I'm quitting the Internet. Will I be liberated or left behind?

I am not sure why people worry about spending too much time in front of their computer. In "the old days", there wasn't one device that did everything for you. If you wanted to write, you got out your typewriter. If you wanted to read, you went to the library to find a book. If you wanted to shop, you went to the store. If you wanted to have a quick chat with someone, you would call them or find them in person.

Now, "the Internet" handles all that for you one one device. You are doing the same things that you always did, but what used to take several hours now takes a few clicks. This is a good thing, not a bad thing; you have more time to waste, and so you do it by reading news.yc instead of walking to the store.

I've considered this a few times, but each time I do I eventually conclude that my internet/technology usage is well within normal limits (perhaps it was hubris that caused the resonance cascade after all). While I'm on my computer(s) at least 8 hours a day, those 8 hours are spent working. When I'm done with work I rarely pull out my laptop, unless I'm expecting something really cool via email...

As a developer I find it odd that I only like creating software, not using it.

I've gone offline for a week or so. While I was doing my masters I only used the internet while at school, mainly to do research.

It felt good, didn't feel like vast swaths of time just disappeared into nothingness.

I've also recently been feeling some internet fatigue.

It's occured to me that the internet encourages* bite-size pieces of content.

I sit on reddit and complain that it's getting too 4chan, with stupid lolcats, cartoons, FMLs, short bloggettes, and so on. Cheap, quick, unintellectual nuggets. But with some harsher self-observation, I realise that as I scan down the list I go for the cheap and quick nuggets. I open a pic, smirk, close tab, next. I open an 8 page article and think, crikey, tl;dr, close without reading. I open a 90 second youtube and will watch it, I open a 14 minute youtube and think "oh I can't be bothered to devote that long to this". Whereas in "real life" I will happily read a lengthy national geographic article in one sitting, and television tends to come in minimum 30 minute chunks.

I started reading the Baroque Cycle last month (not done yet, no spoilers please!), after Anathem before that, and it struck me how these 17th century RS people didn't have flushing toilets yet they were dedicated to knowing at least the fundamentals of philosophy, logic, maths, biology, chemisty, physics, rhetoric, etc as part of being a standard 'decently educated' person. I have a degree, too, and live in a pampered world of extreme convenience, but I have only the vaguest pop science grasp of E=mc^2, linguistic structuralism, the socratic method or whatever else. I ask myself why I'm letting myself sit on forums and get depressed by the deja vu of ever-repeating ill-informed / tabloid-level soundbites and debates, about, say, Iraq, instead of reading a serious book on the sociopolitical history of the middle east. Why am I skimming yet another "top 5 shiny css background examples" instead of thoroughly perusing a textbook of fundamental design principles? Why do I find myself link-surfing my way around WP to a biography of Russell, but never tackling Principia Mathematica?

So I'm now hoping to consciously curb my "just one more F5..." time-frittering, and spend more time bringing myself up to speed on all aspects of a well-rounded intellectual the old fashioned way: books.

* I say "encourage" rather than "force" because I am well aware the syndrome I describe comes down to personal choice and the reality is that it's my fault and not the internet's fault, so please don't argue with me on that basis, I know that. I know that in theory the internet, being an information-delivery-and-exchange medium, is capable of HELPING me in 'serious' self-improvement. I know that, for example, TED talks are highly regarded by many people as a means of engaging themselves with new areas of knowledge and learning. I can only speak for myself in saying I don't like videos, I don't seem to do well at reading long articles on screen, and I don't seem to be able to maintain attention span on the internet without ctrl-tabbing every 30 seconds. Much better for me personally to step away from the computer, recline on my sofa or bed and focus on some dead trees.

I don't really get it. It seems the author is using the Internet for all the right things: communicating with people, helping people, his bussiness is internet-based, which supports his family. It seems he's getting more out of the Internet than the time he inevitably wastes online?

Those of you who have Internet compulsion problems might like Mac Freedom: http://macfreedom.com/ , which is one of the most brilliant and simple programs I've found. You open it, it gives you a prompt with a number of minutes, and for that period of time you can't access the Internet (it's possible to get back on with rebooting, but that's enough of a pain that I suspect few people do it).

If you're looking to disconnect distraction: http://paulgraham.com/distraction.html without disconnecting altogether, this is a great way to do it.

The internet needn't be an either/or.

Just distinguish between surfing and searching. The first is a form of entertainment and the second is connected with problem solving.

(OFC, entertainment can be valuable and educational, and can help solve problems indirectly; I don't want to knock it.)

I have three thoughts on this:

1) We are all forced to use computers in a sort of arms race against our would be competitors in any job market or office place.

2) The browser and mobile phones are the ultimate swiss army knife and this will only get worse as all forms of media and communication get even more saturated.

3) People's reactions to his disconnection is exactly how I feel about my friend who refuses to get a cell phone. It is very annoying to communicate with him because it's like he has his own communication paradigm. He's always unavailable, barely returns calls, and always wants us to plan meticulously where and when to meet when going out, where as the rest of us just freestyle it because you can use your cell to freestyle it on the way. This reminds me of the new york times article on Cell phone refuseniks: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/technology/23cell.html

I swing back and forth in thinking that stuff like this is either fluffy navel gazing or serious introspection. I'd like to think it serious introspection.

I'm on my laptop a fair amount, and at home there's almost always a laptop open on the kitchen counter for checking email. My wife reads quite a bit online, and I do too. Our older son, who is 7, is just beginning to poke around on an old laptop. Do I spend a fair bit of time each day on my laptop? Yeah. I don't, however, carrying a mobile data device (yes, I have a cell phone, but no data plan), so if I'm not at home, or at work, I'm not "connected," and I don't feel anxious about that.

We're leaving shortly for a one month road trip. I'll be working periodically, and my wife has an iPhone, but I'm looking forward to being disconnected for days at a time. I'm not sure it'll be liberating, though, since I don't necessarily feel that I am a slave to anything.

You know I gave up the TV because I can get anything online. The internet rocks.

I don't know where you draw the line on that one. Lots of activities you do offline could be considered a waste of time too but, if you enjoy doing it, that's basically what life is for most people. Moderation is probably a much more reasonable way to deal with it.

I don't think I could ever quite quit the internet, but I am happy with my decision to stick with a twenty dollar internetless dumbphone, which at least guarantees that I won't be on the internet unless I'm at the office or at home.

And at the bottom of the article: "Become a fan of Slate on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter."

<laughs>

Quitting the internet? How is that any less ridiculous than someone in the 1980s saying he's going to quit using the phone and reading the newspaper because he feels addicted to calling his friends and checking sports scores - and asking his acquaintances to contact him instead via telegram or pony express?

Unless you go live in the jungle, you will just be reminded everyone is on the Internet.

Why ask this question online if you just quit the Internet?!