Were you born before or after 1988? Depending on how you answer that question will depend on whether you can remember a childhood without the internet. If like me you can remember a time when if you wanted to find out who the king of Prussia was in 1869 you had to go to a library, you’ll understand how it is possible to survive without the internet. (It was Wilhelm I by the way, I just Googled it).
Although even if you were born in the ‘olden days’, it is unlikely that you go for more than a few hours without being online on some device or another. In fact, you probably find it difficult to imagine being able to live your life without access to the internet. In 1996 having an email address was a novel oddity, and you weren’t quite sure why you needed one, today if you’re under the age of 70 you are seen as a bit of an eccentric if you don’t have one.
Last week I went for an entire 72 hour period without access to not just my emails, but the entire internet, I was set adrift, cast out of cyberspace, left without the ability to even press my nose up against the digital shop window, I experienced what many people in developing countries must experience every day, that of interacting with the real world without it first being fed to me via the filter of the internet.
White Noise
Have you ever been in a room full of people talking to someone, and you suddenly notice that everyone has gone quiet? Perhaps you were at a conference or some other event where you were waiting for someone to speak or perform. You’re talking to someone and there is chatter in the background which stops as the speaker or performer come out onto stage.
This is a similar feeling to being cut off from the internet, and just like when you’re in a crowded room that suddenly goes quiet, you only realise just how noisy it was after everybody falls silent. The background chatter, laughter, clinking of glasses and general hubbub had simply melted itself onto your subconscious. Only the sharp contrast of silence reminds you of the fact that you were actually standing in a loud environment, this is what is known as deafening silence.
Unlike a physical room in the real world, the noise generated by the internet is somewhat virtual, yet no less real. The internet creates an internal mental chatter, to which we have all become used to, we can no longer hear the noise that was so obvious to us when we first entered the room. From thinking about an email you’ve got to send, to contemplating that meme you saw on Twitter, to crafting a clever reply to that idiot you’re arguing with on Youtube, it’s all mental chatter that serves as constant background noise.
Conversation Engine Optimisation
My internet hiatus was forced upon me, I wasn’t trying to make a statement, or even researching what it would be like just so I could write about it, rather, the situation just came about, for reasons far too mundane to reveal, I found myself cut off from the ever-present internet.
At first it was as you’d imagine,
horrible.
When I’m connected to the internet, I only tend to check my main email account once every four or five days, my Cryptogee one I can go for weeks without once logging in. Yet once the ability to check those mails was taken away from me, the urge to log in was almost overwhelming.
However once the initial shock of not being able to find out what flavour of email spam I was being sent from one moment to the next, I started discovering some interesting things about myself. For example I learned that I have something called the google reflex, which is triggered anytime I’m having a non-personal conversation of more than two minutes in length. This is whereby I feel the urge to use google to back up or enrich what I am saying at any given time. I noticed that I’m not the only person with the google reflex, it seems that very few adults can have a five minute conversation without having to resort to google at least once.
Productivity Boost
One pleasant side-effect resulting from having no internet, was the amount of stuff I got done through sheer lack of distraction. Without the ability to nip over to Facebook, Youtube or any of the other sites I waste time on a daily basis, I simply had no other option but to concentrate on the tasks I needed to do.
This wasn’t too surprising, it’s not like I’m unaware that mindlessly scrolling through a Twitter feed is a complete and utter waste of time, however it was refreshingly surprising to find out just how much time I do things like that without even thinking about it. In a typical day it seems natural to use break periods to unwind by doing trivial things like going and checking replies on social media. The problem is, that by restricting their use to breaktimes, it is easy to fool yourself into thinking that you are being productive. However you realise the absurdity of that statement when you simply don’t have the ability to distract yourself with the internet.
Back In The Room
Of course I, like many people, spend a lot of necessary time online, whether it’s posting an article, trading crypto or sending and receiving critical emails, there are times when I simply have to be online. So I knew that this unnatural state of affairs was not going to last very long.
The thing is, once I got switched back on, I didn’t want to log back in. I felt like the guy who went to the bathroom at that loud party that I was having so much fun at, yet is now standing on the other side of a closed door listening to the muffled conversations, and wondering if I even want to go back in.
In just 72 hours I felt like I had cured myself from the internet, and now I stood poised on the edge of a precipice, ready to infect myself once again . . .
Of course you’re reading this so you know the outcome, I’m back, yet this time it feels different. This time I want it to be different.
In Cal Newport’s excellent book, Deep Work, he suggests taking internet sabbath days whereby you completely abstain from going online. After reading the book I tried this a couple of times and it was indeed a very productive time, however I soon slipped back into a constantly online state, and pretty much forgot about the idea of internet sabbaths until my enforced sabbatical last week.
Clearing The Path To Focus
The feeling of being totally focused on the tasks you have to complete is a wonderful experience, after the initial shock of not being able to jump online at a moment’s notice, your brain will simply switch its attention to other matters to keep it occupied.
Therefore it is clear to me now, that the Path To Focus can only be travelled if we sweep away the dead leaves of meaningless trivialities, and the only way that can be done is by taking two to three day breaks from the internet and staying offline as much as practically possible.
For me, that means logging of on a Friday afternoon, and not logging back on till Sunday afternoon. I am now going to make a concerted effort to get my entertainment offline, which will help with the logon temptation.
From now on I vow to use the internet as a tool, rather than it using me as a slave. I invite you to join me. Start by analysing how much time you really need to be online for, if for instance you have to do ten online tasks in the day, consider how critical it is for you to be online between those tasks.
Then when it gets to the weekend, shut down, do not even go onto Google to fact-check whether pygmies are a thing (they are), simply enjoy your weekend, hook up with old friends, read a book, go for a walk, take up a new hobby. However you do it, you will find that you have started treading your own path, to focus.
The Path To Focus: The Story So Far:
The Path To Focus: How To Start A New Habit
The Path To Focus: Stacking Your Way To Success
The Path To Focus: Controlling Your Environment
The Path To Focus: Desire Bundling Changing Want To Need
The Path To Focus: Leave Your Goals In The Valley Of Disappointment
WHAT’S THE LONGEST YOU HAVEN’T BEEN ONLINE FOR? DO YOU ENJOY NOT BEING ABLE TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET, OR IS IT A LIVING NIGHTMARE FROM WHICH YOU CAN’T WAIT TO ESCAPE? OR PERHAPS YOU TAKE REGULAR INTERNET SABBATICALS AND I’M PREACHING TO THE CONVERETED? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Title image: Matthew Ronder-Seid on Unsplash