Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

During those two weeks, my entire lifestyle changed, obviously, so it's difficult to know what changed because of that, and what was just the fact that e.g. I went from sedentary tech work to nailing salvaged roof scrap on top of the house on our farm.

But - my blood pressure dropped. I lost weight. I did a lot of reading of books. My notes are more interesting for those two weeks because they were ink on paper and I could insert drawings and diagrams wherever I wanted. They were more thoughtful and less reactive.

I fixed a mosquito zapper by sheer force of will (the capacitor was shorting across a resistor - poor design, but once I figured it out I could fix it. I'm still using that zapper today, and only shorted the capacitor out across my finger three times. Ow.) That day, I was become death, destroyer of mosquitoes.

I guess I quasi-fixed the roof on the farm house by sheer force of will, too. Had to dig the nails out of the scrap - no hardware stores open. My son considers it a formative experience.

So I didn't choose to go cold turkey, and it was only a short time, and its lifechanging nature is impossible to tease away from concurrent events, but still - anecdotally, it's probably worthwhile to try it voluntarily.

It was very insightful for me to do an introspection of how I interact with techonology and broadly with consumerism and change some aspects of it to focus on what is really meaningful to me.

[0] http://editions-hache.com/essais/pdf/kaczynski2.pdf [1] audiobook: https://youtu.be/n5ITyifcYy8

That said, a few years ago I was forced to do this because I was on a beach in Mexico with no service.

It took several days for the addiction to wear off, and I had been already ‘on vacation’ for about 2 weeks previous, just I was still plugged in.

I highly recommend detoxing from screens regularly. Many Orthodox Jews I believe do this every week, and I have often tried to get myself to do the same.

I also have rules I never break: like never answer the phone during dinner.

There’s no good way to ‘moderate’ per se. Moderation will take the form of setting small strict rules and adhering to them.

I noticed how much the screen alters perception. It's a bizarre 2d world. Completely unreal. We evolved to live in our bodies interacting with objects, but instead we end up glued to pathetic little screens, addicted to "information".

At such a retreat, you should expect to give up technology and live according to Buddhist precepts for 10 days, and one of the major claims of meditation is that it will help you unlearn bad habits related to focus and distractions, which can be carried back to the world with you once you complete the retreat.

The first couple of weeks were a little interesting but after a while you realise that if it was important then you'd hear about it eventually.

Ah, simpler times.

I wrote a how to, didn’t get any traction here on HN, so direct link:

https://www.nicholasjrobinson.com/blog/general/five-day-fast...

But in terms of ditching those things after getting used to them, it's only happened when my family went on overseas trips.

A problem for me is that the computer is not just a connection with the outside world, but has become a medium for thinking. Take away my Jupyter, and you've removed half of my brain.

But I've never used social media, so I have less to give up when I walk away from a screen. Unless this counts as social media, which it probably does in a sense.

In terms of communications, I think the biggest problem is other people's expectations. "Why do you have a cell phone if I can't call you?" They ask. People want to be able to demand your time almost instantly and they have no patience for other methods. If your timeframe for being contacted is a day or two, they just won't contact you.

So, if you do it, be prepared to be the one that needs to contact them. You're the odd person out. Nobody will follow your (to them) weird rules. It can be lonely if you aren't proactive.

Apart from that, I find that social media (especially HN these days, unfortunately) is just depressing. Someone has a bad day. They go on to whatever platform and release their stress by being crappy to someone else. People are depressed, they get some catharsis by unloading their depression on others.

I have to limit my time on HN. Strangely, I hang out on Reddit these days, but only on /r/cheesemaking, which is full of wonderful and cheerful people. For me, this is the key. It's not technology, it's people. The technology brings a lot of disparate people together and often pits you against them for the viewing entertainment of the crowd. Best not to go there, but it's not really technology itself.

In terms of stress levels for communications, I think setting limits for yourself is good. I'm actually very comfortable with being contacted with work. If you send me 100 emails an hour, I'm totally fine with it. Bury me on Slack, and it's OK. I have work habits that allow me to jump back and forth between my work and communication (took me 30 years to get good at it, mind you...) But others sink and I often see it. Communicate your limits and stick to it. If you only check your email once an hour, tell people and just do it. It will (usually) be fine, but you have to be consistent about it.

