DaveOlson.ca

“Suddenly You Could Hear Screams Coming from the Pool”

Published on May 29, 2007, by DaveOlson in Technology.

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The water swirls around me as my flailing arms reach frantically for something… anything… to support my sinking body. With lungs screaming for air, I desperately try to keep my head above the boiling water but I am sinking. Slowly but surely I am sinking!

My Internet Connection is DOWN!

Okay… maybe I’m being a LITTLE melodramatic but I was disconnected for over a week and honestly… it made life quite difficult. I am one of those who depends on having electricity, heat and the internet. I can actually deal with cell phone outage more easily than no INTERNET!

How about another metaphor?

My voice is a hoarse whisper that is not heard… my silence communicates thoughts and ideas that I do not have. The trackbacks on DaveOlson.ca aren’t working. I can scream loudly but my voice doesn’t carry past my own blog.

I have become so attached to certain forms of communication that I don’t know how I ever lived without them.

Do you ever wonder what life would be like without technology?

Here’s a few questions for you? How many of your relationships are dependent on technology to support them? What could you do to make them less technology dependent? It’s important to freely move between Web 2.0 and Face 1.0 (and I’m not talking about Facebook here). Or is it?

How about a nice walk with your spouse or significant other? Free from the distractions of phone calls and IM.

What about a visit that isn’t virtual?

That friend you haven’t spoken to in a while… stop in and see him/her. Physically!

You know what happened last week? My wife and I talked more. I walked a little more. I drank coffee with some friends.

(begin scary music….. deep male voice reads slowly)

“What would happen if your internet went down?”

Care to share your thoughts?

11 Comments.

Tags: unplugged

http://www.todayisthatday.com/blog/ Aaron M. Potts

Dave,

Ya know, I have often wondered this myself. Since I work almost exclusively online, I would certainly have to find something else to do for a living.

However, in exchange, I would spend A LOT more “face time” with people in the 3-dimensional world, and I would enjoy that. Working online totally rocks and I built a business around that model for a reason. However, it does lack the personal touch that you get from actually going outside!
DaveOlson

Aaron…

It has really amazed me, how deep online relationships can become. However they do lack as you have pointed out. Somehow the internet is not just another communication tool. It’s a lot bigger than that.

Here’s to you not having to find another line of work!
http://www.versacreations.net Vivienne Quek

Before I blog, I was not addicted to the cyberworld. Visitng your blog alone takes me to the faraway lands that I sometime lost myself and forgot to return to the real world. I would say another 5 minutes but it’s usually another 50 minutes or more. I likely go into cold turkey if I’m offline for more than a day or 2. I almost forgot to stop to smell at the flower, smile at the clear blue sky and read those wonderful books that are collecting dusts on the shelf.

PS: Hope you visit my blog post on “Internet is all about people”. You had contributed to it a reality.
DaveOlson

Vivienne… It can certainly be very addicting. Nicest thing about a computer is it still comes with a power button.

I did read your post. It’s awesome to see that much money raised in such a short time. The power of many with one cause.
http://www.imaginif.com.au Megan Bayliss

Hi Dave
I know that if my online went off-line, my darlings would all jump for joy and insist that I join the nightly pillow fights. Computers are so much safer than child and husband driven pillows masquerading as soft, fluffy items of sleep invitation!!!!
I’ll get the tech in tomorrow to save me from pillow slaughter.
DaveOlson

Megan… that’s a tough one.

Headline: Young Family Survives Pillow Slaughter: Rescued by Computer!
http://smartwealthyrich.com/ Jonathan-C. Phillips

Internet Down? yeah I’d feel pretty weird! Thank god there’s a Starbucks café close to my place (free wi-fi) I hate hosting problems more than Internet access problems. If the folks hosting my blogs are having a problem, that is bad! hehe

Spending a week without an internet connection would maybe be an interesting experiment (I don’t wish for that though!), I live without TV since about 4 years, and it’s great, but you can’t really have a conversation with your TV lol
DaveOlson

Jon… hey how do you get free wifi at Starbucks? They all charge for wifi around here. You must be living better than me.

Interesting that you don’t have TV. What brought about that decision?
http://smartwealthyrich.com/ Jonathan-C. Phillips

I thought all Starbucks had free wi-fi! actually, starbucks is one of the few that don’t charge for wi-fi around here (and it’s always crowded too!)

Well, I decided to stop watching TV because I simply couldn’t find anything interesting (to me), and wanted to “change things” a little, and realized that if I cut the time spent watching TV it would give me sooo much more time to do other things (such as playing guitar), at first I just cut down a little on the hours spent in front of the TV (like from 10-12 hours a week, to 4-5 hours a week), and soon after I realized I didn’t miss TV at all. I can sit down and watch a good movie, and I love that, but watching sitcoms, news, tv shows, I tried recently to sit down and watch “something” but after like 10 minutes I was starting to feel all weird and said to myself “hey my guitar is there… why not play?”, I think what killed it for me was “too much reality shows”, I do have a TV, but rarely turn it on, only when I have guests over, or wanna check out much music or mtv, but then again, 10 minutes max, and seriously I’m not even watching it during those 10 minutes
DaveOlson

So much for brand consistency. I’m moving to Quebec!

I guess not watching TV is one of the things that makes you so SMART.
http://smartwealthyrich.com/ Jonathan-C. Phillips

hehe! yeah well now i have to focus on the “wealthy” and “rich” parts lol