Right now I am attempting to detox or strictly limit online activity by disconnecting my Internet for 2 whole months. I have downloaded what I could to pad the time and have gotten around more to do things I kept putting off.
So far, what I am not liking about it, is that the only way I have internet now is mobile since my phone has a plan. I. hate. the. mobile. experience. There is a reason I have always treated all of my phones as just communication devices as meant to be and not just for browsing.
The keyboard interface sucks, keys are too close which are prone for you to make many typing mistakes unless you have autocorrect. And we all know how autocorrect can be. Sometimes things will randomly zip you away from what you are doing like, in the middle of making this, something made my browser get yanked down and I was on the home screen.
Most if not all UIs for websites are shit in mobile. If things act up, welp! You are in for a world of frustration! Being on mobile is really like you are going down a narrow corridor, just trying to get to places and do things. But for every few paces, you have a series of booby traps to deal with and they all fuck you up and leave you pissed off as you try resuming. It’s a fucking trap in of itself.
The plus side of no net? Keeps the social media noise down.
I miss when things were slower.
Want to know about the Hittites? That’s a trip to the library – encyclopedia volume H. While you’re out, maybe your bud tried to call. Best check the answering machine when you get home. Lost? Better pull out that atlas from the car door. Don’t mind the mysterious stain.
Having lived it, I understand the urge. We’re not built for this.
Yep. And you are more likely to retain that knowledge getting it that way, vs getting your answer from a quick internet search.
There have been studies that have shown that getting answers quickly from search engines/internet has caused a marked reduction in our ability to remember things, because our brain knows its right there in our pocket/on our computer to find again so it doesnt even bother to try to retain it.
But if you make a concerted effort of going to the library, browsing, reading 20 other really interesting things along the way, your chances of retaining and recalling it skyrocket
I still use paper atlases. I see no reason to change.
The Google maps allow you use offline map which you download before go offline. All funcs works except some eg real time traffic
OSMand does this too if OP wants a more FOSS flavored option.
What’s great about it: The lack of distractions
What sucks: The lack of distractions
Instant 4k streaming without taking up any permanent local space is neat.
Having time to read? Also neat.
You don’t need to be that old. I’m in my early 30s and I can enjoy the moment as well. A few months ago I was out with my nephew, my sister and my mom in a wildlife park and they where kinda pressuring me to take more pictures. Looking at my camera roll, I’ve taken 40 pictures and 5 clips, including duplicate shots. Sure pictures are useful to remember, but I don’t need so many, that they tell the whole story. I want just so many pictures, that I can remember it myself and if I’m sharing them, to aid my story telling. Sometimes I wish back analog film, as this really limited people on what they capture. On the other hand, digital cameras have the upside, that you don’t waste precious space, when one picture fails. This was always a big bummer. And you couldn’t review the picture you took. Looking at the pictures I took as a kid with analog film, they where pretty good.
What sucks about having no internet? Everything.
What is great about it? Nothing, it sucks.
The internet is on par with all utilities. It is required for existence.
I usually leave my phone at home when I go out. If I have it with me, everything but the phone ringtone is in silent mode. So unless I get a call I’m not notified on anything. I’ll look for message etc whenever I feel like it.
Nothing sucks. Sure, modern life seems to be build around them, but there often is another way. We managed many many decades without them.
It’s great living your day just here and now with whatever surrounds you at the moment.
true, but when i said this in another thread multiple folks told me what an asshole I was being for leaving my phone at home. because it’s rude, inconsiderate, and abusive to people who might need to talk to me right now, this instance, it can’t wait, and how dare I not reply asap.
Then I also missed the memo that said we have to be available 24/7
(24/7 availability only happens when I’m on stand-by for work. That is less than 6x a year, for one week, on a separate phone and they pay dearly for me carrying it around )
Protip: they make little pocket notebooks that could fit in a back pocket. Maybe 10x5cm. You will need this because you likely don’t realize how many times a day you whip out your phone to research a random thought. Those thoughts are valuable! Write them down for later. At least that was my experience.
Perhaps limiting your time would be preferable to abstaining completely?
The internet is a requirement for many aspects of life. The mobile or tablet experience is a cumbersome compromise at best. I’d say there’s an argument to be made that using a desktop for required activities would translate to less time spent online overall simply due to the streamlined interface.
When people talk about an “online detox” paying your regular bills usually isnt the sort of activity people are worried about. I personally don’t perceive the value in making this process more difficult for yourself.
Either way, I hope you get what you’re hoping for from your effort.
I ended up in a similar place the first time I quit Facebook. When I went back, I did so far less and pretty much only from a desktop PC. It really balanced things for me at the time. I also hope OP gets what they’re looking for.
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I’m very opposite of you in that I spend 90% of my time on small screen and use big screen internet for very little.
You’re right the mobile experience sucks but use that as motivation to do other things. Things I love to do without internet: read, cross-stitch, practice sowing, playing offline video games
Internet is good for: talking to my family and googling things during arguments
Every time I’m at home without Internet I think “whatever, I’ll just read something or work on some project” and then immediately realise that I have to look up something and I would need Internet for that…
The keyboard interface sucks
I’m not sure if you’re going to see this if you’re avoiding social media for two months, but…while I don’t personally see much gain from using a phone rather than a PC for Internet access for two months, if it’s enough of a pain and it doesn’t violate whatever rules you’re setting for yourself, you can connect a keyboard. There are a bunch of Bluetooth keyboards aimed at Android devices, some of which fold and are themselves phone-sized for portability.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=folding+keyboard
You can also get USB-C hubs with pass-through charging, stuff like this that will give you some USB-A ports to plug wired keyboards into, if you’re using the phone at a desk.
Android won’t show the on-screen keyboard if you have a connected physical keyboard, so you also get a lot more screen space while doing text entry.
Most if not all UIs for websites are shit in mobile.
Firefox (and probably other browsers, but I use Firefox) can request the desktop version of websites. Tap the menu button in the lower-right, and then choose “Desktop site”.
Now, the desktop site may not work well on a small screen either, but you will have access to it.
You can’t kill me because I’m already inside you.
