# So what happens if I'm completely tired of the Internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 14, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happens-if-im-completely-tired-of-the-internet/643984 "2012-12-14T01:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happens-if-im-completely-tired-of-the-internet/643984/21 "2012-12-15T15:03:59Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > A smartphone is just a convenient tool. There is nothing you can do with it that we couldn’t do a 100 years ago. Back then nobody was interested in the person sitting next to them in the train, only now we have internet acces while daydreaming in the restroom. Well, yes and no. I don’t recall in the distant pass going to parties, or eating out or the like and people bringing stuff to read and generally ignoring the other people RIGHT there with them. Yeah, it happened. But not with the frequency I see today. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happens-if-im-completely-tired-of-the-internet/643984/22 "2012-12-16T03:19:06Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > I lived without any phone at all for 4 years, with almost no internet access for longer (I didn’t own a computer between 2004-2010, though I was using my ex’s computer regularly starting in 2009, the year I joined the Dope). I did not make eye contact with strangers, much less talk to them if I could help it, the horror! You live in NYC, you should understand that no one wants this! > > These days I have a $12 cellphone with which I send texts and, much more rarely, make calls. I own a laptop and spend a fair amount of my free time on the internet, when I am at home, which is not all that much most days. My life is the richer for both; I can stay in touch with, and share with, people I value this way, and there’s a huge wealth of information at my fingertips. > > If you don’t like being shackled to technology, cut off your shackles (ie trade in your iPhone for something basic and read a book at the bus stop) and stop being so dramatic. > > I recently started working fulltime at a job where there is no internet access and use of cellphones is regulated strictly, and I do confess I’m rather enjoying the ‘old school’ feeling of it, but it’s not like my co-workers and I sit around and gaze into each others eyes while we sing Kumbaya and wonder at the bliss of freedom from the incessant beeping of our cell phones. Right now most of them choose to pass the idle time at our job they might waste on their smartphones somewhere else, on reading not only 50 Shades of Gray, but also all the other series of dirty novels which are riding the coattails of 50 Shades success.. not a lot of lofty ideals about the meaning of human connection and experiencing life fully to be found, there Thank you for neatly proving my point. Were you and your colleagues all diving into their cell phones every spare moment, you would have no clue what they were reading. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happens-if-im-completely-tired-of-the-internet/643984/23 "2012-12-16T03:41:16Z")
I decided that the SCA had jumped the shark when people started deciding which events to go to based on cell phone & wireless access, and whether or not there would be a laptop on site they could borrow to check their email or post pictures to Facebook. I have a cell phone. I use it for phone calls, text messages, address book, and as a camera. I am going to avoid getting a smart phone or any form of portable internet or email as long as I can, because one of my main reasons to stand up and walk away from the computer is to get away from the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happens-if-im-completely-tired-of-the-internet/643984/24 "2012-12-16T03:42:19Z")
SCA ? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happens-if-im-completely-tired-of-the-internet/643984/25 "2012-12-16T03:44:38Z")
Society for Creative Anachronism, an international group dedicated to the research and re-creation of life, art, armor, clothing, food & stuff prior to 1600. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happens-if-im-completely-tired-of-the-internet/643984/26 "2012-12-16T04:21:39Z")
\<------- Laughing at this. Well done. So, people cannot be in the 1600’s without checking on their Facebook pages? Priceless. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happens-if-im-completely-tired-of-the-internet/643984.md?page=1)