affliction is real

2009-10-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

Internet Addiction. Quick! What thoughts just popped into your head? For most, the mere mention of it stirs denial. Denial so tenacious that if it were mixed with any other addiction, it would prove toxic if not lethal. Perhaps your life hasn’t been tainted with this wide sweeping modern ‘affliction’ that feigns as a modern ‘affection’? Or perhaps that warm fuzzy glow has already beguiled you!

Aiming for day 365

2009-10-23T15:32:00.000-07:00

One thing I've been contemplating is how to quit, and how to stay offline. But those thoughts have never pushed far beyond the first few months, because that distant future is too nebulous -- and my commitment, I fear, too tenuous -- to draw my focus. Then, I saw this story in yesterday's NYT : Battling Addiction With Those Who Know It Best It's about how Philadelphia is helping its drug and

ceci n'est pas un post

2009-10-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Deadlines. Gotta file two stories today... so this will be short. I have some interesting developments. This story, about battling addiction, gave me an idea. An idea I will be exploring in my next post. And saving the best for last: The first guest blogger has submitted an essay meditating on what exactly "internet addiction" means, both as an affliction and a concept. That will kick off the

When and how?!??!

2009-10-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

This is what people are saying when they hear this plan I've hatched: To quit the internet for a year and live to tell the tale. Given that my friends were originally skeptical, I guess these decisive questions are encouraging. A tad flattering, even. Now that I seem serious -- writing 41 blog posts on a subject naturally makes any pursuit legitimate -- people are taking me more seriously. Or

Poow widdle waptop, get better soon!!

2009-10-22T01:23:00.000-07:00

I've been online for 21 years. My family got its first computer in 1988, a Packard bell 286 Santa brought for Christmas. I've been online for 21 years and I've never gotten a virus. Until tonight. My computer has a virus. Not just any virus, but the popup advertiser from hell. In the past half an hour I've been invited to apply for jobs, meet local singles, search with a new engine, read

Missable or Dismissable: YouTube video of awful interview

2009-10-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

Take this specimen: It's what I call a classic. I couldn't get this on TV. Hearing it on the radio would mean missing John Cusack's murderous gaze. And listening to a friend tell me about it would make me go, "Oh, ok. Sounds funny. I'm sure it was awesome." But actually watching that video makes my day. Because I'm that kind of person. Which leaves me with only one possible conclusion about

Nook vs Kindle

2009-10-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

As far as I'm concerned, they're interchangeable. Because as net-obsessed as I am, I still love books. Pulpy, papery, dusty, rough, writeable, stackable, lendable, bendable, heavy or flimsy but always fragrant books. And that is all I wanted to say on this subject. [image via Hans Mol @ ANU]

On the drive home from dinner last night

2009-10-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Speaking of digital creep... AR: So you did better at tennis last night, great job. RP: Thanks, but like I said on my Facebook status, I wish that annoying net wasn't there. That would make the game so much funner. AR: But that wouldn't be tennis anymore. RP: Yeah, it would be better than tennis. AR: You should not be allowed within 50 yards of a court. RP: I'm not listening. Go home, get on

Now who's holding the mirror?

2009-10-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

The NYT ran a story yesterday about a new social media platform called Foursquare. Jenna Wortham reports: A combination of friend-finder, city guide and competitive bar game, Foursquare lets users “check in” with a cellphone at a bar, restaurant or art gallery. That alerts their friends to their current location so they can drop by and say hello. Read the rest here. As soon as I got to the last

This is me waving back at you

2009-10-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

I just noticed someone from the Ministerie Van Justitie in the Hague stopped by my site twice today. And someone from Syracuse University, too. To which I reply Usually, traffic stats show something like "Cox Communications," i.e. the service provider. But once in a rare while, someone from an actual institution shows up. That piques my interest, naturally. In fact, any visitor who spends

Calling Guest Writers: ACT NOW

2009-10-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ever thought about cutting back on your time ONLINE? Or think this plan of mine is DUMBEST thing you've ever heard? Then contribute a GUEST POST!! For only $99.99, YOU can be the featured PROJECT QUITNET GUEST BLOGGER Be read by a vast network of influential policy makers!* Help change the lives of the millions of people struggling with internet affliction!* Drive traffic to your site

The Lives of Others (Part 2)

2009-10-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here are 12 more ways my quitting the internet for a year would affect other people: For items 1 to 13, click here. 14) If people still actually wanted to interact with someone who went offline, they'd have to be willing to wait a lot longer for conversations to evolve. No more instant answers, no more quick email pinging back and forth. They'd have to be patient for us to set up a coffee chat,

Somerville

2009-10-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

My second year of grad school, I moved to a crazy house with two crazier roommates: a guitar strumming, occasionally stubbly, frequently horny Belgian postdoc named David, and an alco-nympho-klepto-psycho cat lady by night, nanny by day named Megan. Needless to say, I fit right in. David was charming and we're friends to this day. Megan was cool. At first. But this is not the story about how

The Lives of Others

2009-10-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about the ways my quitting the internet for a year would affect other people. Here's a rough list. 1) My adviser and thesis committee would have to agree to read printouts of drafts and send back the drafts marked up, rather than email comments. 2) Any coordination or touching base about the dissertation or studies, like when the next chapter is coming, career plans, rec

Missable or Dismissable: Wikipedia entry on thermal conductivity

2009-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

As I was trying to falling asleep last night, I moved my feet to the cool part of the sheets. And as I did that, a question popped into my head: What makes a substance transfer heat well or poorly? I mean, for years I've taken for granted that the sheet will be cooler wherever my body wasn't touching it, but WHY? Really, deep down inside, WHY? So this morning, I googled heat conductivity and

Cut & Paste

2009-10-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

Something remarkable happened today: I left my computer in my car and I actually got work done for several hours, without interruptions to check email or read the latest on Huffington Post. And I thought. It's an amazing feeling to concentrate, unhindered, for several hours. Good things happen. My task for the day was to edit a section of the chapter I've been working on for more than a year.

High Speed internet now a legal right in Finland

2009-10-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Holy Shizer. Those Scandinavians. Gizmodo reports that Finland has just declared high-speed internet access is a legal right. From the story: The policy will be active in July 2010, when every Finn will get a one-megabit connection. But that's just an intermediate step towards their final goal: By 2015, everyone will have a 100Mbps—yes, a hundred megabits per second—available. Read the full