Again, IMHO, it's not about technology. It's about people. Choose to hang around people you enjoy and who give you energy. Draw defined boundaries for interactions that you can't handle and be consistent. This will give you the best benefit, I think.

I still had a phone that I was charging at the office, and still used the computer at work, but all my time at home was spent mostly laying in the cold dark (it was winter time) letting my mind wander and reflecting about life.

After a few weeks my co-workers asked me why I was not moving, and were very surprised when I told them that the situation was actually pretty nice. You get to think about so many things that you would never usually, just because you suddenly have the time to do so.

I also believe I had my best nights of sleep during those 2 months as I was not going to bed right after spending 12 hours in front of a screen.

The downside is that I have zero photos of this time and only fragments in a diary. These days I would have several thousand selfies in front of the major monuments of Europe, like everyone else. The correct number is probably somewhere between those two.

I had basically no news either. Occasionally we would spot a headline in Le Monde or the SdZ. But it was the late 90s, so hardly anything was happening anyway. I think that would be my main reason to isolate from the internet today.

I was too stressed out at one point and what worked for me was just making myself unavailable for certain periods of the day and handling emails, voice messages, phone calls, etc. in batch mode at scheduled periods of the day.

The details of how exactly you go about doing this will depend on your situation, but it’s quite doable.

I still keep it connected to home WiFi and keep Bluetooth on but without beacon scanning, and I do use it - so maybe not the most helpful response for you.

So far the only issues are that I don't get the occasional text messages that friends send. This can be mitigated by using applications like Telegram, Signal, etc., but not everyone is on those. If you had an Apple Phone then iMessage would also hugely help.

I would like to cancel my phone service completely but am not sure whether it's feasible to take that step, since many things 'require' you to have a phone number. For example creating accounts at many online services. It's also often required for government forms but in that case a human might actually be able to help you. Same thing for job applications, but in that case they might just not bother with you if you bring up this weird thing with them. As a final year college student that final one is the most worrying to me.

For a for days, it feels like my mind was emptying out - thinking of songs that were stuck in my head, working out problems that were in the back of my head, etc. Then suddenly my mind kind of quieted down and I was able to really relax in a fundamentally different way.

Coming back, it felt like life had the volume turned down. Commercials seemed even more ridiculous, obnoxious, and loud. Going back to the interrupt driven life was a bit hard, but more because it seemed so silly how stressed out everyone else is.

I felt it was really positive! Moderation might be fine, but I think the important thing for me was being unreachable, and having other people know I was unreachable. Sometimes I'll still do this for a week or two for vacation which is great, going to a national park and doing some hiking, paired with a long road trip.

For about a year, I used the Firefox developer phone with Boot 2 Gecko. It was kind of usable as a phone, but it really made me not use basically any apps apart from some lighter web use. It was surprisingly OK, for me, but sometimes a hassle.

Ever since, I have mostly gone without logging in to my social media accounts. Still am a HN junkie, though.

Lately, I have gone without a personal computer for uite some time; the last nine months or so, instead using my phone exclusively. Originally, I was hoping to be able to use Linux on DeX (with a bluetooth keyboard and a pretty decent 15" USB-C screen from Asus). It worked surprisingly well, but it was not 100% there so unfortunately, I can't quite recommend it. The point is moot, anyway, since Samsung cancelled the beta and removed the Linux on DeX functionality. I do use Termux, which is OK for a lot of things, and tried to use Andronix and similar offerings, but it's just too cumbersome. It's a bummer, because I'm pretty sure the hardware would be OK for the type of usage I need.

Another issue with the setup is that the screen charges over USB-C, so will quickly drain the phone battery. I use a qi wireless charger, which kind of works, but is kind of finicky. I still haven't found an adapter which takes USB PD and "feeds" it into the USB-C cable, ideally charging the phone and powering the screen at the same time. If anyone can give me pointers to that, I would be very grateful.

It was the happiest time of my life.

