Time is one thing we can’t buy. So why do we waste so much of it tweeting about The Great British Bake Off, reblogging cat GIFS on Tumblr and sharing with our Facebook BFF’s that we’re never drinking again? I was recently challenged to give up the internet for 24 hours, and as the founder of a music magazine (Venture Mag), being away from my emails and the internet for one whole day seemed like an impossible task. Would people get mad if I didn’t respond to their emails? What if I missed some important news or the chance to interview someone far cooler than myself? I was already risking so much for such a short amount of time offline.*
The IPG Mediabrands agency has found that in the past year, there has been a 34 per cent rise in the number of people who use their smartphones to manage their social media profiles. This was another thing that I hadn’t taken into account, not only was I going to have to step away from my Macbook, but also my iPhone. After becoming increasingly in-tune with the various notification sounds of an incoming email, a mention on Twitter or a message on Facebook, turning off notifications made my world seem incredibly silent.
With that in mind, before I officially signed out of the internet world I made sure I had everything prepared. The following morning’s website posts were ready to go live alongside pre-scheduled tweets, and a colleague had offered to take over the companies Facebook page. I was feeling confident that the internet-free day ahead would be a breeze, but of course I was wrong.
When 9am the following morning hit, chaos ensued. I was booted out of my regular routine of catching up on emails with a cup of tea in hand, to sitting on the sofa inflicting Jeremy Kyle upon myself. According to The Relevancy Group’s 2013 survey, 60 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Some of the most watched YouTube videos are music videos so apart from the 1,200 hours of potential cat videos I was missing out on, I was already wondering which band had debuted their next music video. Being disconnected from the internet felt strange. And this is when I decided to do something about it.
What To Do When You Find Yourself Without Internet
If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of being internet-less, not to worry as I have combined a handy little list of things that you can do that don’t require a router or 3G connection.
- Do all of those things you’ve been telling yourself that you’re going to do for the past few weeks. I finally got round to sourcing some new recipes (they were from cookbooks) while listening to the new album releases that had begun to pile up on the edge of my desk.
- Cause havoc in the kitchen by trying your hand at those new recipes you’ve just found. You can’t go wrong with cookies, trust me. Also, just because I didn’t post them on Instagram, doesn’t mean I didn’t make and eat them. I did.
- Talk to people, and rediscover your social skills. Ask every you see for one piece of advice and see what they come up with.
Aside from making cookies and listening to music, I spent my internet free time fairly productively. I ticked many things off my to-do list and found that I’d swapped my newsfeed for a chapter of ‘Catching Fire’ (the second instalment of The Hunger Games). I had practically forgotten all about the internet by the afternoon, but I did wonder what people were getting up to in 140 characters or less. Maybe that’s because according to Nielsen, us Twitter users send 400 million tweets collectively a day, #oops.
Before I knew it 9pm was upon me, and I realised how nice it was to not constantly be “in demand.” Yet when the Wi-Fi bars lit up, it was if by magic that my emails flooded in and my phone starting buzzing for at least fifteen minutes.
As a music magazine owner, I rely on the internet to source news and stay connected. If you’re wondering whether I missed the internet? Of course I did. But being offline gave me a new perspective. My business could not operate without the internet, it’s too impractical and would create unnecessary obstacles, but we are not only what we do. Just because I run a magazine which needs to be online constantly, doesn’t mean that I need to be tied to the internet. Emails can be saved for another day and turning on that “do not disturb” mode will ensure I get a full nights sleep. I can survive without the internet, even if my business cannot.
Words: 819
*This post is specifically for a university module that I was asked to post.
I'm so happy to see people willingly give up internet/social media on their own. I give up social media (okay, I still keep Instagram because I love taking photos) during Lent season and that first few days are usually the hardest because I'm so accustomed to logging onto Facebook and Twitter to dig up gossip from peers and see what's going on. But during the time of Lent, I have no idea what's happening with other people so whenever I meet up with my friends, I'm usually the one saying.. "what?! really?!" and my invitations to events drops down (because suddenly my friends seem to forgotten that I still have a cellphone to keep in touch). All in all, after Lent is over, stepping away from social media is so refreshing, got a lot done and then you realize how pointless social media can be.
ReplyDeleteI think it's so interesting that you give up social media for Lent. I bet it's definitely hard for the first few days! I think your right, sometimes it can be so pointless but other times it's very helpful!
DeleteI can give up social media with NO problems.. it's the internet that's hard. I need Google in my life to answer all of my random questions haha. Answers for everything and my spell checker, dictionary, etc !!!
ReplyDeletei couldnt survive my job is on the net couldnt live without it x
ReplyDeleteLove this topic and what you had to say about it Bekka! Breaking free of the internet has been a huge part of my life. Letting go of Facebook, Twitter and Google+ have actually made me more connected. I've thought of calling the internet company and saying I don't want internet and if it weren't for my husband requiring it for us to pay the bills I would. Because then I'd just go to the library and it would force me to only go when I really had or wanted to share something.
ReplyDeleteRecently I've made a rule where I only get on in the afternoons to early night and the impact has been amazing. I plan to write on it. It's just really refreshing to see more people like you who 'get it' not that it's a thing one must get but that sometimes it's hard to convey the benefits of letting go of the internet at times.
It actually only came about because we were challenged at university to do it, and as I said social media not so much a problem, but the internet itself is something I do think I need - just sporadically. It's so cool that you got rid of a lot of social networks, and I'm glad it's been refreshing to restrict your time. You've probably become more connected and more creative because of it!
DeleteThis is a really interesting challenge, I'd love to try it out and see how much more productive I become. There are so many projects and chores that I end up neglecting because I'm sitting on reddit with the internal mantra of "just one more page" or "well this title looks interesting, I'll check this last one and maybe a few comments and then get on with what I'm supposed to" and before I know it, it's 3am and I am continuing the cycle of sleep deprivation haha!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm sitting here typing this response when I should be eating my sandwich that I ordered which is getting cold. It's too addictive for sure.
Ha Nicole, I definitely agree that I end up falling into the trap of checking one more thing and then before I know it it's a ridiculous hour. I hope you ended up getting your sandwich before it got too cold!
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