No internet

Have you tried? I can't go even one day without it. If you did try what have you learned? Why are you back?

No but I would like to. Currently I'm obligated to use internet for communication and other things. I believe that within 3 or 4 years I'll be free to experiment what's it like. I imagine I'd start reading more often or something. I don't think too much would change because I try to either limit my internet use when possible or just use websites/protocols which I'm required to use, with some exceptions such as lainchan.

I never actively "tried" it, or maybe forgot about the time I did, but I am occasionally in such circumstances. Every year or so I'm dragged to a farmhouse in the mountains where my father grew up for vacation, far away from civilization, there's electricity and running water but not much else, no landlines. Knew that place for all my life, and had to visit it every year, even though I only have my old grandma and aunt living there at the moment, there used to be more people like several aunts and uncles, old ladies who lived in other farmhouses nearby, many acquaintances, but they all died from old age or moved into urban areas, it's depressing to see how dead the place is. The place has reception, but no actual wired internet, the only way to get it is through pre-paid satellite internet from SIM cards, modern smartphones let you use tethering to share it around, back in the day you'd need to use a receiver USB dongle and plug it into whatever. Whenever the internet gets used up (and it happens fairly quickly if you don't stick to text media) or never gets bought in the first place, I had absolutely nothing to do. I do nothing productive on the internet or my computer already, I just consume media to stave off the dread of having an empty life, but when I didn't have internet to distract me, I was genuinely lost on what to do. All I did was sleep on the couch or in bed, or sit at an old dining table nobody has used for several decades and just stare at the wall, or walk around the place. And this generally goes on for a week or so before we leave. Nowadays when I'm there I try to pass the time by drinking beer, walking around the dirt roads at the mountains, playing with the dogs there in some way, or fingerfucking my dead uncle's guns. I don't even particularly like or crave beer, I'm not alcoholic, but being drunk makes time pass faster. What I've learned? Probably that my life is empty and the internet is the only thing keeping me from going insane from it.

>>20972 >No internet Have you tried? I can't go even one day without it. The question is do you have anything more valuable to do? Sometimes when I go out with a friend, I can spend almost the whole day without it, but why would I? Why torture yourself? Have you tried not using electricity for one day? >If you did try what have you learned? Why are you back? When my interned went out, I learned how badly I need to feel connected with people or at least their products, culture. I'm more connected with people, sitting here alone in my room in front of my computer, than most people leading a "natural" way of living in their fuarrrking village, where they do fake soykaf not to trigger neighbors.

I'm just trying to save up enough data to last a 100 lifetimes so internet is purely for social and news use. If encryption gets derezzed, or if we need to use unique identifiers to use, or if privacy mitigation becomes ineffective that'll be the time I'll disconnect for good. At this point any displeasure from disconnecting is a matter of fighting habits.

If you're used to being on the internet everyday you need to replace the activity with something else engaging. A lot of old people just stare at TV was incredible numbers of hours. Offline games can also be a replacement. Or reading. Or engaging with other humans in real life. Doing a sudden switch could be very hard. In different cultures and life phases you can get locked into one of these things. As time passes, things that are more engaging to us have been developed, so it hard to go backwards from the internet to books etc. It is especially hard because you exist in this culture now where everything is internet connected. In a time when books were mainstream everyone would talk about books, and books were high quality and targeted to your type of thinking and language. These days, new books are not as good and old books are difficult to read since our language and perceptions have shifted.

I've gone without the Internet for at least a day lately. I pride myself on my self-control, so I could go for longer, but I have work I do this would impede. I could quite any time I want, I own plenty of books I could spend time reading, but there's no need, and I get my reading and thinking done anyway. I don't need the Internet to program, write, or do other creative acts; myself and maybe my physical books are more than enough; I choose to look down on those who need the Internet for such. I don't use social media; I host my own website and use it for publishing my works, among other productive and creative endeavours, so I don't feel like the Internet does me much harm. I don't tend to take computers with me when I leave my house, either. Although I know the constant possibility of distractions does interfere with my work often, I still get work done, so it could be worse. I do know that the interactions I've had and the texts I've been able to read due to the Internet have helped me have thoughts I wouldn't otherwise have had or learn things I wouldn't have otherwise learned. The Internet is full of potential, although it's recognized it's harmful for many, but I prefer to think I'm in that small set of intelligent people who get a net benefit from the Internet being available.

