Tomorrow is my birthday. I will turn 38 years old, which is old enough to have been “legal” for two decades. As a present to myself, and a kind of personal experiment, I will be completely offline tomorrow from midnight-to-midnight inclusive. This means:
- I will not be checking email
- I will not be checking Facebook, Twitter, blogs, news feeds
- I will not be going online whatsoever
I will answer my phone, if I hear it ring, but I won’t be carrying it around with me. If you want to get a hold of me tomorrow, your best bet will be to call the house phone. If you don’t know the number, send me an email before midnight tonight, and I’ll send it to you.
Why do this? I’m curious to see how well I can survive without the Internets, even for a day. I find that in moments that used to be consumed by idle thought, I am browsing online: in elevators, walking to the car, in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. You get the picture. I am curious as to what a day would be like where I take a “rest” from the Internets. My birthday, falling on a Saturday, seems like a perfect opportunity.
Of course, I’ll blog about the experience on Sunday.
And just a reminder to all my friends and family in L.A., I head out your way first thing Monday morning.
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I am amused that a dedicated atheist such as yourself will be doing this experiment on the Jewish sabbath… 🙂
What I find about staying off the Internet for that twenty-five hour period is that it allows me to connect with local friends in real life. It’s also a good time to catch up on my print material reading. And to play with the kids, of course.
And happy birthday!
If it were not for the fact that my birthday falls on a weekend this year, I might not be doing the experiment at all. We have friends coming into town Saturday evening, so I will get to do some catching up. As far as print material reading, I feel like I am constantly treading water to keep up with NEW SCIENTIST, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, ANALOG and ASIMOV’S. Truth be told, I think most of the day will be spent cleaning the house.
Thanks for the birthday wishes!