A grand experiment

So, for about 6 months or so, we went without the Internet at home. It was mostly an extension of our TV-less lifestyle, which has stuck very well. We do watch DVDs on the laptop when we feel the need, but the habit of plopping down, and mashing the remote for an hour an a half with the mantra  'There has to be something on... 100 F****** channels... There has to be something on...' is long dead.

The basic logic behind disconnecting was, we both have iPhones, so we had basic access to information and email. She had web access at work, I could use wifi at a local coffee house for blogging, and either way, it would feel less like a mindless plug-in. I think that on the whole, it was a good experiment. I took some getting used to, but it definitely made clear that the Internet had simply been providing a new outlet for mindless time wasting. And I'm trying to be more conscious of where my time goes these days.

There were a number of factors that led to re-connecting. First and foremost, there are some required things that really require Internet access... Working with banks, emailing documents to insurance companies, even allowing doctors to access medical records... Internet access has become as necessary as the telephone. There are certainly work-arounds if you don't have it, but it was cramping our style.

Among other things, it really torpedo'd this blog. It's not so much that you can't blog with an iPhone, you can. But it's not the same as having a real keyboard. That, and google decided to update the blogger interface, and they don't bother supporting Safari anymore. It's marginally functional, but working with links, adding more than one phot, etc, was problematic at best. 

The upside is that I'm now more practiced at phoning in short updates from the shop, like the recent posts about the Spiers plane. But now that I'm back online, I'll be able to get back to writing longer, more thoughtful pieces again.