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Abstract

xpectations of pre-internet life. I miss the hot feel of a receiver on my ear and being tangled in a cord that stretched the length of the kitchen. I miss being “off.”</p><p id="4ac8">But I love what the Internet carries: friendship, opportunity, and knowledge.</p><p id="7b91">I also loathe that it is loaded with the opposite: hate, opportunism, and misinformation.</p><p id="ccf3">My friend floated the Grand Canyon in 2020, and when he emerged, there was a pandemic and the world had shut down.</p><p id="2c4f">I went off the grid for three weeks in 2020 and when I emerged, the world was on fire because George Floyd had been murdered.</p><p id="407f">We are living through turbo-charged times — there is an underlying sense that disasters are accelerating. We know this to be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/climate/climate-change-acceleration.html">scientifically true</a>, but also, we feel it in our guts.</p><p id="78e1">Being able to tune out of the internet and all its perks and woes for a week is a gift. I can’t wait to embrace it, and I’ll be equally excited to see what I missed upon our return.</p><p id="0422">I just hope it’s not too dire.</p><p id="38a5" type="7">Key Message: Being free of the internet is liberating, but it is also a valuable tool that is hard to release.</p><p id="7320"><i>This is in response to day eight of Midform’s June writing challenge, “The internet has suddenly stopped working. What is your life like after?” For a complete list of prompts, click <a href="https://readmedium

Options

.com/announcing-the-daily-write-challenge-with-100-prize-e3bf86b4e517">here.</a></i></p><p id="a8ed"><i>Want to get an email from me every time I publish? Join my email list by clicking <a href="https://medium.com/subscribe/@mercedesoleary">here</a>. In a world with so many words, thank you for taking the time to read mine. Here are some other stories by me:</i></p><div id="ffb7" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/true-love-isnt-always-an-adventure-49d18295fb1c"> <div> <div> <h2>True Love Isn’t Always an Adventure</h2> <div><h3>Happy endings never look like the movies</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*VJSH6uZ4fZUAH8HAbG_ytg.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="b820" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/are-you-my-mentor-d68ef332369b"> <div> <div> <h2>Are You My Mentor?</h2> <div><h3>An abridged and re-told children’s story</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*nLHeYGCDCiYN8dPwsFSt9Q.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

The Daily Write

The Internet Will Stop Working in One Week

(At least for my family)

One week from today, my family will go on a group rafting trip down the Grand Canyon for eight days.

My internet over the past few weeks has been spotty, making publishing on Medium tricky.

But this is different — for eight days, our cell phones won’t work. We’ll be with a group of people we barely know, and no one will peek at their phones to see what they’ve missed.

I won’t be tempted to try and find the spot in the house with the best reception or toggling between cell service and internet service to see which will work — because none of it will.

Do you know what I expect to feel?

Liberated.

And then it will be over, almost as quickly as it started.

We’ll get in the shuttle for the three-hour drive back to the hotel. Pockets will begin tinging.

Will we be a little more convinced that life was better without the internet?

Was life better? I don’t know. I miss the lower expectations of pre-internet life. I miss the hot feel of a receiver on my ear and being tangled in a cord that stretched the length of the kitchen. I miss being “off.”

But I love what the Internet carries: friendship, opportunity, and knowledge.

I also loathe that it is loaded with the opposite: hate, opportunism, and misinformation.

My friend floated the Grand Canyon in 2020, and when he emerged, there was a pandemic and the world had shut down.

I went off the grid for three weeks in 2020 and when I emerged, the world was on fire because George Floyd had been murdered.

We are living through turbo-charged times — there is an underlying sense that disasters are accelerating. We know this to be scientifically true, but also, we feel it in our guts.

Being able to tune out of the internet and all its perks and woes for a week is a gift. I can’t wait to embrace it, and I’ll be equally excited to see what I missed upon our return.

I just hope it’s not too dire.

Key Message: Being free of the internet is liberating, but it is also a valuable tool that is hard to release.

This is in response to day eight of Midform’s June writing challenge, “The internet has suddenly stopped working. What is your life like after?” For a complete list of prompts, click here.

Want to get an email from me every time I publish? Join my email list by clicking here. In a world with so many words, thank you for taking the time to read mine. Here are some other stories by me: