For those of you who actually remember the early 80’s, I want to take you back to a time when people sent personalized mail through the post, had conversations in person and had to go to a library to get information. Back to a time before computers and before the internet.
I’m only 24 I remember (vaguely) what it was like.
This past weekend I went to my friend’s cottage in Grand Bend. Lots of people, beer and bbq. Good times. But as fun and crazy as the weekend was, it was very peaceful to be without some of the basic amenities that I have come to rely on so much in my busy life: No internet, no cable, no cell phone. Sign.
Sounds ludacris, I know, but imagine the freedom one can feel by not being controlled by having to refresh your browser every 30 seconds waiting for that ever-important e-mail.
Martin Waxman from Palette PR recently blogged about his attempt to go 24 hours without the internet. Like myself, he found that the temptation was hard to resist as the internet has become a second nature to many of us. Then when he finally reconnected, he discovered that there was nothing “earth-shattering” awaiting him. My reconnection resulted in a ton of e-mails and a few missed calls, but nothing that was important enough to interrupt my somewhat peaceful weekend.
The internet is still a very new phenomena and most of us have lived long enough to watch the technology grow. Sometimes it bothers me how much we rely on it, especially in situations when kids are engaging so much of their time in online activities. I understand the benefits of the internet heavily outweigh the cons, but I fear for the time when the internet begins to consume society, even more than it already does.
So I am challenging each of you follow in Martin’s footsteps and pry yourselves away from the computer for 24 hours. See what happens, how often you go to it unaware you are even doing so. I think we could all benefit from some offline time.
Give it a shot – Let me know how long you last.