I don't think it is because I did amazing things but because small nagging feelings went away. For example, I don't need to know about the latest protests on the other side of the world. I certainly doesn't need to wake up to violent images and be shown how much the world sucks, because it steals my focus of what I should be focusing on, _myself_ and my carpe diem day (sound narcissistic I know).

I'm not a social person, but boy was it a game changer.

That said... it's very, very easy to get back into old habits and mentality. After 8 months after I returned to work I was probably the same old semi-depressed but joking me but with a little bit more hope. Also very expensive.

But for your question. I don't think there is anything wrong with computers or mobiles, it's when you get internet-access 24/7 instead of one hour per week that things start to get dicey. So I'd try to just limit that instead if possible. It forces you prioritise the things you _actually_ need from those that you don't.

After the first week of constant anxiety because it constantly felt like I had forgotten something, it was incredible, getting used to not having Google Maps at all times, and drawing up the courage to ask strangers for help with stuff like using their stores phone to call a friend who I was waiting for, for directions, etc. it was absolutely incredible.

I felt like a literal weight had been lifted off my shoulder and felt more independent and free than ever before. I explored a ton more, and had a great time overall. I was also less stressed out and did much better at work due to the significantly reduced distractions.

Of course, I was completely single at the time, which made all of this possible. I’m not sure it would be doable either when in a relationship or married.

Also, a lot of people are commenting about retreats and stuff, which also I have done and is great. However, living your normal life without being hyper connected and your face in a screen at all times (basically going back to the 90s) is a very different and refreshing experience.

In 2006 I was bike touring the US for 5 months. I got limited internet at libraries and hostels along the way. Pay phones were still a viable way to reach people; I did not carry a phone of my own.

In 2010 I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail. Pay phones were no longer a viable way to reach anybody. I got my dumbphone (I valued battery life over internet) mailed to me at Fontana Dam, NC. I got limited internet at libraries and hostels.

In both cases, I didn't miss the internet and all it provides while I was traveling. I have found that it's really easy to fall right back into the same habits when I returned. I wish I could say that either time made a lasting change in my internetting habits, but I haven't managed it.

In my case, the change was driven by the activity and environment. If you do this in your environment, I'd be curious to hear whether you can parlay the cold-turkey approach into a lasting change.

I did have access to computers for schoolwork via the computer lab, and used those to handle personal tasks as well. But it needed to be a conscious decision to head into campus and use them. A public library could serve in a similar function.

One negative thing that I vividly remember from those days was having to rely on paper maps and getting horribly lost at times. I don’t miss that at all.

Overall it was probably the biggest period of personal growth in my life. That probably had more to do with the fact that I was experiencing life in a new culture for the first time, but having no screen to retreat to probably motivated me to get out and meet more people.

I too am considering a future that is far less digital than my current lifestyle.

I had a phone and laptop with me, but no connectivity. Only way out was the satellite link the owner of the farm had. We got plenty of satellite TV channels, but no real dial out. Owner would let us plug in once a week to the sat-router and check emails / quick facebook updates, but otherwise sans connection the whole time.

Played a lot of cards, talked a lot of shit, worked a lot. Big dinners with the whole staff and the farmer's family. Not a bad experience but not a great one, either.

You seem especially triggered by focus issues. What's taking your focus away?

Is it any specific website (I'm looking at you, <social network>). How can you make it less convenient to use that website? Maybe log out every time, or block the dns, or flat out cancel your account.

Is it phone notifications, always pulling you away from the moment you're living? Disable or ignore them. It's pretty hard at first. The key for me was deciding when to direct my attention to my phone. I often put it in airplane mode and throw it in the backpack. Not having it in your pocket beeping all the time helps forget about it.

I quit facebook (and all other social networks, actually) about two years ago. I've been happier ever since. No longer comparing my (not so) hard life to that of others posting vacation pictures. Admittedly, I have recently re-created an account for work purposes. I made sure to unfollow every friend, so nothing is popping up in my feed. Nothing to look at, so I'm not spending time on facebook. It's still useful for one-to-one or group communications, but exposing one's life on it should be considered an offense...

