Sun dog detoxification
Although my occasional commenter The Marquis mentioned internet detoxification earlier this week, this is not a direct response (or even a subtweet) to his comment. He had been listening to an NPR article about the subject. I did indeed detox a bit last weekend and his comment got me musing.
Almost every place I go, I am drenched in internet connectivity. I can (and do) check email, facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and what few *real* blogs still exist (via a feed). I like blogs (obviously) but a lot of folks have abandoned their blogs for facebook, which isn’t a blog and all too often is just a place for people to carelessly “share” content other people have created.
An aside: I am intrigued by the idea of Snapchat but last summer C*Q*L was flipping through filters and I accidentally got into the frame with her and it turned us into aminals of some sort with big green eyelashes and pig noses… Um, hmmm… C*Q*L hummed along and moved to the next filter. I moved my head out of the frame. Maybe not. Butchya nevah know…
If I get it right (and I may be wrong), a lot of folks in the Tahq area do not *want* ubiquitous cell phone service, like the 4G or the LTE or whatever. I am sure that most of those folks have internet access in their homes. As of a few years ago, we’ve been able to get good cell service in the small but beautiful town of Paradise but once you start driving west to Tahq, the service goes away.
I was okay without internet service when we were at Tahq last weekend. I didn’t miss email (mostly spam). I didn’t miss facebook. I DIDN’T MISS TWITTER (my main news source). I had a few xwords stacked up in case I couldn’t download the newest one. I read almost everything on my phone and so I had downloaded a few books pre-trip in case I finished my book. I didn’t 🐽 but I was prepared. I mainly missed the internet when I wanted to google something or check the weather (no need to check the traffic where we were 🐽).
We schlepped down into Paradise for the internet on Saturday but on Sunday I didn’t really care. I didn’t really ever catch up with everything internet on Monday when we got back on the grid but nothing much happened while we were gone so that was okay.
The only thing is… If there is no cell service and you are trying to meet up with folks at Tahq, it is soooo difficult to find them. Yeah, I know, you can make plans ahead of time. But I’m thinking of Surprise Appendectomy Weekend a few years back, when we needed to connect with our beach urchins about where we were and how they could meet with us and we could not.
Can y’all see the sun dog in the photoooo? This was north of Gaylord and the driving was still awful. It did improve.
February 15th, 2018 at 12:00 am
I’ve gotten quite spoiled with internet everywhere, and I can finally get from Point A to Point B with Google maps on my phone. I also like going off the grid sometimes. But mostly when I’m with other people. When I’m by myself, I tend to check FB and my email much too frequently.