# The hardest technological thing to give up for a month would be... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278 "2010-05-13T06:09:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/41 "2010-05-14T00:00:31Z")
When I’m out of town working, I don’t have a car, the TV sits unused, the cell phone gets charged and sits on the desk and I don’t think I’ve played a video game since 1998. The computer and the net, on the other hand, would be hard to do without. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/42 "2010-05-14T00:06:21Z")
Internet. I do everything online- I haven’t even ordered a pizza over the phone in several years. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/43 "2010-05-14T03:17:50Z")
My professional practice is based on computer modeling. Without a computer, I’d go broke. It isn’t just a “convenience”, modern engineering depends upon computers. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/44 "2010-05-14T04:18:57Z")
I ticked “Computer and Internet”, because it’s the only one of the options on the list that I have. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/45 "2010-05-14T05:05:58Z")
Hmmm I picked computer and internet because it covers a vast number of needs - communication, entertainment (it can substitute for TV) and work. I took on a number of web application jobs to supplement my income while studying. Without the computer and internet I would be in big bad trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/46 "2010-05-14T10:04:40Z")
I think I could give up the lot without a great deal of trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/47 "2010-05-14T11:51:53Z")
I waffled for about 3 seconds between car and Internet. I work at home, and I live about 5 miles from town. So I could ride my bike in for food. But besides needing my computer to work, I’d be twitching after about a day and a half of no Internet. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/48 "2010-05-14T13:50:19Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Car. > > My job would force me to use computers/internet, so that one is out. OTOH, how would I get to work/grocery store/etc? > > However, of all technological things to give up for a month the most difficult would be (depending on the month, of course): > > Air Conditioning. I’ve lived in Georgia and Texas most of my life and it truly is a wonderful thing, that conditioned air. 🙂 Second the conditioned air. It gets plenty hot and humid up North, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/49 "2010-05-14T14:19:35Z")
I can walk to work, walk or bus to a grocery store, my cellphone is for people to call me in emergencies, and once upon a time ta-dah we did do paper charting at work, and fill out lab requistions by hand, and we STILL have the system in place at work for “downtime.” I would miss the internet though, so if its just me I would pick internet/computer, but anything on this list I can live without. I only got cable tv when my son was born, before that I did this thing called reading, and watched the news maybe twice a week. (Boyfriend though is a big fan of the history channel/discover/cbc newsworld/and cooking channels so he’d be freaking out…then again he can’t work without internet.) No hot running water though and my job becomes way more difficult. (You try getting up at 6 and getting ready for work then bathing angry agressive Alzheimers patients in cold water. No thank you) Then again the Romans had hot baths, so maybe hot running water doesn’t count. Long way to just say INternet ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/50 "2010-05-14T15:43:09Z")
No contest. I don’t own a car, a video game, or a television. I do own a cell phone but I make an average of 3 45-second calls per month on it and never receive calls on it. I probably spend more than 16 hours per day average on the computer. ---
**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/51 "2010-05-14T15:45:15Z")
Not even a close call - internet and computer. I don’t have a car or videogames, our telly is broken - I watch DVDs on the computer - and I rarely use my mobile. Without my computer and internet, I’d be a gibbering wreck within a fortnight. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278/52 "2010-05-14T16:17:42Z")
I could fairly easily go without any of those for a month (heck, I don’t even have a car or a TV right now). I’ve been on campouts where I don’t have _any_ of them for two weeks, and twice that still wouldn’t be a problem as long as I’m with friends. You know what’s _really_ the hardest technological thing to do without for a month? A toilet. Heck, even just a chair with a hole cut in the seat. Let me tell you, after two weeks in the woods with nothing but what you can fit in a canoe, the most beautiful sound in the world is a toilet flushing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardest-technological-thing-to-give-up-for-a-month-would-be/539278.md?page=2)