Realistically, it's 2020. You can't get away from some tech, and probably shouldn't. Some parts of my sports actually do _require_ me to have a whatsapp account (damn you whatsapp for not respecting "do not disturb" mode!).

Also if you work in tech, well, no need to elaborate here...

Make it less convenient to waste time. Convenience is key. And turn off notifications/phones when you are busy on something else. Give your full attention to people you are talking to (and if they are on their phone, well it's their loss), other beings you are interacting with, the wind in the trees, or that movie you're watching. Whatever, but do one thing at a time.

Honestly yeah, I think smartphones have done terrible things to my focus. I periodically delete stuff off my phone that exists solely to distract me; the only social media app on my phone is a pinned webapp for the Mastodon instance I run. Sometimes I go through phases of habitually setting my phone to airplane mode when I put it back in my purse, to throw up one more little barrier to make me think "do I really want to blow half an hour fucking around aimlessly scrolling internet trash in hopes of finding something actually interesting".

Really I'm a lot happier when I'm walking along looking at the world and watching my brain disengage and think big slow thoughts than when I'm walking along with my head down, constantly buzzing with tiny thoughts spawned by sites designed to keep me scrolling as long as possible to keep their engagement numbers up so they can look like a better place to sell ads.

My primary work tool is my laptop - but I'm an artist, I don't need to be online to get most of my shit done. I like to go work out in cafes and parks, with all the radios turned off to help extend battery life - and to eliminate the ever-present distraction of the Internet. I don't envy people whose work requires a constant connection!

I don't think a period of cold turkey would be a bad idea. Who are you when you turn off that constant stream of distractions, who are you once you've stopped craving that constant distraction? If you're young enough you might have no idea of who that is. Find out. Remember what it's like to be that person as you start experimenting with letting the Distraction Machine back into your life.

Hilariously enough that €350 or so made all the difference when I got fired a month later and went two months without a job.

Anyway I suffered financially too much to be able to afford a phone for 9 months, so my means of communication was an old Nokia - it had "internet" and could just barely load HN, but always crashed soon afterwards.

The only moment I wished I had a smartphone was when I was after a 17h marathon behind the wheel and needed to check for directions in the middle of the night. I found a McDonald's which closed just mintues earlier, fired up my laptop and got just enough wi-fi time before they shut it down to find my way.

My coworkers were pretty amazed when I turned down a loaner on arrival in SF. It was a very refreshing week. I always like walking around SF but I feel that I paid more attention to everything. I still had a book I was reading so I got a lot more reading done, and made it a mission to hit a bunch of different parks while doing so.

I don’t recall even once missing it, and was sorta sad when I got home to it again. It’s amazing how quickly habits can die and take hold again.

He doesn't advocate (necessarily) for absolutely zero screens, but it offers a very practical framework for deciding what is serving you and what is harming you, and it will result in less distractions and more thoughtful interactions overall. If you are already thinking along these lines, I think you would get quite a bit out of it. (It's also not "trite" as you might expect this sort of thing to be.)

I've gone to a meditation retreat twice. First time was 5 days, second time was 3 days. Both times no electronics were allowed, so we would put them in a locker when checking in.

Another time was unintentional when I was younger - broke my phone and just decided to see how I'd fare without it. Went 2-3 weeks I think. Still had access to other tech though.

All experiences without tech have always been marvelous. If I could get away from it more regularly, I would. Lately the primary goal for my business is getting it to the point where I can completely F off for a few weeks and things still run smoothly. Hopefully I'm there in a month or two.

Anyway, in the 90's I took a year off and did volunteer work while teaching mediation and other spiritual pursuits. I recall being asked to sign in a date and looked at the person at the person at the desk and telling them I didn't even know what day of the week it was.

In the last decade I've done a number of trips with my son's boy scout troop. Multiple weeks in Canada on canoe trips, or hiking in NM. No contact with the outside world, best healing time ever.

Download every documentation you might need;

Delete every offline-capable time-waster from all your devices;

Remove your phone's SIM card (don't worry, you'll still be able to make emergency calls if such a need arises);

Unplug your internet router (and store it away somewhere inconvenient).

If you have to sync for any reason, go to a expensive coffee shop or the like that has WiFi and do your business there. You'll soon stop going so frequently because it'll hurt on the pocket.

People were always shocked when they'd hear this. "How could you possibly travel without any electronics?" They were unfazed by my response, "This is how people took vacations up until 5 years ago."

My experience was positive. When I returned to work, I'd be full of ideas and energy. But it's less convenient. To travel safely, I had to research everything I might need: directions, alternative routes, phone numbers, restaurants, sites to visit. When I landed, I needed to find an international calling card and public phones to call my loved ones. These were difficult to find 5 years ago, and I'm sure it's close to impossible now. But everything always managed to work out. In a lot of ways, it created so much more of an adventure. It put me in a lot of unfamiliar situations that I needed to reason through.

There's no way I could do this anymore. I've started to prefer unstructured vacations where I travel to cheap places on a whim. Buying last-minute tickets is so much easier with an internet connection. Also, my girlfriend would never put up with it. She'd rather just have a phone with a map. And in some ways, that's so much more sensible.

The Frailest Thing: Ten Years Thinking About the Meaning of Technology: https://gumroad.com/l/CWRfq

Michael draws from Albert Borgmann, Jacques Ellul, Hannah Arendt, Esther Dyson, Guy Debord, Ivan Illich, Daniel Boorstin, Johan Huizinga, Lewis Mumford, Neil Postman, Marshal McLuhan, Walter Ong, and many others as he explores how technology and technological idealism shapes our thoughts and actions.

I was doing different things during that period. Not much interesting sometimes—factory work, late shift. I'd sleep most of the day, go to work over night, get in around 4 AM, have a beer and taught myself mandolin and played guitar.

After a stretch of that I moved back to the city and worked in a warehouse in Film/TV and started a band with one of my old friends.

I was never completely without one, but my access was heavily limited. Other things will just fill up your time. For me: reading, music, writing, ...drinking, socializing.

What's funny is when I climbed up a few steps in my Film/TV job I was given a company iPhone which I ended up relying on solely for all of my contact information, etc. One day they decided to unilaterally rescind it because they suspected I would be leaving the company and I never retrieved my contact info for many old friends—especially after having left Facebook and all that. Won't be making that mistake again.

And then of course, growing up in rural Southwestern Ontario in the 90's saw limited access to most things computer. We just went outside a lot. I enjoy what I do, but I really miss that last part...

I read more, programmed more (rewrote one of my favorite video games), swam more, and started weight lifting (I can now squat 225 lbs now, and deadlift 315 lbs). I participated in low bandwidth discussion forums more, like Hacker News, and learned that civil online discourse is still a thing in 2018/2019.

So, I mean, life is out there, and sometimes sic accidentally sic culling your addictions before you realize they're addictions is an important first step. As for where I am now, I have since fled this city after COVID became pronounced, and I once again have the usual amenities - like WIFI - but my brain chemistry is fundamentally different. I now would rather program my own projects after work, or go for a walk in the park, or read some fantasy novel. I no longer binge netflix or youtube.

I've seen an improvement in physical health and productivity, as well as a noticeable increase in "pleasure" from doing work.

This shift has led me to believe that videogames, atleast for me, were a net negative. I will still hop on Steam to chat with friends, but I don't feel the addictive pull to play that i did in the first few months.

I lived more fully in the moment around me at times, and at others I receded into imagination and thought in almost a trance. The tangibility of reality became unavoidable for much of the day, and as a result of that when it was possible to recede and rest my mind, it was a deeper experience.

In fact both avenues are so overplayed it betrays and reveals for what it is: a desperate need to be seen and taken seriously, which is why we're blowing more time talking about it here. What's going over there such that this became a real conversation?

If you wanna blow off computers for a while, for God sakes just do it and stop soliciting attention. You want to go cold-turkey on drugs, alcohol, girl-friends, job, computer, ... join the club: it's going on all the time. A revolution? Try MLK for but one relevant example. When did routine become such a big ask?