Many years ago I watched this video on a hell testimonial, and one of the places that the person went was punishment for internet addict. She claimed that many people that spent too much time on the internet go to hell due to the many sins that people fall into while in the rabbit hole. Part of me can't get this image out of my head of a room full of people screaming simply for using the internet and doing degenerate stuff. I have seen the side effects of the internet, I have seen the degeneracy that it has brought upon people and their life, I too am a testimony to this as my sense of innocence is all but gone. I have tried many times to quit the internet, such as taking a 9 day break but the sense of time goes so slow that it pains me to my very core, as >>20976 explained I too did nothing but stare at the wall and think in my head, it was beyond boredom and anything like. But the internet is all that I've known since the beginning of my teen years, I have no friends (never had single one from a young age) never had any hobbies aside from a few gigs that lasted for a little while, my parents have tried everything to get me to so sports, instruments and so one and I pity them because I tend to drop those hobbies right away. I now am an adult and have no other friends but the internet, I guess hell truly is my destination Sorry for the long post, I didn't want to post something as long as this but I had to pour my heart out.

Obligations aside, I'm pretty sure I could replace it with social activity (if the activity was also forced offline)

>>20983 Wait, do you actually believe these "hell testimonials?" Pretty sure they don't allow any return trips. NDEs included. Even if the stories from NDE were to be believed and not just insane DMT dreams, I don't think the devil would let your soul out of his domain just because somebody used a defibrillator on your body. Gotta say, people who use the word degenerate this much are a huge red flag. You should look into the history of that word being used in such contexts. Or maybe you agree with that sort of thing too, idk. Certainly not very Christian, after all. Forgiveness is the whole dang point. Funny how some Christians focus on everything but Christ and what he lived and died for.

>>20985 not to be jerk lainnon but if you read my post you'd actually understand what i'm trying to say. And yes I do know what the word degenerate stands for, I only use it since it express my emotions the best, it's the same thing if someone called you a retard, stupid, gay or the n word doesn't mean anything without context behind it or just being used to express your emotions. And i'm not sure what you mean by the whole forgiveness and christian things, I think you just got a little upset, it's ok if you missunderstood what I typed, I'm used to it

>>20986 Not upset, my bad if I misunderstood. I just don't get what you're talking about with the hell testimonials I guess.

>>20987 You can go on youtube and put in "hell testimonials" and stuff and find some vids on it

I wouldn't be able to pay for my housing and nearest bank is nowhere in walking distance to do it manually I wouldn't be able to navigate around town since last time a paper directory and map were produced for this place was in 2008 I wouldn't be able to contact my employer on daily basis, and when I'm fired for this, I wouldn't be able to find employment I won't even have a landline since it's a glorified SIP gateway these days coming as additional service with ISP modem So, well. Pretty miserable existence I would say. Unless you're an old person who's got a family to care or nursing home. You'll end up asking Internet-connected people around to do the errands for you like those grandpas from twitter memes do. I'd still have my books, pathetic tools and knowledge severely crippled by absence of it's main extender, with bits of offline digital data saved on my hard drives and memory sticks, but I'd have to sacrifice some of those for the sake of portability when I get booted out of the house out in the wild. Going without Internet on weekends, even month-long holidays with offline software maps, a well-known route without them, self-contained task to accomplish and good book? Sure. But not for a year unless I'd prepare in advance and have a really narrow course to head for, on a boat around the world, weather fax and VHF only, right?

I regularly go weeks or months without internet, I feel like it is just another way to kill time, like smokers who do it as a habit instead of actually being addicted to nicotine. Most of the "need" is just a mental problem to be overcome, if it is really so bad that you are going out of you way to use the internet, you might have an underlying problem resulting in addiction. I had a teacher challenge us to go without technology (this was when TV and computers were the biggest time waters and social media was still in its infancy) and then write an essay about how we felt. Some people reported withdrawal symptoms, others felt isolated and out of touch. I laughed and wrote something edgy about how people who whine about such things are mentally weak. Thinking about it now, i would probably say the same thing, and that everyone has problems to overcome, but mental resilience takes a lot of effort and willpower, and it will probably make you uncomfortable to stop using the internet. advice to you for starting it though: go outside without any phone or tablet, or laptop, take a night walk or go into the woods or a park. You can keep your mind off technology long enough to break the habit and be better. >>20979 >Why torture yourself? Have you tried not using electricity for one day? Does weeks count?

>>20983 Op here, I have similar feelings. I am able to sit and entertain myself with my thoughts and I think it would be difficult for me to get out of that state. I'm a bit afraid of losing my "identity" because I grew up using the internet and missing out on things. Im sure that once I'm out I'll be out for good and its scary to think about going to the point of no return. >>20992 I don't really like going outside since Im very distrustful of people, it gives me a sense of paranoia and its overall unconformable.

TV is boring after a while and there are plenty of things you can do with a deck of cards. I'm back because it just offers a lot of things I won't get from TV and a deck of cards

>>20995 I mostly suffer from the fact that i'll never be able to do something meaningfull. I'm pretty sure a deck of cards is fun but it has to bring meaning into my life in order for it to be fun for me

I just realized that the reason I want to disconnect is because I feel like an outsider. I can't relate with the current userbase, with the media targeted towards this userbase which is most of the net. But what holds me back is not "losing touch with humanity" but losing my sense of integration. The meat world is dead to me, so its either wired or nothing.

