Life without internet at home

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chargers54

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My husband and I are considering getting rid of our internet at home. We don’t have TV and our cell phone plans are basic. We only use our phones to talk, not for internet or texting. We have a library about a 5 minute walk from our house open Monday-Saturday until 5 pm with free wifi. My husband works from 7 am to 3 pm. I take classes and am out of the house for a total of 8 hours a week. In my free time I study. I’m thinking of finding a part time job even though we don’t need the money.

Do you have the internet at home? If you do have internet at home, would you ever consider getting rid of it? What would you do with your free time?

I’d like to find some hobbies, perhaps start reading again, etc. Any advice/thoughts welcome. Thanks!
 
I would never consider getting rid of the internet. Too many things are convenient with the internet that are cumbersome without it, especially when making travel plans.
Before the days of internet, I used to read a lot. So now, I read a lot on the internet.
 
chargers54 said:
My husband and I are considering getting rid of our internet at home. We don’t have TV and our cell phone plans are basic. We only use our phones to talk, not for internet or texting. We have a library about a 5 minute walk from our house open Monday-Saturday until 5 pm with free wifi. My husband works from 7 am to 3 pm. I take classes and am out of the house for a total of 8 hours a week. In my free time I study. I’m thinking of finding a part time job even though we don’t need the money.

Do you have the internet at home? If you do have internet at home, would you ever consider getting rid of it? What would you do with your free time?

I’d like to find some hobbies, perhaps start reading again, etc. Any advice/thoughts welcome. Thanks!
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I don’t have TV but I do have internet.

Internet is becoming more of a necessity like electricity and gas. Could you live without it ? Sure, but 15 or 20 bucks a month sure seems worth the convenience.
 
Life without the internet??? :eek:

I could probably survive one night without the internet, and only because I work in front of the computer all day and have internet there. I just moved and had no internet for a couple of weeks at home, so I maxed out the data plan on my phone instead. 😃
 
Attention to the posters above, there is a difference between ‘turning off’ the Internet (is that even possible?) and get rid of Internet at home. The OP is clearly talking about the former.

With all honesty, I strongly support you in this decision. It is easy nowadays to find Internet in alternative places. Like you already said, the library or many other public places, some of them with open and free wi-fis available.

It would seem surprising opinion coming from me, as I am working and studying Computer Science, or maybe not, I just had too much of it :D.

Lastly, this is not really about not having Internet at home, but turning that new ‘offline’ time into something that makes you feel your time is being preciously and wisely wasted. There are bad examples, like this blogger from The Verve, that on his ‘sabbatical’ year without Internet, practically spent his time on his X-Box. On the contrary, I believe many values would be rescued when escaping the each day more overwhelming information overload.

Personally, the first thing I would do is to resume my extensive to-read list, which this year barely advanced. And there are many other outdoor passions now asleep, like learning photography (I have one semi-professional camera (DSLR) which never leave the box), a day in the forest, fishing, geocaching (new passion). Some things are trivial, like having a long and calm uninterrupted conversation with people.

I know, I know… a lot of people is able to do all those silly things without having to turn off the Internet, but I know in my case, for sure it would help if I didn’t have the lights of the modem always blinking. The only reason I still have Internet at home is because I have assignments to submit. Hopefully that is going to change very soon :crossrc:
 
I think nowadays internet is a part of life. I don’t know whether it is a necessity or simply leisure for you. But If you use it for emails, business, online banking, booking/buying I’d be very careful with library or any public internet. I would never give out private info on a public computer or using public wifi, so I’d say I’d never get rid of my secure home wifi…
 
While internet in many ways is a part of today’s life, I’m sure that we could live without it. At least today, but in 10 or so years, who knows how many more stuff will end up being only on the internet.

We could always go and like like st. Anthony the Great. 😃
 
The internet has replaced the encyclopedia, the phone book, maps, and catalogs at our house, just to name a few things. I use the Vatican’s online version of the Catechism and Compendium far more often than my paper copies. Our children’s school sends updates via email and internet links. Our newspaper has just switched over so that it is delivered four days a week, with the other three days available to subscribers via the internet. I ought to give up this online forum, but it is getting to the point that some way of accessing the internet is necessary except when we go into seclusion. The old sources of information are slowly being eliminated; it is the internet or do without the information. In our case, it is more than I could do at the library or at a WiFi café.
 
The Internet is certainly a blessing and a curse. It sure makes things easier, but I certainly don’t want to know how much time I’ve wasted. :eek:
 
I could go without my smart phone, but never the home internet. We don’t have cable, so we stream TV through wifi.
 
EasterJoy said:
The old sources of information are slowly being eliminated; it is the internet or do without the information.
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This.

Pretty soon, going without the internet will be like going without oxygen. Can’t be done.
 
