Internet: Dumped it!

Forums › Health and fitness › Internet: Dumped it!

ghettomaster

387 posts

Ultimate Geek

#195953 13-May-2016 10:36

I often fall into the trap of coming home from work, planning to watch "just one episode" of something, and before I know it it's 11pm and I'm making my way to bed with another evening wasted.

As such - byebye home internet. As of last night I have contacted my ISP and the disconnection order is under way. Naturally the netflix sub is going with it.

So here's to more time living away from the little blue screens. I know I'll regress if I don't replace my viewing habits with something else so here's my list of alternative forms of time usage:

1. Reading. Generally novels of varied genres.

2. Woodwork / man shed time.

3. Friends and family. I am quite social and get out a lot but I'll look to do this even more.

4. Community / church stuff. While it can be hard to find where to start, there can't be a shortage of things to do, can there?

Now admittedly I do have data on my phone which can be used for keeping in touch with people / youtube / working from home if ever needed, but there certainly isn't enough on there to binge-watch anything. I'm not looking to isolate myself from the digital world, I just want to spend more time living in the real one.

1 | 2

2096 posts

Uber Geek

#1552029 13-May-2016 10:39

Good on you - will be interested to hear how you go.

jarledb

Webhead
3253 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1552036 13-May-2016 10:53

wasabi2k:

Good on you - will be interested to hear how you go.

Good luck with that.

ghettomaster won't be online to discuss how it goes.

BTW: @ghettomaster: Get yourself a high data cap mobile subscription, you will be going through some of that I am sure... ;)

Jarle Dahl Bergersen | Referral Links: Want $50 off when you join Octopus Energy? Use this referral code
Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? Please consider supporting us by making a donation or subscribing.

vexxxboy

4243 posts

Uber Geek

#1552072 13-May-2016 11:34

dont understand people who think some activities are better than others. why is watching a tv show considered a wasted evening but reading a book a much better activity. I hated people who said to me why are you indoors reading when you could be outside playing, again why is being outside a better thing than reading books . i just think that if you enjoy something you should do it and not worry about peoples opinions, life is to short.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1552075 13-May-2016 11:37

Do what makes you happy.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

davidcole

6029 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1552084 13-May-2016 11:48

Interesting to see how he goes without internet access for day to day administration tasks - ie paying bills, receiving bills etc. Especially now there's a financial cost to receive paper.

Previously known as psycik

Home Assistant: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix, Home Assistant with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave, Shelly Humidity and Temperature sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4 4k, ATV4, HDHomeRun Dual
Server Host Plex Server 3x3TB, 4x4TB using MergerFS, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Proxmox Server with 1xW10, 2xUbuntu 22.04 LTS, Backblaze Backups, usenetprime.com fastmail.com Sharesies Trakt.TV Sharesight

DarthKermit

5346 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1552088 13-May-2016 11:56

The interwebz is a wonderful thing, but it can also be a colossal time waster.

Think of all the things we used to do before staring at screens for hours.

MadEngineer

4271 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1552090 13-May-2016 12:00

What's a computer without the internet

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

shk292

2853 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1552091 13-May-2016 12:00

Totally agree with that - I get quite annoyed with those pseudo-intellectuals who proudly say "There's no TV in my house!" There is good and bad TV, just like there are good and bad books, music, radio. Cutting off one delivery medium (TV) is just as sensible as cutting off another ("I don't allow books in my house!")

vexxxboy:

dont understand people who think some activities are better than others. why is watching a tv show considered a wasted evening but reading a book a much better activity. I hated people who said to me why are you indoors reading when you could be outside playing, again why is being outside a better thing than reading books . i just think that if you enjoy something you should do it and not worry about peoples opinions, life is to short.

Stu

Hammered
8332 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1552098 13-May-2016 12:08

xpd:

Do what makes you happy, as long as it's legal!

Tweaked that for you, just so Geekzone doesn't end up in court for offering dodgy advice!

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

Referral Links: Sharesies - Backblaze -

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? If so, please consider supporting us by subscribing.

No matter where you go, there you are.

ghettomaster

387 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1552191 13-May-2016 13:37

Hey some interesting responses here.

@vexxxboy

The reality is some activities are better than others. Fast food and lack of exercise are causing our national health levels to plummet. To say there are not pros and cons to different activities is a misnomer.

As for forcing children to go and play outside, as a parent you do start to think "I better get this kid to go let off some steam otherwise they're going to be a handful later". Going outside to play is healthy. It's exercise, it engages the brain differently, there are numerous benefits.

@davidcole

I have internet access on my phone so admin tasks are covered. I'm a huge fan of paperless billing. I'd get rid of my physical letterbox if I thought I could get away with it.