Maybe the internet isn't the problem. >no friends >no family >no money >nowhere to go out

>>21000 So you are basically homeless but you use internet? Get a job, lain.

I havent tried it and i dont see the point of doing that just as much as there is a point in being on the net. I just go on lainchan and some other smaller sites, but really there is little to no need for either. This year i hope to become a hermit and withdraw to the woods. I have a long range wifi relay and a bunch of electronics i can use to make myself some sort of makeshift network. Then i will be mostly offline. Id probably miss lainchan and the internet is useful to get certain information, but id be glad to get rid of my net addiction and live in nature. >>20983 I dont think this has to be true, but for some that fate will take place, either way its a fascinating idea.

yeah I mostly, read, listened to music, watched TV. All the things that make me addicted to the Internet have real world analogues so I just did those.

There's no internet where I live. I have to leave the house to use it, and depending on time of day and year, that can be fairly deterring. Granted, my screentime is still pretty excessive because I watch movies and write a lot. I even draft my personal messages at home, then walk to the mall or the library to get online and send them. I'm more punk than cyber I guess.

>>20994 >I don't really like going outside since Im very distrustful of people, it gives me a sense of paranoia and its overall unconformable. Have you read "the machine stops?" I found it interesting that the concept of neeting and social interactions and its self destructive and inevitable world destroying phenomenon was captured so profoundly in the early 1900s. Get rid of the discomfort, people are not to be feared, nobody said you need to talk to them. Just go and explore your world while you still can.

>>20990 I solved many if these problems by going to a local library and using computers when I had to access the internet, other than that, it is easy to use cut away all unneeded internet usage. Things I now use the internet for: >finding directions or addresses (not in real time, just general map and topography and landmarks to remember) >finding hours of businesses, since many times they are hard to reach or are not listed >lainchan obviously, but only for the dank maymays >occasionally ordering things or price checking before I purchase a large item or something that cannot be locally sourced. >news updates or trade journals I cannot find in print Other media i get from secondhand/bookstores, or the radio

>>21019 You don't seem to understand... In order for some1 to break your head for a few dollars you don't have to talk w them. Not everyone is lucky enough to live in a 1st world country >neeting its self destructive and inevitable world destroying phenomenon what is going to destroy muh world are the normal users, the're already doing that, I mean a hermit has 0 to no power in the meat world, muh collapse because of unemployment, maybe if i didn't got paid in peanuts i would go and work. Until then I'm not going to do soykaf for a system that only sees me as a slave or a parasite. >Get rid of the discomfort, people are not to be feared You're very sheltered and is coming from a hikki. I would post gore just to burst your bubble, but I try not to be a dick. >Just go and explore your world while you still can I'm already doing that, everyday, it's called introspection.

>>21021 I'm sorry lain, I was just trying to help, I can assure you I am far from sheltered, but at some point I learned that being a hikki was bad for myself (i spent the better part of 5 years as a hikki), then I just decided to go outside, even if it meant the possibility of something bad happening, it was better then the alternative of sitting around on the internet all day. Criminals also do not generally attack for no reason, and as long as you mind your own business, you will be left alone.

>>20972 I'm poor so I do go without it. I have many roms and ebooks but ended up mainly having cop shows watched. It was awful. All the USA has on tv that's done well is cop shows. They are such propaganda. A month off and on I go through it.

i had to go offline due to studying, the plan was to leave the net for a whole year but i couldn't handle it for two weeks, it was hell, people were talking about things that are meaningless and boring, i was getting ignored and bullied alot, the net helped me to meet such wonderful people that i consider real friends despite how others view the meaning of this word, my pc is still taken away so i'm just using my phone for now waiting for this year to be over, it was harmful and kind of unhealthy to me, there is no reason to get out of the wired, if you need to socialize, you can use many methods to reach your goal, and of course including the internet.

>>21565 what cop shows do you recommend me, Lain?

>>21584 Cops

>>21583 rule 0: Do not post in or view any boards if you are under 18 years of age. it is very much possible to life a fulfilling and meaningful life without any internet, I hope you are not conflating the idea of being offline with the idea of not interacting with any computers whatsoever. I agree there is merit to interaction with others on the web, but you have to be careful about this one, a lot of online relationships never get to be very meaningful. > it was harmful and kind of unhealthy to me Anything can be harmful and kind of unhealthy if you want it to be. I would say the first step to essentially go without internet is to actually want to go without internet. For me, the middle ground that helps me be productive and not waste too much time on the webs is to simply not own a smartphone, go out regularly and use a computer for anything that really requires internet access. Not sitting in front of a computer without really having thought about what I should do is key. >there is no reason to get out of the wired Not trying to be rude, but this just sounds completely escapist.

