I mean, you can find people who share your convictions.
Similar to how you can’t just stay off social media to avoid the influence of social media. The entire world has changed, and people behave differently because they are on social media. And their behavior affects you and the ambiance of places you go to.
My last friend who still uses a "dumb" phone with no internet has started to struggle over the last few years as more places just require a smartphone. He's increasingly excluded from services.
I have a smartphone, but I use it for text messaging, calls, navigation, and not much else. Tickets I buy online and print. I've never been to a restaurant that required a phone to see the menu or order, and I'd likely walk out if they did.
The maps/navigation is convenient, but if push came to shove I'd print the directions like I used to do before phone navigation was a thing.
I do not own a printer (30 years old), and neither do any of my siblings. If I want to print something I'd have to do it at work but don't know how to make the work printers work (despite being a software engineer at a company with a "good" printer setup). I travel internationally and don't print anything for that anymore.
> I've never been to a restaurant that required a phone to see the menu
I've never been to a place with a web menu and tried to get a physical menu.
> if push came to shove I'd print the directions
That's true if you know where you're going ahead of time, but if you're out and decide you now need directions to a coffee shop, ATM, public toilet, pharmacy, etc, you often need to look them up. You can ask for directions, but only if you speak the language, can find someone who knows, etc.
I have a vague bad feeling about all of this change, but I can't really justify it. These are the ways things are going and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing in general, although there are negatives to it.
I certainly don't obsessively print things but I don't work in an office and I probably want to print at least a few pages in a given week.
If push came to shove, I'd send smoke signals to my friend across town when I want to invite them to a party.
In the sense that you haven't laid out a clear boundary to the "other people". You don't have to go on a cruise ship to get away from email etc. You just say, "I'm offline from x to y".
I suspect you are not comfortable actually telling the other people this - I'm not sure if it's employer, customer, or family. In all cases though the right solution is to be clear, and give advance notice. There will likely be some push-back (especially given your past behaviour) but be firm.
Feel free to browse all you like. Feel free to post pics to Instagram. But resist the urge to answer emails or messages. Let that wait.
Ultimately people will treat your boundaries based on how _you_ treat your boundaries. It's a you problem first, not a them problem.
Seriously. Set boundaries. Using "no access" as an excuse implies that if you're reachable you're on the hook to serve other people's desires at all times. People need to know that there are times in your life that are reserved for you only, and some people have a problem with that, so you have to tell them yourself in no uncertain terms.
https://www.alaska.org/tours https://you.com/search?q=alaska+hiking+trails
SpaceX also just partnered with TMobile to bring direct-to-phone satellite internet. It'll probably take a while to happen, and the announced specs are pretty limited, but it's basically going to be everywhere.
I feel like you could though, if you wanted, have an offline vacation anywhere. I know people who go camping and turn their phones off the entire time until they return.
Regarding travel, Eric Schmidt had an interesting story. I think he spoke on Tim Ferriss's podcast that once he was on a business trip to North Korea with a group of people. Before boarding the plane, he was instructed by homeland security people to not bring in any connected devices, including phones. So everyone in the group went in without smartphones. For the next 2 weeks "everyone in the group became best friends" and they "had so much fun and many interesting conversations." (I'm paraphrasing) But once they return to airport and got their phones back, "we all immediately sunk into our phones and stopped talking to each other."
Maybe your best bet is North Korea? Seriously though, I think more and more people will see the benefit of occasionally entering into an "internet free" zone, by themselves or in groups. Preferably the zone is designed specifically for offline experience, not an augmented one relying on the guest's own "will power" to resist the pressure of internet.
If you're looking for a more familiar environment, small-town Montana will probably still suit you: https://getinternet.com/which-states-have-best-worst-interne... https://broadbandnow.com/research/best-states-with-internet-...
Worse, my single most important use of the computer I take is the deck plans of the ship I am on, it is invincible the amount of details you can find if you download the right plans. I find all the places onboard that often many cruisers do not know are there.
