# Went a week without a computer. Ever tried it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 8, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299 "2017-02-08T02:39:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/21 "2017-02-09T13:26:44Z")
> [@Bibliothecarius](#): > > Am I really the first smartass to wander in and comment, “Yes, I did every week before about 1989.” 😉 No. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/22 "2017-02-09T13:53:24Z")
Not counting the first four decades of my life, when home PCs weren’t really a thing yet, I have done occasional vacations without computer access in the more recent past. Until two years ago, the beach house we regularly rent in the summer didn’t have wi-fi, so no computer. In addition, I’ve gone huge swaths of my life without a TV. Got my first one, used, when I was 28, left it with a grad school roommate a few years later, went another year or so without a TV then got a cheap B&W. Have had televisions ever since, but it hasn’t always meant much. We haven’t had cable since 1998, and broadcast access where we’ve been living during that time is sketchy at best. Back when I was still a football fan, I had a rooftop-style antenna in the attic to pull in the Redskins games, but didn’t watch TV other than that from 1998-2008, then once the Firebug came along, even that got squeezed out: I haven’t watched live TV at home in eight years now. The Firebug has grown up watching DVDs instead of regular television, which is great because we know exactly what he’s watching. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/23 "2017-02-09T15:11:11Z")
Multiple times, since the mid-1990s. Because I was traveling (usually when with family, and without or before I even had a smartphone), because of power/internet outages (rural Northern California winters. No more than the record of five consecutive days, to far, though, knock on wood.), or during a couple of hospital stays and/or home convalescences. In the last case, while I technically had ACCESS to a computer, I spent most of my time sleeping, retching, or trying to sleep to avoid retching. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/24 "2017-02-09T19:28:42Z")
Sure from birth until about age 18. Then I went to college and had access to the mainframe. I got my own PC by the time I graduated. I don’t think there is a week since then during which I haven’t used a computer though. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bibliothecarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@Bibliothecarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliothecarius)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/25 "2017-02-10T14:51:03Z")
Sorry, **CookingWithGas** , I must have scrolled past you. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/26 "2017-02-10T15:21:56Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Yes, yes, I very much admire all of you non electronic zombies, and recognize your obvious intellectual and moral superiority, not to mention completely grant the assumption that any internet time is wasted and inferior to any interaction with real life humans. 🙂 Everyone on a forum thinks _that_. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/27 "2017-02-10T16:02:12Z")
At least a couple times a year or more. Heck, if it wasn’t for the SDMB it would probably be a monthly thing for me. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/28 "2017-02-10T23:34:50Z")
I just spent three weeks in Barbados and for nearly all of the last week, there was no internet. My laptop connected to the router, but the router had no connection (more precisely, extremely intermittent, too much to even read email) to the internet. The same thing happened at a cafe a block away. I got to their router fine, but no internet, so I assume it affected the whole neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/29 "2017-02-11T00:34:16Z")
I look at a PC (actually many of them) 80 hours a week for work, after a while you dont care if all computer technology exploded over night At home? I have one, i stopped upgrading it in 2006? I turn it on once a month to pay bills I have no landline phone, have no TV service. I have a cell phone, in 6 months i have used 7 minutes of talk time and about 220mb of bandwidth. It is used more for the alarm clock than anything else. Also makes a good water proof flashlight. Once in a while i will get GPS directions, or look up something on it. Not exactly an irreplaceable tool. If i woke up one morning and all technology vanished, i would probably have a party I’d definitely have an extra 80 hours a week for things like naps ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299/30 "2017-02-11T01:51:17Z")
I spent three weeks in Australia and New Zealand without a computer last year, but damn, did I keep burning through my local data plans on the phone! I had to call customer service to renew after the first time, because the phone app only let you renew once in a month. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-a-week-without-a-computer-ever-tried-it/779299.md?page=1)