>>21594 >Not trying to be rude, but this just sounds completely escapist. Not the anon, but this is very closed minded. I exist on and for my computers pretty much exclusively. I spend the majority of my time writing code and reading documentation. I'm not escaping from anything (unless I log off and go for a walk when faced with a challenging problem), this is my life. I feel happy, fulfilled and keen to continue. For context, I've been living this way for over two and a half decades. I was born with the internet, and shall die with it.

>>21583 >it is very much possible to life a fulfilling and meaningful life without any internet, I hope you are not conflating the idea of being offline with the idea of not interacting with any computers whatsoever. I was pretty much gonna say this, as long is a i have my electronics working and have the data i need, i dont really need the net. Im over reliant on the net for information and other data, this has to change. That being said if i had to interact with normal people and not have a place to interact with intelligent beings like on lainchan id probably bite the bullet. I would also miss interacting some of the people i know on the net.

>>21594 >rule 0: Do not post in or view any boards if you are under 18 years of age. i'm in the last grade of high school, i'm 18. >alot of online relationships never get to be any meaningful and same goes with real life relationships, i agree that alot of people on the net don't take eachother seriously, but same goes for people in real life, just because i'm friends with someone on the net because we share the same interests wether it was anime or vidya doesn't mean it's meaningless, most modern communications in real life depends on how you look like, how much money you have and how popular you are, which is i think more meaningless. >the first step to essentially go without the internet is to actually want to go without the internet that's the main problem, i don't want to, i'm forced to, by my parents and myself. i try to go out but i don't even know where to go, wether it was a cafe or a restaurant or anything really, it all requires friends and different kind of relationships, and i don't have those and i gave up on having them. >it just sounds completely escapist i know.

>>21597 >That being said if i had to interact with normal people and not have a place to interact with intelligent beings like on lainchan id probably bite the bullet. pretty much this, i don't like to consider people outside as inferior humans but i believe that i was not born to communicate with them, communication is a term that is most likely used to describe the methods of socialising with others, wether on the net or outside.

>>21595 convincing yourself there is no reason to get out of the wired is definitely what I would consider escapist. There are reasons to choose one or the other, getting out of the wired definitely remains a possibility. >most modern communications in real life depends on how you look like, how much money you have and how popular you are, which is i think more meaningless. >That being said if i had to interact with normal people and not have a place to interact with intelligent beings like on lainchan id probably bite the bullet. >i don't like to consider people outside as inferior humans but i believe that i was not born to communicate with them are you guys aware that these internet personas you instead turn to also exist as real persons? Of course we could have the discussion of how easy it is to meet like-minded spirits in real life compared to the internet, to which probably anyone would agree that it is likely easier to find them on the internet. But maybe you aren't looking where you should be looking? People interact differently depending on the context of the interaction. You want to meet people to discuss anime and vidya with? Go to an anime con. People completely drop their facade because just like you, they are there for anime. You could crossdress, look like a retard and still have fun with others, social norms just crumble. I had some great experiences at several such conventions, in a context like that people are infinitely more approachable because you can just break the ice using whatever reference of preference. The deal here is that you choose how you want to connect to people. If I instead wanted to find people I could talk about music preferences with, I would go to a rave. For intellectual topics I talk to academics. This stuff is really not rocket science. If you wanted to find an irc community to converse with some generalized type of person, you wouldn't connect to some irc server called your-general-surroundings where just with a little luck you find someone to meaningfully talk to. No, you just choose your community. Of course for some general topics this is harder to do for real life than the internet, there is no dedicated place or event where I can find void linux users, but there is an irc for that. But in such a case you can just generalize, go to a hackerspace or conference with linux users and you would likely get your opportunities to get into contact with people who know their soykaf. Do note I do not mean to disrespect the act of conversing online. But I find it ridiculous to think there is no merit to real life contact.

>>21584 I can't stand them so I can't recommend any. Criminal Minds I guess was okay, at first, but then after the first 4 or 5 seasons it should have been axed. Kinda like Law and Order should have and lots of other shows that are longer than they ought to be. Then there's happy go lucky stuff like NCIS, It's polar opposite being Chicago PD. Criminal Minds acts like it has ESP but at the same time the drama, ethics, character profiles, are good. Except also it has that unrealistic well rounded episode thing going on, where you can see an episode have a moral and or it applies all to well with a character or characters to the point of being uncanny. Anywho, I hated them all.

>>21601 >what I would consider escapist It isn't escapist if there's genuine engagement and the lack of "escaping" from something. I too do not disengage, and I have no reason to stay engaged besides enjoying the mental labor I put myself through. External things such as relationships occasionally draw me away, but I have plenty of genuine relationships online that I find fulfilling. >getting out of the wired definitely remains a possibility. Certainly. However, this does not imply one is escapist while the other isn't. Lots of people "escape" the online world because of its intensity to the more familiar offline.

