Ask HN: Is it still possible for an individual to quit the internet? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is it still possible for an individual to quit the internet?

7 pointskrrishd10 comments

from last time i asked this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24624189

figured it’s especially topical now

To get some public services in the state of new york (unemployment or health insurance) you will be required to log into the state web site. if that was hard for you a volunteer or social worker could walk you through it at the public library.

Some people are really off the grid like the seemingly schizoprenic old woman who was living in the state forest last year. I know a single mom who lived with her daughter in a barn (both worked out OK). Other people live in underground experimental houses and will offer you raw milk from cows in a barn with way too many chickens, feathers and guano. (That lady, however, is quick to answer email despite that.)

Of course hah... what kind of question is this? If a human doesn't use one of the internet-interfacing devices like a smartphone, laptop, etc they can't use the internet. Thus they are not using the internet and have "quit" the internet.

There are plenty of people that have never used the internet, so quitting the internet depends on what dependencies you have added to it. Cut those dependencies and you can hit the power switch.

If someone did, how would they answer you? If someone answers to say yes, they're clearly lying because they're using the Internet.

It's possible depending on how much inconvenience you can accept in your life but that's also kind of irrelevant. If you don't like something online, don't take part in it. You don't have an obligation to consume and do everything online, just pick out the parts of it that work for you.

How many degrees of separation is sufficient to be considered abstaining?

Is it "using the internet" if I say go to the DMV to renew my license and they enter me into their database?

Or do I have to physically touch the machine?

Is it about intention? If I hire a couier to program a computer for me and deploy it, have I used the internet?

I think it is an interesting question, but is it really more topical now than when you asked 3 months ago? If so, can you let me why?

I don’t think my grandpa ever joined, and he’s still kicking.

It's not as hard as quitting oxygen.

Were about to find out, apparently conservatives need to "build their own"

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