Cutting off electronic tethers, etc.

[Crankin]

I am much less tethered than most, but I don't know if I could give up what I have. My cell phone gets used maybe twice a month. I don't even turn it on anymore. I think it would be really hard for me to give up my computer, mostly because I wouldn't be able to "talk" to you guys! I also have to use it for research at grad school, since everything is available electronically. I have to say, it is a little uncomfortable to me when I have to register for classes on line, have electronic conversations on Blackboard (thankfully, none have been required in the classes I've taken so far), because I can never remember what steps I have to take to do each thing. I do like email, generally, because I don't like talking on the phone. I will call friends to make plans or if we haven't communicated for a week or so, but generally, I don't talk on the phone to just "gab." So email allows me to take care of a lot of business type transactions without having to use the phone. When I see all of these people texting, I really wonder, why do you have to talk so much? Like, how many friends do you have? I have a pretty active social life, but I just don't feel the need to be connected so much. I will never get a Blackberry or I Phone, especially since I don't even know how most of the functions on my regular cell phone work. I use a $3.00 day planner to write stuff down, but mostly I remember it all in my head.
I rarely listen to music and when I do, it's on the radio in the car or a CD. My IPod is programmed by my DH, since although I have been shown at least 3 times, I can't figure out how to download songs.
As far as cycling/running gizmos, I ditched the HR monitor about 4 years ago. As others have stated, I was focusing on it too much. I know when I am working hard or not! I do have a computer, with cadence on my road bike, but I mostly use it for keeping track of miles. My average sucks, so I don't look anymore! I got a Forerunner 101 for running, mostly because I needed to know how far I was running and I wanted to know my pace. Hey, I was pleasantly surprised when I first got it, but it's the cheapest Garmin around and it doesn't work if the g-ds aren't smiling the right way. I barely can use it.
With electronics, as with mechanics, every time is the first time for me.

[redrhodie]

I just went 10 days without TV, stereo, computer or phone. I did use a pay phone a few times to check in with family. It was great, very relaxing.

If I had no obligations, job, or bills to pay, I could easily adapt to this long term.

[lph]

I could, and have gone for weeks without "devices". But that was typically either as a hut warden in the mountains, where I'd meet new people every day, or on long hikes, ditto plus see new landscapes all the time. I'd get bored and lonely after a week or so in one place with just my closest family around. I love them dearly, but I'm accustomed to and prefer daily contact with more people than that. It has little to do with devices really, more to do with where I live and where my friends are.

If all phones and all computers disappeared off the face of the earth in one fell swoop I'd adapt quite happily. But if I lose my cellphone I panic a little, because I know lots of people rely on getting hold of me that way.

[tulip]

Technology is how I am able to work from home. Without my computer and smartphone, I'd have to be in a cubicle all day. No way!

Since TV went digital, I no longer have a functioning TV. So far I have not missed it. I like listening to the radio.

[OakLeaf]

I'd get bored and lonely after a week or so in one place with just my closest family around. I love them dearly, but I'm accustomed to and prefer daily contact with more people than that. It has little to do with devices really, more to do with where I live and where my friends are.

If all phones and all computers disappeared off the face of the earth in one fell swoop I'd adapt quite happily. But if I lose my cellphone I panic a little, because I know lots of people rely on getting hold of me that way.

+1 to all of that.

The phone in particular, since both my parents and DH's are getting elderly and infirm.

And, I don't think I'd adapt quite as quickly as you, because apart from gardening, I don't have a lot of practical knowledge or printed reference manuals at my fingertips. I rely on the internet to learn precisely the things I would need to do (or find the people I'd need to hire to do them, if those systems were still intact) if the internet suddenly disappeared.

Also the weather. That's mostly a function of never watching TV I suppose, but it seems that whenever I do put on the weather channel these days, it isn't like it was 15 years ago, and you have to wait for-freakin'-ever for a radar loop. And they don't give you the hourly weather graph or the option to zoom in or out on the radar loop. Now that I think about it, it seems that what I need the internets most for, is preparing for things that are going to happen outdoors, without it.

[ny biker]

I live alone. My nearest family is 300 miles away. Without electronics I would not have sufficient contact with my family.

I would also not have a job, since I'm a software developer who works on internet applications.

[OakLeaf]

Another thought:

without the internet (you wonderful wise women in particular) I'd still be riding an ill-fitting saddle and using a less than ideal chamois lube.

It hasn't been so long ago that I don't remember it. OUCH.

[indysteel]

Like Crankin', I hate talking on the phone as a general rule. I used to like it, but the only person I talk to these days is my BF and, then, only because he lives an hour away and we don't see one another most weekdays. So, for that reason, I'm "addicted" to email and my Blackberry. I rarely talk on my Blackberry; most people know better than to call me on it.

I don't have a home computer and lived without an Internet connection at home for many years, but again, the Blackberry is helpful in that regard. I like the fact that I don't sit at home in front of the computer, as I do that most days at work. I love the Internet though; I would have a hard time living without it for any length of time. I love doing research on just about everything, so I get a lot out of it.

I could take or leave television I suppose. I've lived without it and could again if I had to. I certainly don't miss it when I'm on vacation. And I love the radio, mostly because I'm an NPR junkie. If I had to choose between giving up my tv and giving up my radio, it would definitely be the former.

Speaking of NPR, I heard a story the other day about Google's attempt to create a digital library. That's where I'd probably draw the line. Reading is as much about curling up in my bed or in a cozy chair, preferably with my cats or my BF by my side, as it is the book itself. I don't think I'd enjoy reading a book online.

[ny biker]

Another thought:

without the internet (you wonderful wise women in particular) I'd still be riding an ill-fitting saddle and using a less than ideal chamois lube.

It hasn't been so long ago that I don't remember it. OUCH.

Word.

BTW, I admit it, I like watching TV. Lots of what's on is dumb or uninteresting, but I still manage to find things I like. And sometimes you can actually learn from it.

[GLC1968]

I live alone. My nearest family is 300 miles away. Without electronics I would not have sufficient contact with my family.

I would also not have a job, since I'm a software developer who works on internet applications.

Ditto this except that my family is 3000 miles away. Plus, if it hadn't been for the internet, my goat would have died during child birth, I never would have met my husband, I'd have no job (I'm an EE), my husband would have no job (computer security), we wouldn't have found the last three houses we owned and all of my real life local friends and I would not have met.

That said, if it all went away, I'd be totally fine with it. I don't need TV, I only listen to the radio or music when I drive, I am never on the phone unless it's for work or with family, I don't play video games, I don't have a 'smart phone' (but everyone should keep buying them, please!) and we are carefully building up our real life home library with the information we need so that we can be less reliant on the internet in the future.

[Owlie]

My cell phone is my only phone, so I need that to talk to family and order pizza when I get lazy.

TV...I could live without it. I enjoy watching it, but I don't need it. This past school year, it wasn't hooked up to cable, but we had 4 video game systems hooked up to it, not that I played much. I need the internet--my university is trying to become a paperless campus, so everything is done online. It's also how I keep in touch with my friends from high school and how my research papers get done.