I remember remote-debugging a critical crash from a cruise ship in 1996. (Via fax. It was... an experience :)
(Give me a credit shout-out when you're all famous ;)
I love cruises and do it a lot. Never use internet on it, unless it was absolutely necessary.
Do your due diligence though because "silent" has quite the range.
I am very, very, sick of this purely self aggrandizing "tragedy."
As we enter the era of increased satellite connectivity, it makes sense that some cruises would offer no Internet access to passengers as a perk. That would have nothing to do with the crew having access.
Or shocker: you could just leave your phone at home when you go on your trip.
JFC why do people have to magnify this into something when it's literally nothing?
Edit: comment above made a stealth edit where my comment now appears disjoint. I'll leave my comment as is other than this warning.
It's not identical because the rest of the people surrounding you aren't in a low-internet or no-internet bubble.
I love the internet. I also like to unplug, and it's really annoying to unplug and then have a few people not bought into the idea around you.
Like seriously, there is no problem here, no tragedy.
When I hear what you're saying it's roughly equivalent to "I wish I could go out to bars and talk to people who don't have TV" about 2 decades ago. It's preposterous to assert this is some big deal, or that you don't have your own agency to create an unplugged environment with like minded people if you like.
The person you lambasted had said this:
> it makes sense that some cruises would offer no Internet access to passengers as a perk
I saw the comment in that minute before you responded-- this was in it. Further, there were cousin comments articulating the same view.
You're not being very kind.
> When I hear what you're saying it's roughly equivalent to "I wish I could go out to bars and talk to people who don't have TV" about 2 decades ago.
Here it's more like "I wish I could go to a bar somewhere near me without a TV blaring".
You want to be disconnected from the internet? Great, more power to you. You want those around you to also be disconnected from the internet? In the most sincere way possible, fuck you.
If you can't fight the urge to bust out an internet client upon seeing someone else mess with one, that's a You problem and specifically a lack of self-discipline.
Unless you literally own the cruise ship and you are literally the law onboard as captain/owner of the ship, nobody has to accomodate your lack of self-discipline.
Of course, if you want help resolving your lack of self-discipline that's a different story, and I'm sure many folks would be happy to give you advice on that front.
vs. What we're replying to:
> As we enter the era of increased satellite connectivity, it makes sense that some cruises would offer no Internet access to passengers as a perk. That would have nothing to do with the crew having access.
And again, it's not my lack of non-discipline: it's me enjoying being in places where the other people I'm with are disconnected. I value disconnected experiences; if a quarter of people around me are nose-down in a phone, that devalues the experience for me a fair bit. There are likely decent markets for disconnected experiences.
The post I replied to (you) reads, in part, as follows: "I also like to unplug, and it's really annoying to unplug and then have a few people not bought into the idea around you."
Absolutely, find cruise ships without internet connection if you're that deep into that sort of thing. Nobody's stopping you, nor is anyone stopping cruise lines from not providing internet.
What I'm saying is: You don't get to just go on some cruise ship and then complain people around you don't act exactly like you. That is absurd.
I don't think anyone is doing that (straw man)-- which is part of why your reaction seems so over the top to me. At worst, people are bemoaning the loss of one more low-network space; which then morphed into a discussion of why a deliberate low-network space might be considered worthwhile beyond the personal choice of not using one's phone.
And then you started putting words in my mouth about me not being able to refrain from using my phone.
Also, it's not an issue of self discipline when social norms dictate that everyone around me is using their phones, and expecting me to do so to interact with them. On a cruise ship there used to be no such expectation. No boss expecting me to be aware of new emails, no friends expecting me to respond to their Facebook invites if I want to come to their parties, no one at the bar expecting me to follow them on Instagram, and no restaurants asking me to scan their QR code if I want to eat.
I don't know when the last time is you've tried to live for a week without a phone, but its become next to impossible unless you're in a protected environment like a cruise ship or a wilderness retreat.
They'll whinge at you for living in the 20th Century, but your stress levels will be down.
Embrace the fact that no-one is irreplaceable, and train your understudies.