Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The plan
So a few entries ago I wrote about the plan of not accessing the Internet's tubes starting December 13. While in New York, I came up with a better plan: I will still blog, but it won't be in the conventional sense. While there I purchased this
a Black n' Red notebook imported from Ye Olde England. I shall be writing in this text, scanning the pages, and then uploading them to this old blog. While uploading I will refrain from checking the Internet for anything else (like email or comments). The temptation, of course, will be great, but I shall resist by shouting, with my arm to the square, "Get thee behind me Satan!" (Bet you didn't know I knew that much about LDS practice, did you?) I might, too, put on a hair shirt while doing this. (Bet you didn't know I knew that much about Catholic practice, did you?) I suppose the inspiration for this came from a couple of different sources, most notably Jeff Bridges, who has had a handwritten website/blog for many years now.
So, although I will not be interacting with the web, it will still be a part of my existence. It will be a bit like living in a Panopticon, I suppose, given that I will know people are reading the stuff, but I won't know what they are saying. That makes me slightly nervous, and I've contemplated turning on extra-security in comments to keep the riffraff at bay. If I were going all hog on the effort, I might just get a post office box where people could mail me comments. Now that would be a hoot, but a bit impractical.
One thing that I don't want this experiment to turn into is a running commentary on what it is like not to have access to my beloved Internet, although I fear that will be a major topic. I don't want it to be a meta-blog, simply because I find that kind of stuff tedious. We'll see how it goes.
I suppose the biggest challenge is going to be the email thing, but having ready access to information, as well as things like my banking are of equal importance. I will steel myself by offending all my email contacts so they don't feel compelled to write me and declare bankruptcy before the experiment begins.
Labels: abstinence, blogging, challenge, Internet
¶ 6:29 PM 4 comments
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Monday, November 12, 2007
Being as the hypocrites...
The interaction below with lisa b. of Hightouch Megastore has inspired me to go on a 20-day Internet hiatus starting on December 13 and ending January 1, 2008. And to make it an interesting project, I will document my efforts in a real-to-goodness journal I shall purchase for that very purpose.Why? I hear you ask. "Why not?" is my non-reply. Actually I do like to take breaks from all things electronic once in a while, but I've never documented it. Further more, you might do better to ask me something like "why don't you own a car you freak?" which seems like a perfectly more justifiable question.
Well I was going to, but it seems a bit too pushy to ask. Why the hell don't you have a car? What are you some kind of hippy? I guess I should have, but haven't, documented my self-chosen carlessness. There could have been some good money in that, after all. I mean, my heck, Barbara Kingsolver wrote a book about buying local for a year, and there have been others. Guess I just missed my chance. Oh well. In any case, I don't own are car and I'm not really sure why anymore. Maybe that's why I haven't written about it.
Ah so going off the net is like not having a car? Maybe. I don't know. In any case, I'm going to take the hiatus and write about it while I'm doing it. I will then share the results when I return from the land of the disconnected.
Why December 13? No particular reason other than I will be done with work by then and headed out on a great long vacation. I also thought it would be cool to do 20 days. It has sort of a biblical ring to it.
Oh I was wondering about the 20 days bit. You were right to think about asking. I would go for 40 days, but I ain't got 40 days. Does anyone have 40 days to do anything any more? Not even Morgan Spurlock has 40 days!
What do you hope to learn from this experience? I think I want to explore how being hooked-up like I've been for most of my adult life changes my experience. I can already foresee a couple of problems: I do all my banking online at this point. I will have to make sure I pay everything before I go on my adventure.
So you are getting rid of everything electronic? No. Do you think I'm an idiot? I'm just going to dump the use of the Internet: email, blog, flickr, etc. I will maintain use of my cell phone (as it is my only means of communication). Since I am not a fool, I will also, if an emergency arises, violate my rule to access something that I can only get to on the Net (such as my banking) but I will document that usage as it happens.
What have you done for me lately? Not a damn thing. Hit the road, jack!
Labels: anti-blogging, blogging, dialog, Internet, italics, ludification, unhooking
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