How long can you go without the Internet?

[Thespeckledkiwi]

For me, I can go at least a month without the Internet. However, given my job, the internet has now become synonymous with work, so I can't really be off the Internet for a 'month'. I can remove myself from the social networks (message boards, video games), however I can't remove myself completely from the Internet anymore (or at least until I get a new job).

However, I usually remove myself from the Internet to simplify my life and whittle it down to the basic simplicities. In fact, this might be coming up soon as everything has come to ahead (family issues, work related issues, personal issues) recently and I might need to take a small break (I recently put a hole through my friend's dry wall, and threw their cat in the mail box (damn thing tried to mangle my leg and I was drunk and pissed)...(cat's fine, just not happy with me. I gave it a treat when I got sober and a donation to the animal shelter)). But yeah, I usually take breaks from the Internet from time to time. Not frequently enough, though.

So how long can you go without the Internet?

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Not long at all. When my internet went down a few months ago, i started to panic, until i remembered that my cell phone has 3G and is internet ready. So crisis averted.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Well should the Internet go down, they say there's always some stored in California.

Seriously, I didn't have any internet before I turned 14 in 1997, and although I use it a lot (obviously), I know I wouldn't freak out completely without it.

A month should not be a problem.

 

[Shaytan]

A few hours if I'm unprepared for it, some weeks if I'm prepared...whatever it means to you

 

[Zulu Romeo]

The reason why I say "not long" is probably because nowadays I have many people I care about with whom I contact this way.

 

[Rii]

I can stop anytime I want.

 

[Kestra]

Not long, since I need it for class.

 

[Mallory]

Probably forever. I was in my late 30's before it even existed. Having lived over half my life without it makes it easy to fall back on the old ways.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I 'could' live without but it would make my life a lot harder. I use the internet to do things that I have physical problems doing i.e. banking, paying bills, shopping.

The most I have been without the internet is about 10 days but I was in Adelaide and was too busy to miss it.

 

[AstroSmurf]

Maybe an hour. I need it for work but I am also addicted to it. My day would fall apart if I couldn't check my email, get Facebook updates and consume every bit of news I could find. I don't really think I am addicted to the internet as a whole, just the information it brings me. Besides, I wouldn't know what to do if I couldn't use Wikipedia or IMDB about twenty times a day.

 

[Holdfast]

I 'could' live without but it would make my life a lot harder.

Exactly, and it's getting harder, the more time passes and it becomes increasingly embedded in my way of life.

Even leaving aside using it for business(es), there are so many things in daily life made easier by doing them online. I could go back to doing things the old-fashioned way, but it would be so inconvenient that it would annoy me greatly. Frankly, I can't see a reason I'd ever want to try.

I do tune out certain elements of the internet soemtimes though. For instance, when I'm on holiday, I really, really try to avoid logging onto work email (I usually lose willpower and check in once every few days or so, but never reply to anything/send any read-receipts, just check what's going on!).

 

[Amaris]

Just hook it to my veins! [/Barney]

 

[SiorX]

I once spent £30 on roaming charges to check my email and Facebook from Istanbul, out of sheer withdrawal.

I think I probably do genuinely have an addiction which I'm eventually going to have to do something about. I'm thinking LAN port in my skull.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

About a week. I went without it during Christmas.

 

[Amaris]

I once spent £30 on roaming charges to check my email and Facebook from Istanbul, out of sheer withdrawal.

I think I probably do genuinely have an addiction which I'm eventually going to have to do something about. I'm thinking LAN port in my skull.

A WAN port might be better.

 

[SiorX]

I once spent £30 on roaming charges to check my email and Facebook from Istanbul, out of sheer withdrawal.

I think I probably do genuinely have an addiction which I'm eventually going to have to do something about. I'm thinking LAN port in my skull.

A WAN port might be better.

D'oh. Yes. You are entirely right.

Also, your avatar is adorkable.

 

[Paulcpick]

I went from 04-08 without internet, and for a year and a half did not even have a working computer. I think we all could handle llfe without computers, we'd just find something else to do

 

[Amaris]

I once spent £30 on roaming charges to check my email and Facebook from Istanbul, out of sheer withdrawal.

I think I probably do genuinely have an addiction which I'm eventually going to have to do something about. I'm thinking LAN port in my skull.

A WAN port might be better.

D'oh. Yes. You are entirely right.

Also, your avatar is adorkable.

Why, thank you.

 

[Mr. B]

At present I would have to say three days. I work four days a week in a newsroom... kinda hard to avoid.

 

[Lord Garth]

I went two months without the Internet in 2009. Granted I moved into a new place and didn't get around to setting up a connection until then. But I was using my cellphone as a substitute in the meantime, so... I guess it wasn't two months.