Unplugged: How Long Can You Last?

I think the word is dependent, not addicted.

The definition for addiction is any substance or stimulus that is required in ever increasing amounts to yield the same level of desired response in the brain.

If you follow that definition to its logical end, then anyone addicted to electronic media would be consuming at greater and greater amounts over time.

It's been a while since I went camping, but even then I became eager to get back to check emails etc. Call me hooked, I guess.

24 hours......are we supposed to feel sorry for them......they should change the speed of their internet and have their cell phone drop..or text messages and emails come three days late.......wait a second....We already have that.

p911

Regularly go 3 or 4 days or more off line. When my girlfriend is with me I just don't miss it.

The thing I miss most about the Tri-Cities is the climate; dry heat in the summer, not too cold in the winter.

Going out swimming with my girlfriend in Burbank...

Memories...

Actually I live in Burbank. Cold this summer, only 3 days mad it up to 100 F., and no higher. About twice the rain as normal too.

Depends on the mentality of the students.

I check my Email and CR4 ever 10mins, but If I'm away or out in the woods I don't miss it, mind I check up asap when I .
Del

Definitely a generation gap here. Take the cell phones away from my teenage daughters for 10 minutes and the facial tics start to appear. 30 minutes later, they begin to physically shake. Within an hour, they begin to hallucinate. (okay, I'm kidding, a bit)

For me, I love the opportunity to turn off the cell phone, get out of the house and go camping or boating or work with my hands etc.

Electronic connectivity, cell phones, computers are tools for me to help me get through life. It is NOT my life. When I am not connected, I might miss the convenience these tools can provide, but I can work around them.

Know what you mean! I always laugh about phones - many people I know are frantic to answer. Myself - if I get there OK and if I miss a call OK - if it is important whoever is calling will call back.

As maybe 0.5% of calls are really important you don't miss much.

Oh boy, you just got me started on all those robo-calls for political compaigns.

It's bad enough you can't turn on the TV, pick up the mail, or open a newspaper without being assualted by all the scheisse, but now they have machines calling the house several times each day. Ugh.

How many days left? Sigh.

4 As long as it bl**dy takes!

I am curious just how much the current generation actually depend on and desire their instant media? I propose a further experiment, take a bunch of young adults, place them in a survival situation (have someone watch over them for saftey) and see what they spend their time doing or persuing. I would place money, that before they made fire, they would have a tin can and string phone line set up. Imagine how "lord of the flies" could turn out if it occured today.

An interesting thought, if you were stuck in a survival situation, what form of media would you most desire? telephone, TV or internet?

A good knife and a carton of disposable lighters - ^{_{and lots of duct tape, and fags, and Scotch, maybe a woman, or 5, you know, like the good worker ones ...oh, and whine for them - should be entertaining enough.}}

Last Sunday, we were traveling to my girlfriends oldest daughter and son-in-law (recent newlyweds) . We left at 5:30 AM. 15 minutes into the trip....she stated "I forgot me cell phone" so she turned around (she was driving) and when back, I made a comment, and on the way back she ask if that was why I was.....in a pissy mode. "I said to her, why do you need a cell phone"

Her reply was, "you don't understand because I don't have kids. "

My retort was "There was a time when there was no phones at all and people seemed to have lived".

She confused and said,,,,,ok, its my security blanket.

And that is what I believe is why people need their phones.

"There was a time when there was no phones at all and people seemed to have lived".

There was a time when people thought about what they were going to say - before "getting on the phone".

I have come to hate my mobile in particular, and phones as a species, since the thought part is now as long as the reflex of reach into a pocket and speed dial.

More and more my standard answer is "I can't talk right now - send me an email". To write they must pause and think, and often resorting to that, solves the problem.

Ok, it's not 'on topic' as such, about 'unplugged', more about "I don't have an attachment to white noise", which about 99% of "communication" and "media" is.

about 10 years ago, I despised my cell phone......today, I prefer text only because people that would leave a voice message that lasts 15-30 seconds the meat of the message is in the last 5 seconds with the beginning just fluff.

Text, because it can be so inconvenient and people (other than teenagers) don't care for it. I find the messages is to the point.....

Received a text message from my girlfriend. " Loked keys in car @ wrk. bring xtra set when you com home."

Imagine what the voice message would be......."Honey, your not going to believe what happened to me today....first, I was late to work because I walked the dogs before I left for work, and then.........."

There was a time when people thought about what they were going to say - before "getting on the phone".

I remember writing friends letters, and mailing it, now and they actually cherish it because I took the time. Its an act that I'm trying to get back into.

p911