"Unplugged" Challenge - Going Completely Off The Grid
I absolutely LOVE the Technology section of the NY Times web site. I am also an early adopter of anything and everything tech related. A/V, Internet, gadgets, you name it. I was reading the tech section the other night and one of the writers put out a challenge to any and all to unplug from the net. You can simply not check e-mail for a day, not post on Facebook for whatever length of time, etc. It is all wrapped around all the new data coming out about how tech is affecting us as humans. Kind of a real person experiment I'd be partaking in. So I decided to join in cuz I like this kinda stuff.
I, in all my wisdom, have committed to not using the Internet at all for 7 whole days. This includes text, Twitter, email, EN Forums, yada, yada, yada. The only tech I will use is my mobile phone and phone calendar. That's it! The NY Times writer wants me to create a vid when done talking about my experience so they can post on the NYT web site.
I have been online since 1991 when I set-up my Prodigy account. Back then your email address was a series of digits@Prodigy.com. This was before Netscape, Internet Explorer, AOL and all the rest. I actually met my wife on the Prodigy Singles section in 1992 and at that time there was onlya black background with green text and the only way to sort was by area code. No pics, chat, text, etc. back then.
I spent a part of today paying bills online, setting up my email autoresponder, downloading and printing various info. I may need, and the like. Really seeing what I use tech for on a daily basis.
I am like 3.5 hours away from unplugging and my stomach is turning. I am nervous. I am unsure. It is kinda freaky. Kinda like going for a serious bike ride without your power meter. 
I am assuming it will be like when I killed my Facebook account a bunch of months ago and I felt like I was "missing something" for a few days. Then I realized I just got back 3 to 6 hours of my life every week that I was wasting on FB. Then all was good. But we shall see.
So, I am off for my little experiment. Wish me well! But you will to call me to do that. 
Comments
An oddball challenge, in that it can't be talked about here while it's being done!
I've been pushing my buddies for a "NO E" weekend late this summer. That is no berries, no phones, no nothing. Just a house phone number left for emergency calls from family.
I start getting twitchy just thinking about it.
I unplug for 10 days every year. I'll be off this year from July 14-24. I will be hard b/c WI is coming up, so we'll see if I can make it this time.
I've managed to do this a few times for several days while on moto trips. Always surprise how little I misses, though my life
is pretty simple :-)
Three weeks offline this year. And it was lovely.
To counter the New York Times, article, check out this publication on digital media and learning from work. It is about teenagers, but we grown-ups might want to think about which of our online activities help us learn and grow and which ones truly are junk. The Internet may be making you smarter.
I take 3 weeks a year off the grid---cuz I like taking vacations to places without a grid. Don't miss it one bit.
Good job John. Luckily I've never had the need for it. We have a trackfone that is used if we travel in August. Other than that I check my email at work, or before I go to bed at home. I don't see a desktop as bad because you can't bring it anywhere, but smart phones are almost imaginary friends these days. I will say though, after the IMLP camp, I was really impressed with how little use of technology I saw, it was great talking to someone's face, not the tops of their heads! I assume it will catch up with me though, at times I miss out on a lot with friends and activities because I'm not plugged in as much and not just a text away. It all works out.
I just had a similar experiment but due to where I went fishing and it's not a fly in fishing place either. Once you drive 2.5 hours our here you can get in to the lakes and tress really fast.
We also had no cell coverage where we were as well. It was kind of interesting to see my wife use the pay phone to talk with he mother.
My experiment was for 5 days. I really did not miss much.
Now if I was in the city this would be a totally different experiment, but I was distracted with fishing, food, beer and visitors most of the time.
Gordon
Since I enjoy the perks of technology but don't feel lost without it, 2 weeks off the coast of Costa Rica was no big deal.
I am not on Twitter or Facebook. Basically I find it hard to believe that it's so important that everyone I know should be informed or even care about exactly what I am doing, etc. Not trying to offend those that are dependent on it for work.