Can You Live 24 Time Without the Internet? I Tried It and Here&#039, s How It Went

I stood on a hill in the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, surrounded by faculty trees and red-barked trees, listening to the flutter of dark-eyed juncos jostling through the trees. Amid all this autumn beauty, my phone chimed. And rang again. And hammered and beeped. &nbsp,

A colleague sent an Instagram website. Uber Eats provided a cheap offer. Target had a discount for cleaning products. One passed my Ring door camera. Enough! It was day for a problem. A day without the internet was upon us, and it was time to accept a peaceful day. May I would it? Do I like it?

I chose the day before the Super Bowl. At first, I was ecstatic at the thought. No regular interruptions? No information? No messages? Sounds wonderful! Finally, a fuller range hit: No protection camera alerts. No traffic changes. No remote monitoring of the foster creature’s antics. No streaming Eastbound &amp, Down. So I made plans for an internet-free morning with a mix of excitement and dread.

My no-internet surface rules

I had to reevaluate my existence because the computer was so entangled in it. I recall my early childhood, when circular phones were in the dead of the day, and how my parents used report maps to make appointments and make road trips to the movies. My trial would be like a journey back in time, like a time machine. Voice names were also used. Everything else was missing.

Here’s what I did at 10: 30 p. m. the night before.

Unplugged the T-Mobile Home Internet gateway: This impaired my house online, including Alexa products, television streaming applications, the Ring doorbell camera and my Wyze security cameras. Down went the Wi-Fi for my servers, switch and intelligent wires. My T-Mobile Home Internet encounter was briefly bid adieu.

I activated Focus Mode: I checked all of my apps and added them to the Focus Mode list on my Android phone ( located under the Digital Wellbeing settings ). My only restraint was words calling. I had the option to make or receive voice calling, but that was beyond the scope of my phone’s usage. No word communication.

Day of the no-internet study

My no-internet moment started also. I have a non-internet-connected alarm time, so I got up on time. I read a Louise Penny unknown with my day coffee instead of responding to texts and scrolling through social media, Facebook occasions, and the Albuquerque post. It was silent and wonderful. My daily electric needs had been eliminated.

It would have been simple to just stay at home and read a book all day, but I had to get out there and experience the meaning of an internet-free moment. My husband and I made the decision to look into property sales. The day before, we made a list of names. That night, we got out a chart of Albuquerque from an archaic 2002 road map. With silent telephones and a sense of optimism, we hit the road.

Missing Google Maps

My husband and I navigated, squinting at the little display, paging through the road index and tracing the network on the map. The first two profits were successful. The second was more of a concern because it was located far outside the city in a location that wasn’t covered by my map. A traffic jam involving construction on I-40 was the first real obstacle to the no-internet time. We escaped the bridge and found a different road on old Route 66 without any visitors alerts.

What came second was a move into the improper location, some fruitless wandering and then, suddenly, a solution. We called the land price people. Kudos to today’s us for writing down the contact details. The property purchase man offered to wording us a chart, which we declined. Alternatively, we got some conventional verbal instructions. &nbsp,

It worked. Between the instructions and a few neon-green indicators, we found the price in a remote, semi-rural area. For a small fee, I purchased a vintage glass deviled egg dish. We walked around the nearby hill towns, took in the surroundings, and avoided the interstate when driving home. &nbsp,

A day without streaming

I’m hardly a complete streaming addict. I typically only have one or two membership going at once. Now, that’s Prime and Max. I’m using a discount with Max, but I’m going to burn through what’s interesting before delaying when the offer expires in June. With no streaming, we turned to a traditional method of accessing pleasure: an antenna. &nbsp,

My thoughts hovered in a position of youth memory as I scrolled channels, skipping through the paid software, officer shows and shopping networks. ” This sucks”, I thought to myself. I couldn’t check the online TV guide, I just hit the remote repeatedly. &nbsp,

We ended up on an old Western movie channel while watching a gunslinger Willie Nelson stroll around town while Bruce Springsteen sang “57 Channels and Nothin’ On” with a pained expression on his face. Mostly, we worked on a jigsaw puzzle. &nbsp,

I bailed early to play with the cat, read, and go to bed with my phone, which turned out to be nothing more than a paperweight tucked away into the nightstand. Even though it wasn’t a typical night for me, this was a perfectly lovely way to end a day without the internet. &nbsp,

The aftermath

The best aspect of not having internet for the day was the pause on micro-interruptions, which are all about small details like neighborhood alerts, store sales, and deleted emails. I didn’t turn on the T-Mobile Home Internet gateway until Sunday morning, 36 hours after the experiment started, because I liked the silence so much. &nbsp,

In a time of and petty theft, as much as I worried about my security cameras going dark, it wasn’t a problem for one day. I wouldn’t want to go forever without them, though. Instead, I reset my Ring camera’s motion detection to reduce random alerts from cars and dog walkers. I used these advice to reduce obtrusive smart home camera notifications.

What I noticed most was how frequently I use my phone for trivial tasks throughout the day to feed the strange little questions. How do I remove the funky tab closure from the Costco bag? Is king cake available at Whole Foods? The performer of Rainbow in the Dark is unknown. Without the answers, I managed to get through. &nbsp,

Sure, I made a hash out of the bagel bag, but that’s OK. Instead of entering Google queries into my phone, I figured it out. I embraced the views. I had a conversation with my husband about driving through . I lived life, however briefly, without a digital crutch.

Just say no to notifications

I’m bringing some of the lessons from my day without internet with me. I’ve become more ruthless about notifications. Sorry, Uber Eats, Target and Ring neighborhood alerts– you’re out. Weather, text messaging and calendar alerts are allowed to stay. &nbsp,

I’m working on making phone calls more frequent and effective. Now that I’ve unlocked the full power of Focus Mode, I can put it into service. On top of a mountain, where the squirrels call from the trees, I can have my quiet moments. &nbsp,

I’ve already developed a sense of nostalgia for my internet-free day. It’s a rosy memory of enjoyable experiences in the car listening to the classic rock radio station, unsure of whether we would arrive at our destination, or whether it even mattered. &nbsp,

Our path could have been made easier and more productive thanks to the internet. But I didn’t miss out on anything. We navigated. We entertained ourselves. The world didn’t end because I didn’t answer an email on Saturday. I even forgot about doing Wordle. &nbsp,

I still adore a lot of the things the internet can do for me. I simply don’t need it squatting in my ear every single time I wake up and whispering in my ear. &nbsp,

So here’s my hearty recommendation. Shut it down sometimes. For a day. For a few hours. Get a map. Go for a drive. Watch an old movie with an antenna. The internet will still be there tomorrow.