>>20972 Back in the day I used stuff like TV and offline game consoles, honestly it wasn't the best, but I didn't know any better. Now that I have internet I really don't see how I could have a life without it since not only do I use it to entertain myself, but my work and skills revolve around it too, I think it's only a matter of time before the vast majority of people rely on the internet for just about everything as well.

For me being offline is easy. I can read books, take notes, meditate and listen to music all day. Most of the "content" we consume on the Internet is junk anyway, so it doesn't really matter if you miss it. You can also ask other people what is happening in the world and have a little chat with them. It's like the easiest way to socialize offline.

The longest stretch I can remember being offline over the past few years is for two weeks. I'm never online when I go camping, but I'm so focused on the outdoor environment then that I wouldn't really have time to even miss being connected. Indoors or in an urban environment, the longest I've gone off line is for 3 days or so. Often intentionally. Being unplugged feels stranger to me when I'm indoors or in an urban environment. I always plan to try and take a year off, but that is a perpetual wait until next year plan. If I did decide to pull the plug for that long, Maybe I should write in journal about it. Then I could post in a thread like this and have more to offer.

>>20972 I've never tried it because otherwise how would i talk to friends. that's my excuse.

I left social media, and the internet at large and spend my time on here and libgen. For the most part my usage is finding stuff to consume offline, books first and foremost.

>>20972 This one guy went without internet at his house for 2 years and he said it had great benefits. Perhaps this can be of interest to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiMcX3Fa2Us

I'm only really online when I have nothing better to do. Or when I'm feeling like I can't do any of the things that I have that are better to do. It's sort of like weed.

The internet is a cancer. I've spent months without it before and they're the clearest and happiest months in recent memory. Much like my childhood pre-internet. Full of novelty and wonder. I can remember them better than anything else in my life, including some otherwise very important events. It's a mind-poison. I wish I were strong enough/lived in a world where it was practical to leave for good. I am falling off the wagon, like an alcoholic with a barrel of wine. I truly believe that if we are to overcome the trials awaiting us as a people, we have to eliminate the net. We have to kill it. That's the final cyberpunk mission. To smash the awful structure; to rip out the parasitic machine by its cables and circuits, to return to real humanity and personhood. We have been boiled frogs for so long. It's almost inconceivable or even laughable to us now. But it truly doesn't have to be this way. The future is a great open canvas, and the arc of possibilities goes in many dimensions, not just one straight arrow from past to future. We must change, but we don't have to change in this particular way. We can find a way to escape and be joyous and libidinal creatures again. To escape the cybernetic thanatos that we somehow sleepwalked ourselves into over the past several decades.

>>21000 This is a chicken-and-the-egg issue imo.

>>24548 I am poor and only have the Internet off and on. You're taking it for granted. If I had money enough to buy whatever I wanted i indeed would not be online, but for the poor and the lonely, of which I am both, the Internet is conversation and (copyright infringed) entertainment. My life as it has been is literally 5 times better with the Internet vs without it. It depends on the lifestyle in other words. I can imagine my life being three times better without the Internet but not with my current life.

>>24546 saw this and was like "oh maybe its a Luke Smith-like YouTuber, I really want to find more of those" but nope its just Luke himself

>>20972 No internet at all is such a massive inconvenience and it makes no nense. No browsing idle soykaf on the other hand is probably worthwhile and doable if you have an alternative. I'm constantly thinking that I should get one of those limited gigabytes phone plans and stop paying for my internet bill on the basis that I could probably afford another pet with that money.

>>20972 It's easy, and a break will bring inspiration and focus to computer-related projects. Honestly, I find people who don't regularly camp (or at least hike) strange. How can people be so detached from the real world?

>>24550 I've been very poor without the internet. It's better in my experience. People don't experience poverty the same way anymore, but I don't think the experience of poverty is improving. For one thing, poverty didn't used to be lonely. Community and companionship was one of the only silver linings of being poor, and it was the rich who were often seen as bored and lonely. This has since been inverted. The internet is a large part of this.

>>24566 Yeah, I share that sentiment. Camping is important. Camping without a phone is fantastic.

I went four months because of some military training I had to do. Just gotta be occupied.

>>24575 Censorship is. The poor are the break the law types and this Internet is ridiculously controlled. In the past the poor had no all seeing eye on them. How can they? The money was that, and they had none, back 'then'. Now a worse all seeing eye is all over with Internet bubbles and such keeping people apart.

If I was stripped of modern means of technological entertainment I'd take walks or, heaven forbid, actually read books more often.

Considering that doing productive things on the internet doesn't count as being on the internet, is that a good idea to schedule social interactions on the net? Being able to talk to people all day and doing so distracts a lot and wastes my time, but quiting it entirely is hell, so it seems like the only way.

