Dave Graham (@dakegra) reports on his experience of unplugging from the internet for a couple of days…
The other weekend I decided to unplug from the internet. Friday evening to Monday morning, no net access.
It started fairly well, especially when I decided that ‘Friday evening’ runs all the way up to 11.59pm, so as long as I was unplugged by then, *technically* I hadn’t broken any of the (admittedly self-imposed) rules.
I also decided that I’d make a note of any tweetable thoughts over the course of the weekend and dug out my notebook.
Entry #1: Friday, 6pm
“Decided that ‘Friday evening’ means midnight. ha!”
See? It started well.
#2. Saturday, 8.15am
“Bit strange not to check phone when woke up. Also picked up iPad to read news then remembered & put it down again.”
I found this over the course of the weekend – I’d pick my phone up almost by reflex, swipe to get to the twitter icon, then have to put it back down again. I ended up leaving my phone on the side rather than carrying it around as it was too tempting.
#3. Saturday, 2.30pm
“Picked up MW3 for £9.99. Result!”
Out shopping with the kids – I then promptly texted the two people I knew who would actually be vaguely interested instead. Hmm. Made note to get more friends’ mobile numbers for texting in case I do stupid things like this again.
#4. Saturday, 3.15pm
“Had to use iPad to look up train times from Buxton”. Decided that as this was someone else asking me to go on the internet for them, it didn’t count. Plus I didn’t look at Twitter or Facebook.
#5. Saturday, 4.20pm
“Watched the Bond 50th Anniversary Gala Concert. Some cracking tunes. Sang along to most, much to the kids’ amusement.”
By this point I decided that writing things down was getting silly, so stopped. I also had to go back on the internet to help Ed with some homework (again, didn’t count), but managed to stay internet free until Sunday evening when Wiggo won Sports Personality of the Year. Just couldn’t resist sharing in the joy of the moment. WIGGOOOO!
I found I missed the interactions on Twitter most of all, especially during something like SPOTY.
I found that I spent more time doing ‘proper’ stuff, and enjoyed the time away from the net. That said, it’s not something I think I need to repeat any time soon. I love being connected wherever I go. It’s strange to think that my kids will never know what it’s like not to have access to the internet by default.