@MadEngineer

A portal to the original world of Wolfenstein 3D, of course!

@shk292

I hear ya! I am keeping my tv. I will probably rent a DVD occasionally. My goal is to reduce the time I spend in front of the box, and increase my time in the tangible world. Time will tell how effective this change will be, and I'll be updating this post as time goes on.

Can I just say I am not trying to slay the evil dragon of technology here. I just want it to be less of a crutch, and more like a tool. Technology itself is, of course, amoral. It's content and effects on society often aren't.

It's true I am looking to replace a technological form of entertainment with non-technological ones. There are a number of reasons I am hoping this will be better:

1. Physical.

I stare at monitors all day at work. It might be nice for my eyes to rest for a bit.

I sit all day at work and then I lie all night on the couch. I'd like to change that.

2. Cognitive

Studies have shown and I think we intrinsically know that our brains are less engaged when we are watching tv as opposed to reading a book. We don't need to imagine a setting on TV, we can see everything in detail. This does not happen in a book. Of course we have all heard this before so I will stop now before people wonder if I am an English teacher. I just think as far as filling free time goes, offline must be healthier.

3. Spiritual

As I eluded to, I am a church going Christian. I would like to take more time to read the bible, pray, and to discuss and explore my faith with other people, fellow Christians or not. Admittedly I already do these things. I just want to do them more and I find TV a distraction and a trap.

PhantomNVD

2619 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1552215 13-May-2016 14:29

I'm somewhat ambivalent here... having just spent a year without home internet (no Skinny Broadband existed last year) OR TV in my Motor Home (loose Satellite Dish was too patchy and irritating to have to correct every time a wind/storm nudged it) while building our new house I found I didn't miss TV at all!

We had 1.5Gb mobile data to share (+1 to 2D leading Data sharing) so mainly browsed forums/trademe and (Mrs) Facebook ... though occasional iTunes movies and kiddy DVD's did make it onto the (28") TV it was definitely a minimal activity, even in winter when the 'good old' boardgames came out...

BUT....

TBH I didn't find myself spending more time in morning devotions or Church activities, though did spend more time with my kids, and then once we joined Skinny Broadband I rejoiced to be able to join Netflix/Lightbox/Neon and binge/catch up on all the shows (Arrow/Flash etc) I'd missed too...

As an avid reader, I've now actually migrated to iPhone/iPad +Kindle App for all my books, and happily share a Library with my adult siblings in the U.K. and R.S.A. so save heaps on local prices too... thus reading in this day and age doesn't preclude screen time for me either!

I guess I'm back to "whatever makes you happy (legally)"

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18657 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1553989 17-May-2016 10:34

This is an interesting issue. For my part, I survived perfectly well for years without TV or Internet. I simply did other things with my time. Reading was a big part of it, but also ‘outdoor’ activities (outdoor in the sense that I had to leave my home to go to concerts, clubs, galleries, and other things). Living in the city helped, as it made all these things easily accessible.

As I have grown older, this has changed. I still feel I could make the adjustment if I had to and I wouldn’t suffer withdrawal symptoms, but I do appreciate what modern technology brings. I am old enough that I grew up without Internet or mobile devices, though we did have TV of course and I also had ham radio, but if I had a question about how something worked, or why I couldn’t get rid of the standing waves on my antenna tuner, I had to make a special trip to the library to dig out heavy tomes without hyperlinks and spend a day trying to find my answer. One of the things about the modern Internet that I truly find miraculous, and younger people just take for granted, is the enormous wealth of knowledge available at the touch of a key press. I think this is magical. Now, whenever a question about something pops into my mind, as it still often does, I can just grab my laptop (my preferred device) and look it up in a few seconds. And if I still don’t understand it, I can post a question on Geekzone and get free expert advice from skilled engineers and other specialists. If you can’t appreciate the wonder of that, you should stop and think about it for a little while.

I am less enamoured of our current TV. Much of the ad-saturated FTA programming here seems aimed at morons and dedicated to making them even dumber. It just doesn’t appeal to me. Fortunately, the wonderful, magical Internet makes that not a problem. These days my TV comes from streaming, and the inexhaustible cornucopia of top flight arts entertainment and excellent high-quality documentaries is continuously exposing me to things that enlighten, excite and inspire me. What is not to like about that?

The takeaway is that however you get your stimulus, the quality of what you put into your brain is up to you. There is a lot of crap on the Internet, and a lot of it is evil as well, but there is also enormous beauty and knowledge and brilliance. What a magnificent thing we have built. Here is an unlimited book of knowledge and ideas and culture and educational opportunity, open to anyone at any time. All you have to do is make use of it. How can this possibly be a bad thing?

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos