Friday, December 07, 2012

WWYD? World void of the Internet

What Would You Do? is a semi-regular feature in which a question will be posed based on a character or story line in a book I've recently read.  I'd love if you would take part and share in comments just what YOU would do in a similar situation! 

I was reading a really interesting book recently, Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky, in which society has been taken over by technology.  In order to protect the people, and especially the children, from harm, digital schools have been formed and technology has advanced in such a way that everyone is permanently connected to devices that allow for digital connections amongst people instead of actual face to face socialising. 

This really grabbed my attention right from the beginning because it is so easy to see what small steps we could take now and end up in the world that Katie Kacvinsky writes about.  N and I meet up I'd say once a month with some close friends.  And every single time we do meet up, without fail, one or all of us will stop what we're doing, whether it's in the middle of a conversation, or dinner or whatever and we'll check our phones.  I'm sure that this isn't limited to just my circle of friends! We'll check our messages, we'll check twitter, maybe upload a photo to Facebook.  Why do we do this?  Why not enjoy the time we are spending together and focus on that? 

So in today's WWYD? question, I'd like us all to think about what we'd do if we didn't have this permanent and easily accessible connection to people digitally?  What would you do if the internet wasn't there? What if we all didn't have smart phones with 3G access? or Facebook and Twitter apps?  Imagine a world without any of that, what would you do with yourself?

For me, this world without an Internet connection would be a very hard thing to deal with.  N recently pointed out that I spend a great deal of time in the evenings glued to my phone.  And that it isn't very nice.  So I've had to adjust that aspect of my behaviour and become more present when I'm with my family.  I think a world without blogging would free up a great deal of time.  Time that I could spend reading. Or spending time with family and friends.  I sometimes think it'd be lovely to spend more time outdoors, but I always think to myself that somehow I don't 'have time' to do it. 

I think without the distractions of Twitter or Tumblr and without the huge time-constraints that blogging places on my life, I'd have a great deal of time to do more creative things.  I've always wanted to learn another foreign language, or how to knit.  I'd love to spend more time creating crafty things.  It's an interesting idea and one that I'm keen to act on. 

If you lived in a world without the Internet, what would you do with yourself?

6 comments:

  1. A very interesting and thought-provoking post, Clover. I try not to go on the internet too often, but it can be hard, especially with blogging. Also, whenever I send an email I always want to check if the person has replied yet. I think too much internet isn't very good for us, but it would definitely be hard to go without it.

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    1. It really would be hard to go without it. After reading this book and after writing this post, I'm trying to cut down on what time I do spend on the Internet. There needs to be a better balance!

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  2. When I read this book I was expecting it to be more extreme so that almost every interaction was through a screen but it wasn't quite to that extent. But it still was interesting. I think it would be very difficult to live without the internet. I don't really see the use of the internet ever decreasing, only increasing but hopefully not to what the book is like! Great post :)

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    1. But you could really imagine that things could go quite easily get to the point that things are within the book! I can easily see it happening, which is quite frightening.

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  3. I've been trying to cut back on my internet time and not just spend hours on it for the sake of it, and be more efficient with the things I use it for. That said, a world without the internet - no thanks! I'd probably spend more time watching TV and listening to audiobooks, because I like to craft at the same time, but still! Internet is my precious!

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    1. That sounds interesting, crafting at the same time as doing something else. I must say, I'm not great at multi-tasking like that :)

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