>>20972 I tried. It was boring , sometimes interesting bc of activities I planned to do instead of watching stupid videos on YouTube , but I gave up at third day. Why I did it? Don't know. Perhaps my mechanical memory worked out and I insubconsciously tapped on YouTube. Now I decided to reduce screen time , but not that rought as I did. I quited YouTube and several social media (which I found really senseless ) , also one board I used to visit earlier just as a habit. But I do use lainchan and whatch educational stuff.

Kind of did for six months. I had no internet in a flat that I moved into only temporarily. I have a very limited data plan, so I exclusively used the internet at work. For me, not a lot changed. I have no social media and most imageboards are slow, so I don't get afraid of missing out. Gaming and I also grew apart over the last five years, so when my PC crashed (tried to install an old game and the DRM broke everything) and my Steam library was gone, I felt pretty much nothing. However, what did change for me was that I had to download porn on my workplace and take the HDD home afterwards. Nobody noticed because I used our guest wi-fi but man, it does make you paranoid after a while. Constantly checking whether the speakers on your laptop are actually muted does something with your brain. It also made internet shopping and searching for warez (mostly e-books and scientific papers) more difficult because all of these things needed to be done at work and I had to make a detailed list of what to buy/download. And of course, you want to get this done quickly as to not slack off. On the positive, I did connect a little more with my hobbies. I also was able to keep work and life better seperated because I was not tempted to complete unfinished tasks from home. I would probably not do it again. The lesson for me is that the internet should be thought of as a tool and a as an outright evil, just as much as a hammer that can either be used to slam a nail on a wall or to hit on somebody's finger. The things you lose from disconnecting are not always bad things and if you have your social media and video game consumption under control already, you gain little to nothing from it.

>>24575 This is naive as hell, "break the law" types are often much richer than honest hard working people.

>>25647 I think you meant to link me, the one that responded to that poster. Rich people don't have to break the law. They control law. You're the one that's naive.

>>20972 I voluntarily stayed without internet for 8 mounts.

>>25650 His point is your chances to go poor>rich are much higher if you cheat. It doesn't have to be illegal either. Honest people dont tax evade even with legal structures for example. If you look at corporations that became big all played a rigged game. I find nvidia one of the more interesting examples. They started by copying and got sued for patent infringement, so they dragged it out til their ill gotten profits allowed them to develop patents themselves and then counter sued for settlement. Meanwhile all the honest guys go oh i dont have the rights i cant do that.

Never tried it before but gonna be moving soon and thinking about not getting internet in right away (like maybe a month or two). I have been procrastinating a lot around learning programming, reading etc. Hopefully going without internet will help me to build good habbits around doing the things I ought to be doing before going online. And to clarify - I do enjoy the other things I mentioned - it is just that once you get online it can be easy to lose hours without even realising it. In the mean time I have also been thinking about setting timers to limit my time before I have to get back to work.

Sometimes I dream of having no internet. I like when I camp in the forest and don't have it. But I need it to make money and learn new things. I can't control my use of it myself, so I think the ultimate solution will have to be joining some kind of internet-limiting IRL cult. >>24805 >I had to download porn on my workplace and take the HDD home afterwards You couldn't use your imagination to jerk off? I routinely do this for weeks on end. Paleo bate, they call it.

>>20972 I really just use the Internet to keep in touch with the outside world. My job is completely remote, and I basically live a life of solitude off the clock. Since I only immerse myself in solitary hobbies (running/cycling by myself, listening to music, programming, reading, etc.), I feel like I need some sort of communication medium with other people whenever I want to deviate from my pastimes. That is basically it -- nothing more or less than that.

>>21755 I see hundreds of people saying the internet is bad for social interaction and that it is addictive. But i see no one damning videogames or anime. I find it really hypocritical when people say the internet, porn, alcohol, etc. are bad for society because of addiction, degeneracy or whatever yet when they see someone with no hobbies other than Vidya and spending all day with videogames they defend it with "it's not time wasted if you have fun", "everything in moderation" and other normal person soykaf advice. At least the internet can teach you social skills or how to draw. I grew mostly just with videogames as a kid and it made me fuarrrking oblivious to anything in life other than beating the next Mario level. The result being having no grown marketable skills or passion for any hobbies well into adulthood.

>>29419 Who? I personally use anime memes exclusively besides shows worthy of the watch time like oregairu (anime is a cheap media, hate to admit but we all like a type of media similar to comic strips in soykafty 60s magazines), games are a bit more complicated tho. I think RPG games are really fuarrrking bad for mental health while other genres can be positive if moderated.

>>29419 As someone who used to play too much video games and now probably spends to much time socializing and browsing on the internet, I agree. My time is much better spent.