My take on it was that being completely off the grid was a bit annoying- its nice to completely detach, but literally having no idea what is going on at home, especially if you are in a non-english speaking country, its a bit disconnecting, in a somewhat bad way. All in all though, a few days in you don't even think about emails or FB or anything like that and its really freeing.

Having wifi at just the hotel was actually really nice- We went and did our stuff during the day, and at night- either before bed or freshening up for dinner- you get a quick update on whats going on in the world. You are detached but not isolated.

Wifi hotspots being ubiquitous- its kind of annoying- that constant "pull" to get an update is still always there. Instead of enjoying the view of the piazza, you are checking FB, quelling anxiety about what emails might be there (however silly that is), etc...

And tbh- I actually have a preference for places without ubiquitious connectivity these days. The demands of work are ever increasing- its really nice to have that hard switch to say no I am not available, its not possible for me to be available and not feel apologetic over it. I am literally off the grid- it really lifts a lot of that burden and anxiety off me anyway.

I am far away from my home so I can't go without having phone at all. I have not seen movies for six months as part of... you can call it a challenge.

I am sure the other side has benefits in this is "way of Luddite", but goodies I think you get is:

* You got to make your time to fool around.

When you have so many other things where just go and have fun being a passive observer, it is really really easy to do so. But, if you remove those options it is really a free time.

It is free in the meaning you have no idea what to do with it.

I spend that time reading, learning math, writing posts (just for my team mates, I am not good at it). That had been really helpful for me because I am a mess and get easily distracted.

I can really go back and do those things where I am passive part of, but I want to keep it like this : I want to make time for that. It is just not the default setting.

These things I put around me, to organize myself. Hope this helps.

[Edit: formatting changes and some points]

If I were to summarise, I'd say that the overarching theme (and there may be some selection bias here) is that while it is impossible to disconnect completely and indefinitely, there is clear value is doing it from time-to-time in order to step back and recontextualize one's relationship with technology - whether that is through travel, religious practice, external circumstances or a purposeful choice to limit tech usage.

Will definitely be trying a few of the suggested strategies in the short-term to cut back on distractions, but I'm keen to see if I can "engineer" a more long-term break from my phone and computer in the near future.

Thanks for the discussion HN!

I just gave a heads up at work that I was going really offline, so I was unreachable even for emergencies.

I don't think I missed it at all.

You just need to focus on other activities.

It's really thrown into contrast the temptation of quickly flicking on a mobile phone or work laptop to check something. There's a mental geographic context as well — I have to go to a specific place to do a specific task, and it can't follow me round the house. It also makes the work / life boundary a little bit clearer.

It's a little inconvenient, but the whole point is to underline the trade-off of that convenience. A week in and I'm tangibly feeling the benefit.

To the original point, I'm parted from my computer for hours rather than days, but it still helps.

I would start by making a list of what you think are critical uses of tech, and work on trimming that list down until all that's left is almost impossible to do analog. You'll probably need to buy stamps and a good map, and learn to memorize phone numbers. Film cameras are cheap but getting processing and printing can be an expensive hassle.

I'm still wondering if search engines have replaced encyclopedias and libraries to the point that knowledge is lost or inaccessible without the Internet. I hope not, I don't believe "online is forever", too many sites and records just fade away when a book can last hundreds of years (or burn up in minutes, true).

You might say this means my comments are irrelevant, since I'm talking about growing up without these things instead of giving up these things. However, it does lend perspective to my next statement.

Going without a phone or computer for days or weeks at a time doesn't faze me. I haven't tried going months without either one since the early 2000s, though.

In my day-to-day life, I stop using digital devices entirely around 8:00 PM, which is about two hours before I sleep. I also don't start using them until 7:00 AM, which is an hour or two after I wake up.

Every ~5 years or so, we ditch the universe for a month, and live, rather happily without computers, phones, and email. The reality is that a computer is no more or less of a tool to me than a hammer or a basin wrench. It just happens to be the tool with which I make my living.

Another interesting thing to do is instead of giving up your phone, remove all the apps you usually use and commit for a week to only using apps and websites you've never used before. Similar effect.

I put away my computer and my phone is only used for emergency calls from family and close friends. I don't watch any TV or play any video games. No glowing screens.

