I gave up the internet

So, I gave up the internet.

I know, I know.

But it's been great.

And easy. I was just sitting here in front of my computer thinking about how easy it was.

Last night I googled:

what + did + we + do + before + the + internet

Wow.

I found hundreds of personal accounts, sometimes whole blogs devoted to the topic of living internet free.

I even got into a flame war with another commenter.

It turns out that there are two distinct camps on the matter:

Those who have been successful at returning to an internet-free lifestyle - versus those who not only have no memory of life before the internet, but maintain that there is no evidence of an internet-free people on the internet.

No evidence of an internet-free people on the internet?!

Did they even bother to read the blogs before commenting on them?

Probably not.

And that's the thing about the internet. Right there. In a nut shell.

In more than one forum, the first camp waxed nostalgic about how they used to get their information (mostly stuff about listening, paying attention, pretending to know thngs, and paging through phone books).

Personally, I remember searching my own mind for answers. Sometimes for hours (though, I didn't share this with anyone at any blogs - nor would I, ever).

And what about shrugs? Remember shrugging?

A shrug meant that one accepted not knowing the answer to something.

A shrug meant that it was ok to not know anything.

"Before the internet", I fed back, "people got outside; they made phone calls..!"

And now?

Now that I'm internet free, I feel safe in the fact that I'll never go back.

I say this with conviction.

I mean it. I feel good.

I feel sharp.

My ability to think abstractly is coming back (though, admittedly, I didn't even know it was gone).

And my attention span? It's through the roof.

I dare say, as recently as fifteen years ago (perhaps as many as twenty-five) mine would've been considered an extreme attention span.

Seriously.

This is great.

So far so good. Wait.

hold on a sec..

Sorry about that *laughing* I just had to post a rave about this and many other things on craigslist.

Anyway..

I'll continue to chart my progress here.

In the meantime?

Frankenmonsterblog: Now Internet Free!