I got rid of the internet on Sunday. A couple weeks ago, I called up AT&T and said, “Can I cancel my home internet?” My former roommate and I had secured a yearlong “introductory price” of $20 a month which I suspected was about to expire. That would double the price to $40 a month. You know what? I just don’t think home internet access is worth that to me.
So I call AT&T and tell them this and the lady says, “Sir, did you know that, here in the retention department, we can apply other discounts to your service if price is the only factor.” I didn’t know that. I ask her when the discount is set to expire. “December.” When I get a new roommate anyway, so there’s no difference in price to me.
Well, dang. Just like that, this nice lady at AT&T took away my only economic reasons for canceling my internet service. But I still told her to cancel it.
I don’t think that’s a terribly common decision for a modern 20something to make, so I thought I’d briefly explain my counter cultural actions.
A while back, I wrote a post about ways to be creative. Inspired by another blogger, I made my own list of ways that Kemp is creative; tangible things I can do to make myself more creative. Briefly, here is the list:
Read.
Cultivate and pay attention to fun.
Listen to music intentionally.
Write 250 words a day.
Be impulsive.
Be bored.
Having the internet kills every single item on that list. Especially number six.
Facebook, marvelous though it has been in connecting us to people, has destroyed our free time with worthless gossip and “catching up.” YouTube, while revolutionary to the distribution of media in the 1st world, means that we never have to be bored again. Though Google Reader allows me to follow way more blogs than I ever could before, how many of those posts do I actually think about anymore and how many do I just read so I can check them off my list? On the internet, there is always something to do, but you never actually get anything done.
So I killed it. If I thrive on boredom, I need to make sure I’m more bored. And guess what? Already I’ve written more, thought more, and engaged more with what I do. I no longer peruse Hulu for new shows just because I have nothing better to do. (But seriously, check out Spy. It’s a Hulu exclusive and it’s hilarious.)
I mean, sure it’s inconvenient. I can’t follow my shows. Writing emails on my phone is tedious at best. Maintaining my blog-a-day challenge has been… irritating. (I didn’t really think that one out, did I?) But if I had easy internet access, would I still be writing this post? Or would I have checked the new item in my feed, added someone as a friend, and clicked links until 1am?
This has been a worthy endeavor so far (I write on day two…). I’m sure there will be further updates about life without internet, but for now, how could you survive with less internet access? Could you survive? Do you think you could be more productive/creative/relational/etc…? Think about giving it up for a day or two and see how you change.
So I call AT&T and tell them this and the lady says, “Sir, did you know that, here in the retention department, we can apply other discounts to your service if price is the only factor.” I didn’t know that. I ask her when the discount is set to expire. “December.” When I get a new roommate anyway, so there’s no difference in price to me.
Well, dang. Just like that, this nice lady at AT&T took away my only economic reasons for canceling my internet service. But I still told her to cancel it.
I don’t think that’s a terribly common decision for a modern 20something to make, so I thought I’d briefly explain my counter cultural actions.
A while back, I wrote a post about ways to be creative. Inspired by another blogger, I made my own list of ways that Kemp is creative; tangible things I can do to make myself more creative. Briefly, here is the list:
Read.
Cultivate and pay attention to fun.
Listen to music intentionally.
Write 250 words a day.
Be impulsive.
Be bored.
Having the internet kills every single item on that list. Especially number six.
Facebook, marvelous though it has been in connecting us to people, has destroyed our free time with worthless gossip and “catching up.” YouTube, while revolutionary to the distribution of media in the 1st world, means that we never have to be bored again. Though Google Reader allows me to follow way more blogs than I ever could before, how many of those posts do I actually think about anymore and how many do I just read so I can check them off my list? On the internet, there is always something to do, but you never actually get anything done.
So I killed it. If I thrive on boredom, I need to make sure I’m more bored. And guess what? Already I’ve written more, thought more, and engaged more with what I do. I no longer peruse Hulu for new shows just because I have nothing better to do. (But seriously, check out Spy. It’s a Hulu exclusive and it’s hilarious.)
I mean, sure it’s inconvenient. I can’t follow my shows. Writing emails on my phone is tedious at best. Maintaining my blog-a-day challenge has been… irritating. (I didn’t really think that one out, did I?) But if I had easy internet access, would I still be writing this post? Or would I have checked the new item in my feed, added someone as a friend, and clicked links until 1am?
This has been a worthy endeavor so far (I write on day two…). I’m sure there will be further updates about life without internet, but for now, how could you survive with less internet access? Could you survive? Do you think you could be more productive/creative/relational/etc…? Think about giving it up for a day or two and see how you change.
2 comments:
I commend you for being able to acknowledge that it might be a good idea to take a step back from this soul devouring being we call the internet. I doubt I'd be able to last a week without it unless I had a string of good books at my disposal and a whole lot of new things to do. I do think that the internet is a great tool when used properly, its just so easy to get lost in all the information.
-Zack
Yeah...definitely some good points as I have never viewed boredom as a catalyst for creativity.
I forget where I read it, but someone once said that the internet has taken away true knowledge. If we don't know about something, we Google it. That tells us enough about whatever subject to satisfy us and allow us to "know" about it, but were someone to question us or ask us to apply said "knowledge," we completely fall apart.
Good post, and as far as shows on Hulu, check out The Mercury Men if you get a chance. I think it's something you'd rather enjoy.
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