How many days would you last

[Warp Coil]

Seriously, I doubt that I could last more than three or four days. I hate, hate, hate being confined to a small space. When the snowpocalypse hit back in February, I was snowed in for a couple of days and couldn't really go anywhere. And I became very irritable very quickly - and we're talking about having a 2-bedroom condo, cable TV (at the time), a DVD collection, the internet, my iPod, my phone, etc. I simply don't like to be stuck somewhere. I get bored. I need activity. I need space.

Even for $300 a day, I couldn't handle it. Maybe it'd suffer through four or five days just to earn a little money, but that's it.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Technically, I could probably do this for the rest of my life.

I would, however, miss some people, especially my Niece and Nephew and a lot of my online interactions. But, seriously? A hundred grand a year to sit around and write? Hah. And I'd only have to do it for about three years at that pay grade before I could retire anyway. Sign me up.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Does anyone remember that Twilight Zone episode where a rich man gets annoyed at one of his acquaintances who never shuts up so he makes him a bet for half a million dollars that he can't go a full year without speaking? The man spends the year in a glass booth so he can be observed. Of course at the end we find out that the rich man has gone bankrupt in that time so he can't pay the wager, and the talkative man knew he wouldn't last so he severed his vocal cords.

 

[Australis]

Before changing the rules, I'd say two years.

After changing the rules, the items could go in any order as long as notebooks were the last to go. I'd last 14 months.

Either way, it has to be said, that there's a good chance I'd come out a little strange... well, stranger...

 

[Kirby]

What if you had to give up one of the following for good every two months

TV
radio
both books
desk and chair
both notebooks
both magazines

Where do I sign up for this? I could do this with very little problem:

1. Desk and chair - Get rid of these, more room for stretching out, meditation, push-ups, etc.
2. Magazines - I don't really read magazines now, so there's no great loss.
3. Radio - most radio is crap the less 'morning zoo' nonsense I have to hear, the better.
4. Notebooks - This one is tough, but TV is at least gives me something different to see, and I love books too much so the notebooks need to go.
5. TV - I'd rather keep reading.
6. Books - I'm assuming that I get to pick the books, right?

 

[RandyS]

Yes.

 

[Daneel]

I've sometimes gone days without interacting with people, so I think I could probably last the whole year in solitary confinement. I'd probably have a harder time coping with no internet than with no people.

As for the items being taken away every two months... eh, let them surprise me. I'll adjust accordingly. Oh, but I would prefer it if the notebooks were the last to go (provided I get them back when the year is up). With no other distractions, I could finally write all those stories that I've been putting off for years.

 

[6079SmithW]

In solitary confinement?

I will clarify this by saying your solitary confinement is in a room with a single bed, with a TV showing only free to air channels, a radio, and a desk and chair. You are allowed to receive two books and two magazines a week. You are given two 64 page exercise books a week. There is a toilet and shower off your room. You get three meals a day pushed through a slot but you cannot talk to your guards.

For each day that your spend in solitary you will receive $US300 (that is over 100,000 a year) to be paid to you after you leave. Would you be able to last a year?

I could last a lifetime doing this. It sounds awesome! Seriously, this is like my personal view of paradise. Where do I sign up?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ That's easy to say NOW, but when you're in the middle of it, it might be different.

Reminds me of an SVU episode that aired a while back. A convicted bank robber is suspected of sex crimes and placed in solitary. It nearly drives him batshit insane. Elliot Stabler volunteers to test this theory by being put in solitary himself. Same thing almost happens to him! When they let him out he says something like how long was I in there, a month? And the warden says it was only three days.

 

[Sakrysta]

First off, a lot would depend on the existence of a window, even if I couldn't see out of it. If I had no way to measure the passage of time, day and night, I think it would be harder to remain coherent.

One of my guilty pleasure shows on Hulu is called Solitary. It's a reality/game show where 9 people are sealed in pods with no interaction except from "VAL," a computer voice that gives them challenges and "treatments." I've often wondered how well I would do in that kind of environment. It would intrigue me to try it. But you'd be amazed at how quickly people go looney-silly. On the show, though, VAL purposefully messes with the contestants' sleep patterns and sense of time passing, and I think that has a lot to do with how quickly some of them give up.

Perks to the original proposition:

• Having your meals prepared and delivered. One of the things I hate the MOST is deciding what to eat and preparing it.
• Not having to worry about what to wear every day. I mean, clearly, there would have to be some sort of provision of clean clothing on a regular basis. But being alone, not having to decide what's appropriate for the events and/or weather of the day, would be a huge positive for me.
• Being paid to do pretty much what I do now when I'm not at work. Aside from my doggie and the TV thing, this comes close to describing my life. In my job I only see two people a day, and them not steadily. I'm single and have a roommate, but she's only been with me 4 months and is leaving in a week (student finishing out her college semester).

Downsides:

• I would miss my dog. I could deal, but I would really miss her sweet presence.
• Lack of human interaction. I think most of us would be really surprised at how quickly we would start to be hungry for conversation and physical touch. I know I would end up doing a lot of singing and sleeping.
• If you took both the radio and tv away, I think I would only last a few days. I think I would start to hallucinate pretty quickly if there were no sound but whatever I produced.
• I think, too, that I would start to panic before very many days had passed. I would need to confirm once in a while that I could indeed get out if I needed to. I've never thought of myself as claustrophobic, but I think it's something that has come on gradually as I've gotten older. My worst nightmares these days are about tight spaces and being trapped.

Overall, I think I could do it for a few months if I had a clear goal in sight, a way to measure my progress toward that goal, and a verified method to end the confinement should it prove overwhelming. And I have the feeling that a lot of people here who say that it would be easy would find that it really isn't if they were ever given the opportunity to try.

 

[Lookingglassman]

I can do it for a long time, especially knowing I can walk out anytime. Everyday I wake up I will think "Another $300 bucks for me and I dont have to work or do anything except lay around and be lazy."

 

[Kestra]

Wow, I'm kind of amazed by the people who would actually enjoy it. I know a lot of us are introverts and it's a scale thing, some of us prefer the company of others very little.

But still, I would think nearly everyone would want social interaction to some degree, even if limited and superficial. Before you all jump on me, I'm not saying there's something wrong with people who like to be alone. I just really didn't think there were that many people at the extreme.

 

[JiNX-01]

I agree that people who imagine they would enjoy it don't appreciate the fact that even if they spend considerable time alone in normal circumstance, they are not in fact hermits.

Jobs: Whatever you do for a living you must have human contact several times a day.
Sustenance and survival: You have to go to stores where you will have contact with people.
Getting out of the house: Just going for a walk in the park will bring you into the company of people and even tho' you might not speak to any of them, you still feel their presence.
Pets: I have a cat. She's a wonderful companion (when she isn't sticking a claw in my foot to wake me at 4 a.m. to feed her). But it's not the same as having human contact.

You might want to watch more Twilight Zone episodes where people find themselves alone on planets and asteroids or in cities devastated by war.

Being alone is everything it's cracked up to be.

 

[C.E. Evans]

In solitary confinement?

I will clarify this by saying your solitary confinement is in a room with a single bed, with a TV showing only free to air channels, a radio, and a desk and chair. You are allowed to receive two books and two magazines a week. You are given two 64 page exercise books a week. There is a toilet and shower off your room. You get three meals a day pushed through a slot but you cannot talk to your guards.

For each day that your spend in solitary you will receive $US300 (that is over 100,000 a year) to be paid to you after you leave. Would you be able to last a year?

This pretty much was my first two years in Catholic school...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I agree that people who imagine they would enjoy it don't appreciate the fact that even if they spend considerable time alone in normal circumstance, they are not in fact hermits.

Exactly. Even if people don't *choose* to have a lot of human interaction, the fact that they CAN do so at any time makes all the difference.

I might not leave my house much when I'm not at work, but I would still freak out if I was imprisoned inside it.

 

[Shaw]

Wow, I'm kind of amazed by the people who would actually enjoy it. I know a lot of us are introverts and it's a scale thing, some of us prefer the company of others very little.

I don't think I would enjoy the experience... the point wouldn't be to enjoy it for me, it would be to focus my attention on things I am all too often easily distracted from.

But yes, I'm not actively social. I am painfully shy and it takes a massive amount of will power to even post (and even harder if I think anyone is even going to read what I post). I could be happy if the only person I had contact with for the rest of my life was just my wife.

So in that way, it wouldn't be as hard for me as for most people, but I wouldn't classify it as easy or enjoyable. But the benefits of what I might be able to accomplish would be worth it.

 

[Ashu]

I sure as hell would try. It's really hard to say unless I actually try it though. I would probably last a fairly long time considering i do like to spend a fair amount of time as it is. I wouldn't mind spending the time away from people. It'd be a nice vacation.

Speaking as people, I say enjoy the vacation!

I think you`d enjoy the vacation away from me

 

[Yoda]

Whether I could last a year would depend on if I was getting Green Bay free to air TV so that I could catch the Packers. I sure as fuck wouldn't last into September watching Chargers games

 

[Kestra]

So in that way, it wouldn't be as hard for me as for most people, but I wouldn't classify it as easy or enjoyable. But the benefits of what I might be able to accomplish would be worth it.

But ... you said you would be willing to do it for free. That implies enjoyment of some sort, doesn't it? Now I'm confused.

 

[Shaw]

So in that way, it wouldn't be as hard for me as for most people, but I wouldn't classify it as easy or enjoyable. But the benefits of what I might be able to accomplish would be worth it.

But ... you said you would be willing to do it for free. That implies enjoyment of some sort, doesn't it? Now I'm confused.

For example, I would love to go back to school to finish my education... but I wouldn't enjoy it.

Every course in mathematics that I loved between the start of my undergraduate education to the end of my graduate work I've taken already. I took the best of everything already... and skipped what I didn't like.

I'm missing two writing courses, a visual arts course and a cultural diversity course from having my bachelors in mathematics (with a minor in physics). I'm missing graduate courses (and qualifying exams) in Complex Analysis and Algebra needed for a Ph.D. All of the fun courses (for me) I finished with back in 1995... everything else is stuff that I not only wouldn't enjoy, but now I'm so out of practice with them that it would be exceptionally difficult to get through.

But I would subject myself to all that for free for the end result (my education finally being complete).

Getting back to the year in confinement... I could use that year to force myself to learn those subjects which (when left to my own devices) I avoided in the past (and am still avoiding today to some degree). I would hate it, and yet accomplish so much that, yeah, I'd do it for free.

But enjoyment is not in the picture.