by James Wallace Harris, 7/31/23
Our internet went down Saturday, and a technician won’t come to fix it until Thursday. Living without the internet shows me just how addicted I am to the online world. And we haven’t gone completely cold turkey either, since Susan and I have little lifeboats to the internet with our iPhones. We’re like teenagers, with our faces glued to our phones. While streaming is down, we watch the two nightly shows we watch together, but with our separate iPhones. We both love that routine of watching Call the Midwife and A Place to Call Home every night.
Since we’re both retired, we spend a lot of time watching TV during the day – each with our own TV no less. And since we cut the cord a decade ago, we depend on the internet for streaming TV. I think that’s our biggest withdrawal symptom. So, we’re really addicted to television. But that’s been true since the mid-1950s.
Since the router has died, I realize we have two other addictions that are entirely internet dependent. First, is social media. Second, is information.
We have some friends that we spend time together with physically, but we also have more friends we mostly spend time with on the phone or online. I spend hours every week keeping up with my friends who live out of town, or just don’t get out of the house much. But I also have a new class of friends that I hang out with online. My hobby is science fiction, and I have several friends from around the world that I connect with daily or weekly via the internet. I would miss that connection if it were gone.
I was thinking about these internet friends the other day and comparing them with my science fiction fandom friends back in the 1960s and 1970s. Back then, I corresponded with other science fiction fans by letter, fanzine, and apazine. And I would meet them physically once a year at conventions. That network of friendship was like my current network of science fiction friends on the internet. But the snail mail network was far slower. I was in two quarterly apazines. Replying to people and reading replies would happen every three months. Now, it’s a matter of minutes.
The internet is also my external brain. I’m forgetting more and more words, people, and dates, but my iPhone or computer lets me look things up almost instantly. I’ve become very dependent on referring to Wikipedia, IMDB, ISFDB, Just Watch and other sites to recall words, facts, and events.
Over the past couple of days, I’ve tried to imagine life without the internet. Part of my addiction is habit. I suppose I could learn new habits to replace internet use. But it would mean living in a much smaller world.
Every day I spend an hour or more looking at YouTube videos. What they do is allow me to spy on what other people and animals are doing around the world. And I see amazing things. I have a far greater sense of what’s going on all over this planet than when I just read the newspaper and watched the CBS Evening News.
The internet is like a sixth sense. That’s a third addiction.
I could go back to living without the internet. I could even live without television and the phone. I might even live without books. But, subtracting each from my life would make reality smaller.
I think about the times in the past, where people never ventured further than a few miles from their homes, and they lived without any kind of distant communication at all. That could be a good life, even a better life. But it’s not the one I’ve evolved an adaptation to live in.
If you’re wondering how I created this blog entry, it’s because we went to the AT&T store and up our cellphone plans to include a hotspot feature and unlimited data. This will also make our phones more valuable during power outages too.
JWH
Auxiliary Memory 
I have UPS units on “Critical Infrastructure” at my house. That included the oxygen concentrator my wife needs to keep her O2 SAT up, and the CPAP machines we both need to keep breathing at night. Also the the computers we both use, and our fiber modem. Had a roughly hour-long power outage yesterday, and the WIFI network stayed up throughout.
It’s gotten to where there is no life without internet. We mostly don’t even read paper books anymore. Though I keep buying them just in case.
I’ve been thinking about one of those whole house battery systems like a Tesla Powerwall. I’m waiting to see if new battery technology comes out that’s safer than lithium batteries.
What capacity are your standby battery systems? I have UPSes for computer and router, and a small Jackery for phone charging during power outages.
All mine are lead-acid gel batteries, 1000VA for the main computers, and the rest are 350VA or so. Those on the computer are good enough to save fairly complex work before the thing shuts down, the rest are good for about 10 minutes. They’re ride through a brown or black out, except the one on the fiber modem, as that’s all it has plugged in.
I can relate to all this, Jim. I love what you write here–very science-fictional! “The internet is also my external brain.”
We’re slowly evolving towards a hive mind. Just imagine how much we could change by 2030 or 2040.
when i dwelt in wichita (from early autumn 1974 to late summer 1978) i was heavy into citizens band (anybody remember the painless pole? come on..) and amateur radio(this is ALZ radio free kansas..) i should see if i can find my license; the alternative is trying to find a live bureaucrat at the fcc; meanwhile, as the song says,buzz buzz buzz goes the bumble bee.
I forgot about the CB rage. And Ham radio also has its own subculture. People with certain interests like finding people with the same interest.
it all began when i was a child. my father wouldn’t let me set fire to my playmates….
it all began when i was a child. my father wouldn’t let me set fire to my playmates…
Just like there’s food fasting there’s other kinds:
internet fast
cell phone fast
computer fast
I think it’s a good idea. Do without various addictive things for awhile.
That’s a good idea.
“Resistance is futile.”
Remember the Borg
I for one would be lost. I have blogs, newsletters, social media and connections with a friends. Plus I’m an information junkie so I search for alot of things. And I save articles, comments, essays and occasional poems. Then there’s streaming…it’d be hard to just have network stuff.
Then banking, paying bills, making lists,keeping track of appointments and things. The list is endless. Yes I’m hooked.
Our Internet addiction and usages are very similar.
And I just realized my security cameras are offline. That’s another use. And we can’t talk with Alexa.
it all began when i was a child. my father wouldn’t let me set fire to my playmates…as harry shearer says, it’s a smart world after all. welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism.
I’m not addicted to the Internet, but I use it a lot. Mostly, I interact with the commentators on my blog. I check my stock portfolio. I order lots of stuff from AMAZON and a few other trusted web sites. When I’ve had a computer problem, I go the our local Public Library and use their computers until the problem is resolved. But, I spend more time reading than I do online.
Hi James
This summer at the cabin has really demonstrated how important the internet has become to me. In previous years the data plans we were offered were so limited that basically we could not stream anything. Only text need apply and even then we were adding time by the end of the month. This year we got double the data for less than last year. I can watch youtube and Skype with my buddy to replace our weekly in person lunch. It has been great and really gave me a sense of how much I enjoyed these activities. Still no CFL games but oh well.
How your situation gets fixed soon.
Guy
thank you for sharing your reflections, James. Your experience highlights just how integral the internet has become to modern life, serving as a source of connection, information, and entertainment. It’s fascinating to consider how our habits and routines have evolved with technology. Your decision to adapt and find a solution with the hotspot feature demonstrates the importance of connectivity in today’s world. It’s a reminder of how technology continues to shape and enhance our daily lives.