I would love to get rid of the internet. When I think of all the time I’ve wasted staring at a screen, when I could have been doing wholesome things like cycling, walking or reading classic works of literature.

The problem is that one becomes too dependent on the internet. What was once a novelty has now become a necessity. The other day I needed to look up a word. Instead of resorting to the internet, as I usually do, I looked it up in a dictionary. Alright, it may have taken longer and the information I gleamed was less extensive, but it was so much more rewarding to look through the dictionary. There was a sense of finding the information for myself.

But I don’t think I would ever be able to eschew it fully. Maybe it would be a good thing to give up for Lent.
 
Sunbreak said:
I would never consider getting rid of the internet. Too many things are convenient with the internet that are cumbersome without it, especially when making travel plans.
Before the days of internet, I used to read a lot. So now, I read a lot on the internet.
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Yes, me too. I love Project Guttenberg - so many free books, right at my fingertips!
 
While convenient it’s not necessary. Most places like McDonalds and cafes and libraries not have free WFI so all you need is a laptop with WFI capability. Also you could just get smart phone with internet. I’m getting rid of mine because the cost is going up and I have other obligations. I’ve lived without if buy taking my laptop to places that have it. It’s not always convenient but saved me a ton of money.
 
I have given up the internet for Lent before. It was easier than I expected but, as soon as Lent was over, there I was on the internet again. 😃
 
When it comes to things like paying bills, checking statements, and shopping in general, I would never feel comfortable doing those things over a free wi-fi connection at McDonald’s. I could do those things offline, but I’d be much less organized and drowning in paper.

It is rather interesting how, as more time goes by, the internet gets more enmeshed with everything else to the point that it becomes much more difficult to separate it out.

Of course, it’s possible to do without it. People have been doing without it for millenia. Ascetics will be doing without it for millenia more. But it does make it a lot easier for me to stay organized, stay informed, and read Church documents. 🙂
 
Joe_5859 said:
**When it comes to things like paying bills, checking statements, and shopping in general, I would never feel comfortable doing those things over a free wi-fi connection at McDonald’s. ** I could do those things offline, but I’d be much less organized and drowning in paper.

It is rather interesting how, as more time goes by, the internet gets more enmeshed with everything else to the point that it becomes much more difficult to separate it out.

Of course, it’s possible to do without it. People have been doing without it for millenia. Ascetics will be doing without it for millenia more. But it does make it a lot easier for me to stay organized, stay informed, and read Church documents. 🙂
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Heck, I can’t see my pay stub unless I am on line. Same with my husband. And I certainly wouldn’t want to do that at McDonald’s.
 
Internet is quite good as for one you wouldn’t be able to visit such an awesome site as this!

Look at all the resources available on the net.
 
chargers54 said:
My husband and I are considering getting rid of our internet at home. We don’t have TV and our cell phone plans are basic. We only use our phones to talk, not for internet or texting. We have a library about a 5 minute walk from our house open Monday-Saturday until 5 pm with free wifi. My husband works from 7 am to 3 pm. I take classes and am out of the house for a total of 8 hours a week. In my free time I study. I’m thinking of finding a part time job even though we don’t need the money.

Do you have the internet at home? If you do have internet at home, would you ever consider getting rid of it? What would you do with your free time?

I’d like to find some hobbies, perhaps start reading again, etc. Any advice/thoughts welcome. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I don’t think I’ll ever go without internet. It is so convenient for gathering information, doing research both an issues and products, so much easier to stay in touch with people, so many businesses using it as their main method for communication etc. Much easier to get multiple viewpoints on an issue than from one or two newspapers.

Kids are school age- from post grad down to mid-high school. They’ve all needed internet to be able to do their schoolwork. All of the schools have posted resources, required information, homework assignments, info updates to the parents. Easier to communicate with teachers. When the kids finally move out, I’ll have less of a need for the internet, but I’ll still stay connected. (As much as folks distrust social media, it is a great way to keep tab on your kids, their friends, their attitudes, what they’re up to) My mom, who was in her 80s, loved being able to see the pictures of her grandchildren around the world, skype with them, check out their pictures on Instagram etc etc.

Now, if I wasn’t doing housecleaning/laundry/homework assistance/making dinner/ other chores in the evening and could use my evening to get all the weekend chores out of the way- I’d spend less time on the internet in the evenings and have my weekends free for SCUBA, riding motorcycles, skydiving, maybe some travel.
 
Luvz2travel said:
While convenient it’s not necessary. Most places like McDonalds and cafes and libraries now have free WFI so all you need is a laptop with WFI capability. Also you could just get smart phone with internet. I’m getting rid of mine because the cost is going up and I have other obligations. I’ve lived without it by taking my laptop to places that have it. It’s not always convenient but saved me a ton of money.
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