>>29419 Thats just not true. Even amon people noliving games there's acknowledgement they are wasting their lives. Anime is often excused with "i only watch on second screen while doing something productive". People know its not productive unless you want to go to niche like modding teaching kids early on how to code and design or philosophical difficult to understand anime from the 80-90s as a niche opposed to the common weeb soykaf most watch. On the other side "socializing" on the net is a meme. You dont make real friends brewing soykaf. The topics are also as worthless as vidya. Its the same topics repeating in a loop for decades with the same soykafty arguments. Social media on phones also has proven to cause adhd because it constantly disturbs you from what you are actually doing. And then it also causes depression from the daily dose of bad news. If you manage to play a game for a hour uninterrupted you most likely will be happier and less damaged than spending a hour on social media.

>>29422 I'm gonna assume from this post and what looks like your previous posts ITT, that you only started using the internet after the social media age, and that you think social media is the internet as a whole, even though stuff like Youtube, Wikipedia, PDF Tutorials, Forums, Imageboards and Textboards exist. Alright, most of these also have their garbage like Let's Players and nonfat-soykaf drinkers, but if you dig past all of that much like you would with videogames or anything else, you can find your niche and communities based around it. Which is most often things you just could never discuss with most strangers irl. >unless you go to niches like modding teaching kids early on how to code and design or philosophical difficult to understand anime from the 80-90s as a niche opposed to the common weeb soykaf most watch. And just where would these kids learn the coding languages for those games, or where to find the hidden gems of anime besides Toonami soykaf? You think the average self-centered jock-wannabe kid in highschool would care about nerd soykaf like that, and that even if they did, they would be confident enough to share that stuff with the world? You think liking specific hobbies was actually socially acceptable when the internet wasn't around? (cont.)

>>29422 >>29423 >nonfat-soykaf drinkers *sh¡tposters Jesus, these filters are giving me aut¡sm. >Its the same topics repeating in a loop for decades with the same soykafty arguments Socialization, much like anything else, can be a drug too. I've had people irl actively talk my ears off about sports or whatever normalf4g soykaf i don't give a soykaf about before the internet became accessible where i live. >If you manage to play a game for a hour uninterrupted you most likely will be happier One hour playing a game =/= Videogames being your main pasttime. Specially among adolescents and asocial people, which both tend to naturally lack self-control, you wouldn't believe how many cases i've read about of sheltered, introverted teens just going along with the vidya ride and not giving a care in the world about anything else and then feeling enormous regret after turning 18 and realizing they're entering the real world with almost no life skills, social experiences, work ethics or abilities for profitable and enjoyable hobbies. I would know because i was one of them as well. I can actually agree with you that some computing-related things were actually better before the internet, like computers being bundled with "how to program" books or videogame related stuff like cheat codes and physical media, but these things used to coexist with the internet in the early 2000's before the internet started growing into what it has become after the early 2010's, specially after smartphones took over. The internet as a concept isn't at fault.

>>29419 I hate the whole consutainment package and I only get soykaf for anime and porn. People are insanely attached to porn as if it represented human sexuality as a whole, it's quite insane.

>>29423 >>29424 I had no previous posts. The post i replied to mentioned social interaction on the net which is to me is synonym with social media in present time. So i took it as a comparison of modern social media vs modern gaming/anime. In contrast is seems you were talking about old games before internet vs internet? We should clarify the definition of social first. Personally social means the goal is the interaction with people itself. The social people are the attention whores posting memes in comments since either contributing or staying quiet is not helping their goal. In contrast posting to get information out of people puts zero interest in people. Its not done deliberate but simply due to lack of finding a solution and unless you go to boards to ask questions you wont even interact. Using guides online is merely faster than picking up the book but otherwise equally void of interaction with people. So constructive use of internet is not social. The only exception i can think of is networking/marketing. Im aware of gaming addicts. There are however also social media addicts. The only real split im aware of is gaming addicts is mostly guys, social media addicts mostly girls. The hours people waste are equal however. Both are also use the same addiction mechanic. So the only distinction i would make is the list of problems they cause in the patient which is far as i know shorter for gaming.

>>24575 >>24601 good points Anyway I've neve gone without the internet and frankly it's an addiction now. I probably have to check it for work though. You guys got any tips on doing it?

When the internet isn't available to me for some reason I end up just reading books and walking around all the time. That's generally what I did as a kid, except I couldn't walk around without parental supervision so I would play in the backyard.

I go without Internet every so often. It's nice, because I like to be alone with my thoughts. Sorting through who I am is one of my few true pleasures. I think many people who fail to separate from the Internet either have nothing better to fill their time or are too scared to be without constant connection. Always remember, if you press down on who you are, it'll bleed through the cracks in violent ways. Better to open the lid and be burnt by boiling water, than injured by the shrapnel of a steam explosion.

>>29745 >I go without Internet every so often. It's nice, because I like to be alone with my thoughts. Sorting through who I am is one of my few true pleasures. I feel the same way. I try to reflect on myself and my beliefs frequently, and disconnecting from the online media stream is the best way to do so. I keep a physical paper journal, and a digital one. I use my hardcover journal whenever I disconnect from the network to write down my thoughts. I keep the digital one to muse about less personal things, because I can easily access it if I'm browsing the web. I'm caught in the crossfire between wanting to be more integrated with the internet and it's conveniences, and wanting to rip the cables from society and return to a society that values personal relationships. I'm still searching for which of these paths I believe in more.

