2 Weeks Without Internet

It is truly incredible how much we have come to rely on technology to keep our lives moving forward. For the last couple of weeks, Isaac and I were able to have a taste of just how dependent we are when we found ourselves without internet. We were previously sharing with our neighbors, but when they got a job in Salt Lake and quickly moved, we were left to provide internet options for ourselves. We didn't think that it would be too difficult to live for a while without internet, after all, we don't exactly spend hours and hours surfing the web. We are aware that we do probably spend more time than is necessary online, and maybe this would be a good way to get away from that habit.

It was a strange couple of weeks, in which I began to feel rather isolated from the rest of the world. I wondered how that could be? After all, I was still living in the world, surrounded by other people, going about my normal day to day activities---still, I felt as if I had no idea what was happening around me.

As isolated as it felt to not have internet, it was also strangely enjoyable. We found that the time that we might have wasted on the computer was spent with each other talking and doing fun activities. I do not mean to say that by having internet we never talk or do anything together, but there was just something unique about the past two weeks together that made me feel a little bit closer and more connected to my husband. Also, when I needed to get a hold of someone, instead of writing an email, I called instead. I would like to say that the whole calling thing was really easy and from now on I am always going to call, but that is not the truth. In fact, I have become so accustomed to writing emails that making a simple phone call was actually very difficult for me. I felt awkward and shy on the phone and during the whole call wished that I had internet and could have just written a small note.

As I look back over my experiences in the past two weeks, this internet free experience made me a little wary that I am moving on a path away from real human relationships towards those that have no lasting value. The fact that making a small phone call was even a little difficult for me, made me realize that I am not doing very well at developing interpersonal skills and learning how to work with other people and build real human relationships. Sure, I am learning them to a certain extent at school and work, but technology seems to be pushing our world further and further away from those real human contacts and relationships to much more trivial ones. And I am quite guilty of over-texting and emailing, and not taking the time to meet new people and build as many relationships as I wish that I would have.

In the May 2009 CES fireside David Bednar gave an incredible talk warning of the dangers of living in a virtual reality and not actually seeing "things as they really are" (Alma 32:35) He says, "Sadly, some young men and women in the church today ignore things as they really are and negelct eternal relationships for digital distractions, diversions and detours that have no lasting value"

"Today I raise an apostolic voice of warning about the potentially stifling, suffocating, suppressing, constraining impact of some kinds of cyberspace interactions and experiences upon our souls."

"Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrosed in pixels, texting, earbuds, twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and the internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person to person communication. Beware of digital displays and data in many forms of computer mediated interaction that can displace the full range of physical capacity and experience...If you and I are not vigilent, we can become "past feeling" as did laman and lemuel long ago (Nephi 17:45)."

(The talk can be found at http://byub.org/talks/transcripts/ces/2009/5/ces200953-3543.pdf if you get a chance to read it, it will be well worth your time.)

I certainly don't want to become past feeling nor do I want to be counted in that category of those who let thier real friendships deteriorate and become replaced with facebook ones.
Although I felt isolated without the internet during the past couple of weeks, maybe the real truth is that by using the internet excessively, that is true isolation. It is a much sadder exsistence in which one becomes isolated in their own virtual world and stuck staring at a computer all day. One in which no one talks to each other across campus anymore because they are all listening to their headphones--alone.

This doesn't mean that I won't ever get on email, check facebook, or listen to my ipod on campus again, but from this experience I do have a renewed determination to spend less idleing time online, to step outside my comfort zone and make new friends, keep relationships alive, and to see things "as they really are"... which will start with me closing my computer right now and spending the rest of the day doing things of greater worth.