I commend you for trying to remove the internet from your home (and all of the wonderful stuff you got accomplished then) but I think your story holds a message. If we want to live in isolation from the rest of the world than I think we can remove tech, but if we want to participate through jobs or social mediums then we need to get with the program or face obsolescence.

Check out this NYTimes article where a couple moved into a virtually isolated landscape but required the internet in their yurt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/garden/31yurt.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=yurt&st=cse

My take on ALL new technologies– iphones, computers, internet, weapons, alternative fuels, cars that drive themselves, cat litter boxes which rake and flush themselves, etc.– is that we should not fully adopt them until we know their long-term effects. I am suspicious. And I believe that it is not at all neurotic to be so, because many of the great catastrophes of history were caused by technologies whose full scope and capability were unknown.

Further, most things that help us do things faster maximize our unsustainable behaviors, and in my opinion are expediting our demise.

So I would absolutely approach with caution.

And personally, life WAS better without the internet. In that month, I called friends, wrote letters, stayed out later and was surprised by news. (When information is delivered to me by the newspaper, tv or computer, I just sort of slowly accept it. On the other hand, when people tell me things– gossip, or items of local interest, my reactions are much more dramatic, which I apparently prefer.) My life felt more like an existence that people would seek rather than aim to repair.

And P.S., think of how childhood has changed!

My decision to remove T.V. from my life is meant to allow me to pursue alternate interests. I do not want to be able to just turn on a television and veg out. I want to engage in as much growth oriented behavior as possible (as gabby says, “cultivating my plants and mind”) and t.v watching just doesn’t cut it most of the time. I am not saying that there is nothing good to watch on t.v., on the contrary there is too much good media to consume today so I also don’t want to be sucked into any stories. I love love love movies because they are discrete, you sit down, devote 2 hours of your time and are left with a complete story that (hopefully) makes you think and leaves you feeling all sorts of different emotions. Also when I am at my parents or somewhere else with a t.v. I will usually turn it on and aimlessly flip through the channels and feel unsatisfied but strangely calm. After I get that out of my system I can go without T.V. again for a while. I agree the streaming video and down-loadable media now can fill the whole and I believe a T.V. and a computer will eventually be fully compatible.

As I mention in the article I am wary of technologies influence but clearly I cannot live without it. If I didn’t have constant access to a computer life and being a student would be much more difficult and uncomfortable. A computer is enough to keep my hands full.

Gabby I think that there is definitely something to be said about the physical world but Mike and I have been talking a lot after seeing Avatar and posting this essay. If in 40 years time we are practically living in the digital age I don’t want to be left behind. I am hoping to pick and choose how much I buy into modern tech but still stay abreast of the big changes so that I don’t get left behind to become a relic.

It’s interesting how you say we (born circa 1985) are in a generation that can remember life before computers. I certainly can, though I can’t remember life without TV, although I would like to. Kids used to go play outside!!! everyday! It was only at around the year 2000 that computers were a normal thing to use regularly, and kids born in the late 90s are so plugged in that they might forget the beauty of exercise and just being outdoors…
I also wonder how much technology will replace other important aspects of my life. Will I open a book tonight, or pick up my guitar, or will I go on Facebook and waste hours stalking friends I haven’t seen in years or barely know? I think a lot of people would choose the later, sadly enough.

I also don’t think you are missing out by not getting a phone with a keyboard! Cultivate your plants and mind, not your thumbs’ ability to message at rapid rates, and you will be better off (I think).

I am unenthusiastic about the quality of most t.v. shows, but I do make time for some. However, rather than making sure I’m home and in front of a t.v. set when they air, I get my fix through downloading or streaming episodes of shows I like, like: the Daily Show, Colbert Report, the Office, Dexter, Bill Maher, the Tonight Show (formerly) w/Conan, as well as select interviews from the Charlie Rose show, Inside the Actor’s Studio, 60 Minutes, et al.

I love the near-instant gratification of deciding I want to watch an episode of a show that aired on, say, November 23rd, 2008, and being able to do so often within minutes. Same goes for music. And I’m terribly excited about the looming revolution with e-books. Maybe then college text books won’t be so damn expensive. That would be a positive result of technology. Unless of course you’re one of the people reaping the rewards of educational textbooks. Better write that psychology book quickly, Greg!