I never seriously concerned it. I feel like both my professional and social life require me to use it too often (some of my friends live far away, so we often hang out in VoIP) Now that I scroll through this thread and think about it though, maybe having one internet free day a week or so might be a good idea. I do have a bit of a problem with internet/video game addiction after all.

>>29745 >Always remember, if you press down on who you are, it'll bleed through the cracks in violent ways. The internet is the only place where i can be "myself". Everyone around me only cares about sportsball and money.

>>29745 >Always remember, if you press down on who you are, it'll bleed through the cracks in violent ways. This is one of the things that's almost eating me from the inside sometimes. Because I'm not a big fan of many aspects of "who I am" to put it lightly. Walking the line between trying to improve as a person, without forcefully rejecting everything that makes me who I am is quite the balancing act. And to top it all off, sometimes I'm not even exactly sure which aspects of my life I want/need to change and which can stay.

I feel that most complaints about "the internet" most apply to social media websites. Or at least the main hubs of mainstream online interaction can do far more damage than any imageboard could . There are a myriad of other problems online but social media presents its own unique mistakes. Most people in meatspace are intellectual dead-ends and generally vapid. Very few are make attempts at interaction worthwhile but these are connections that have to made selectively. Online it's far, far easier to find niche subcultures and start casual interactions. Otherwise the internet is basically a huge library. Lots of dumb soykaf, but plenty of educational resources if you know where to look. Being removed from that honestly sounds horrible. Though I'll admit that sometimes it cuts into my own productivity. >>31225 I feel this strongly. The culture just encourages it. >>31226 >forcefully rejecting everything that makes me who I am Depending on what you end up "rejecting", you'll still be you. Nothing can really change that because some people are already constantly changing. If you do reject "everything", you'll still be you since your changes are born from a deliberate choice. As long as you don't become completely subservient to someone else's will, you should do okay.

Mostly entertainment, but I remember fondly the summer when I was without internet and any form of fan or AC for 8 months. My fleshy hardware couldn't take the heat alongside the boredom from being unplugged. So I started running and cooking, I did this for 8 months just after I finished High School and was waiting for Uni to start. I lost 40kg, became happy and was proud of myself. Then I got the internet back and became depressed during my first Semester at Uni because of social isolation. Alcohol broke a lot of my healthy habits and I ended up plugging myself back into the web. My sleeping schedule became worse and I started watching porn again. I shouldn't have studied CompSci. My only real salvation is that I tricked myself into genuinely enjoying gardening and fishing. So I'll hopefully be able to unplug again soon, even if I can't do so completely because of my chosen industry.

For me, the Internet as a whole isn't much of a problem, as I mostly use it to get the information I need. I don't go on any stupid/useless websites, so it'd be pointless quitting it. The real problem are every type of instant messengers - if I log on something like Telegram (I know, I know), I might spend my whole day on talking to my friends and acquaintances about essentially meaningless stuff. Or scrolling the latest memes, which is even worse. Right now all I do to avoid wasting time is close Telegram when I have to work/study and turn off any background notification checking. The notification checking is on by default and is literally hell for my productivity. Recently, I've also decided that I'll open Telegram a fixed number of times a day, like, today it's 6 (I only used up 3 and it's evening now!).

>Have you tried? Yes, but not fully. I just block the 5 sites I'm addicted to, not the internet in general. I use the same 5 sites so much once they're blocked I dont do much online. >If you did try what have you learned? How much of the internet is white noise. This was based more off of mainstream sites, but I kind of learned that most stuff you learn online has been dumbed down insanely for the adhd masses or so niche you might as we'll get a book or watch a lecture. I also learned mainstream convos online aren't worth soykaf. The people most active online are often people to lazy to work on a hobby, not that bad, but I used the internet to learn hobbies so it left a bitter taste in my mouth, or so mentally deranged they can only convo online. I also learned the sites need you more than you need them. You might say you can't live without a certian site, but the less you use it the less you want it. >Why are you back? I just do those blocks so I get out of the habit of opening a wasteful tab when working. Also since corona hit I've had no one to talk to so I need some sites for basic socialization. Finally I gave into it. Im gonna try again to block the internet

>>21019 This really cool; in 1909 the author predicted video conferences, social media, and tech-driven isolation. Thanks for posting it.

All the time due to blackouts or my PC having some hardware problem that takes too long to fix because I'm poor.

Last year I spent almost all of it without an internet connection, only relying in my limited moble data(400mb) for communicating with friends and stuff. And while it sucked not having access to things most of the time, now that I do have internet, life feels way more tiring and fast than before.