I Learned More About the Internet When I Went Offline for a Week.

I did not get the internet package when I purchased my cruise tickets. I had the option to choose an unlimited wifi plan for $15.00 per person per day. For a family of two, that would cost about $210. Or, I could be offline for a week. I wanted to save as much money as I could while traveling. Thus, I chose the latter. It was an experience I did not think I would enjoy. It turned out I became a better person because of it.

I work from home. Therefore, I am online all day. I sit in front of a computer for 10 hours a day, sometimes even more. Not only do I work online, but I also get most of my entertainment there. I watch Netflix when I am bored. I watch YouTube for entertainment as well as education regularly. I talk with my family abroad through social media platforms.

Like many of you, most of my days revolve around the internet. I play online games. I do not even use the bathroom without using Instagram. Also, entertainment and education have become very accessible because of the internet. I try to learn something every day. Heck, I am even sharing this content online. I want to build an online presence; therefore, I believed going offline for a week was not a good idea. Again, being online seemed too important to cut out from my life.

“How important could it be anyway?” I argued with myself if I could survive offline for an entire week. I checked and unchecked the buy internet-plan box multiple times before finally deciding that I could wait. I wanted to jump on the “I got off the internet for a week, and this is what happened” train. Furthermore, I recognized this would be an opportunity to learn about my dependency on the internet.

As the ship headed away from the civilization, I raced my fingers on my phone against a barely hanging network. I replied to important emails and texts saying I would not be online. Many people did not even care that I would be away. The experience humbled me. I am not as important as I think I am.

For the first few hours, whenever I was bored, I frequently caught myself pulling out my cellphone and opening the Instagram to see a new feed. It was a habit that I did not know I had developed. All the social media platforms started shuffling pre-loaded content even when the internet was unavailable. They still wanted me to use them even with no internet access.

I had no choice but to find things I enjoyed. I put my phone away and started looking at sports I could play. I played pool with a stranger on an old table that was wet from the rain of the night before. I listened to the waves crashing on the boat as it headed south on the Atlantic ocean. I enjoyed multiple activities I previously thought were boring. I had been busy consuming content online for so long that I had even forgotten about my interest in outdoor sport.

After a day or so, I settled down on my new ritual. I stopped carrying my phone everywhere with me. I was bored many times during the day but, I was mostly calm. Strangely, not watching stimulating social media feed 5 hours every day made me less anxious. Who could have seen that coming?

A couple of days into my experiment, I started sleeping better. I could sleep for 9 hours straight. I did not care about what people were doing around the world. It took me less than 10 minutes in the restroom because I was not watching YouTube videos while doing my business.

I started observing my thoughts. I counted the stars and wondered why the moon is yellow sometimes. I struck up conversations with a few random strangers. I presumed I was introverted; hence I could not talk to people. But, it turns out, I was too busy on the internet.

Going offline sounds like something everyone can do, so I naively thought. It is a simple process but not an easy one to follow.

Midway through my week, I got a notification on my phone that I have a free, unlimited 2g speed. I was in Jamaica. Hence, I got online. I checked my emails. My inbox mostly had promotional, discount codes, and targeted email offers. I was receiving 10% off the internet plan from T-Mobile. Home Depot was inviting me to apply for its credit card, so on and so forth.

Beyond that clutter, my family had contacted me but only to wish me a happy birthday. I had a few messages that I needed to reply to, which I did. Then, I went offline again. In just three days, something in me had changed. I went from seeing the internet as a savior to a golden handcuff, which is pretty but keeps my sanity trapped.

After spending a day in Jamaica, we sailed north. That evening, I was standing on the balcony, listening to the waves — staring at the ceiling. My wife joined me. We started talking about life in general. Pacing on the small 7-foot long balcony, I mentioned what I had been thinking all day.

“I want to do something meaningful before I die.”

She gave me a puzzled look and asked why I was talking that way. “I found my drive after being away from the noisy internet,” I added.

Days were not exciting, especially when I had nothing to do. I was alone with my thoughts for hours on end. However, that is where I found myself — hidden among the mundane. I heard my faint inner voice, talking to me, suppressed by constant external noise.

“We will be back to our normal lives once we go on land,” my wife noted on the last day of the trip. On the other hand, I wanted to take a part of the vacation with me. The life where I am not anxious about finding a perfect YouTube video to keep me entertained while I do my daily chores. The life where I am calm despite having nothing to do. The life where I am not bombarded with information all the time.

Once I got back, I decided to use the internet less. I was determined to use the internet as a tool. I adjusted my habits. I actively avoided going online for unnecessary reasons. I stopped watching YouTube videos inside the toilet. Also, I hid all social media applications in a folder away from the home screen. I blocked all the push notifications and stopped consuming unwarranted news. Consequently, I have been able to remain peaceful.

Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok still want me to spend time on their platform. I get emails from Facebook saying something like “so much has happened while you were away”. Likewise, I frequently get notifications asking me to follow random people on their platforms. Not just social media platforms, my friends and family need my attention too. Frequent work emails still remind me about deadlines and upcoming irrelevant meetings. And, there are things I desire to do. I want to take pictures of beautiful places. And, I want to write. I have realized that millions of issues are pulling me in different directions. No wonder I am restless, anxious, and insecure most of the time.

In a short period, I understood some truths. Some notifications are essential, and we should not ignore them. Though, most others do not matter much. The majority of the emails, chat requests, online messages hold our attention and waste our time.

In an internet era, where information is free, attention has become the new currency. Everyone wants to sell us something and wants us to spend time at their little corner of the internet, buy their products and spend more time so they can show more ads.

Internet does help us better our society, no questions about it. At the same time, people get trapped inside it thinking it has everything they will ever need. I am not entirely sure how I will manage the endless temptation of new YouTube videos, new posts on Facebook, discussions about new movies on Reddit, and much more. I am still experimenting with a few hacks that could work. It is not an easy task to get rid of bad habits. Despite all this, one thing is for sure, life outside the screen is worth living, and I will live it to the fullest.

If you liked this story. You might also enjoy my other personal essay.