I read. I paint. I work with hand tools and build wooden boxes and shelves. I nap. I read some more. I play with my kids. I teach them about woodworking, birds, ants, and gardening. And sip wine late into the night with my partner.

Programming will always be there. It can wait while I recharge.

So, a week without..

The main thing I learned was that when using the computer, I was using it too much. Even at work as a programmer, it turns out you do not need to spend most of your time in front of a computer coding. A bit more thought outside of the digital world can allow your ideas to form clearer, and then it takes far less time to code it.

I often found myself scrolling through apps. I didn't have any control on myself. It impacted my sleep etc. etc.

It was a bit helpful while it lasted but people where quite surprised when i told them i didn't have a phone.

I ended up wasting my time on my mac rather than on my phone.

Last weekend I didn't use my phone or my mac for 24 hrs. It was liberating. Highly recommend it.

Do note that I didn't have a professional life at the time which made this much simpler.

That said, I would need some way to at least make sure my family is ok, when I'm away from them.

If this experience counts then I can say that I cannot remember being happier or less distracted back then.

The reduction in stress and increase in my happiness is quite profound. My stress levels are noticeably lower than on a typical holiday, and far lower than my normal levels. I attribute this partly to the lack of internet, and partly to the experience of being "close to nature". Possibly it is also the quiet and dark nights that lead to great sleep.

I don't think there is any change in my focus (which is quite poor). I read more than I usually do, but maybe that is just because there is no internet to read.

One other interesting factor is the air. The air is much fresher feeling. When I return to civilisation on the trip home, the air makes me feel sick. Eventually I adapt, or stop noticing how disgusting the polluted air is (and how loud car traffic is). I wonder if the air quality influences my mood at all.

During the voyage home, there is a point at which the data signals return. This leads to an amusing deluge of notifications on our phones. The most amazing thing is how little I care about any of it.

Normally I check notifications often. I sometimes even find myself checking my phone out of habit when there is no notification.

Similarly, I don't care at all that I missed 10+ days of activity on HN and Reddit. Why is it, then, that normally I feel like I have to check every day or I am somehow missing out?

Based on this, I think you will find it becomes easier to live without technology the longer you go without.

If you want to see someone who has taken this to an extreme, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir-s8KRN97Q

* In the past, there was no cellular service at all, but it seems that new towers were erected close enough to the property that it is possible to get a signal. In any case, it is not such a bad thing in case of emergencies.

I returned home refreshed, and it showed in my day-to-day focus. Though I find this in all adventures, so I’m not sure if it’s related to screens.

On an iPhone don't sign into icloud, press and hold and delete anything with an X.

hmmm. crap. You can't uinstall safari. Just put it in a folder and don't use it.

Buying notebooks to write in, and books to read, and a radio to listen to, helped.

From birth to age 12.

My technological monasticism was aided by the era, since the period of time we're talking about was 1970 to 1982.

When the company was +-10 years old and quite successful a European investment firm came along and started discussions to acquire a share in the company.

I've been thinking of exiting at that point already (wanted to relocate my family to another country) so it was a very fortunate happenstance; I discussed it with my colleagues before and this was my chance, and I was taking it.

After a 9 month handover and training my replacement period I sold all my shares, took my family on holiday, and went completely off-grid for just over 8 weeks.

By off-grid I mean we went to a place with no internet, no phone, a single solar panel powering a few LED lights, a gas digester powering the stovetop, oven, and fridge, solar-heated water, and lots of open space and a sea breeze at night.

After 10 years of working at least from 8h00 to 19h00 weekdays and a few hours every weekend it was jarring. The first three weeks was a mental shock; it felt like my brain was almost "clogged" and not forming thoughts properly, almost like your ears feel when getting water in them.

Reaching for your phone only to have it do nothing stimulating because there is no signal was really difficult to get used to - but it highlighted how often I used gadgetry to pep my energy levels.

By the third week we did start getting into the rhythm a bit more: going to farmers to buy food very early morning, attending a nearby town's Saturday morning market for other bits and bobs, walking to the various neighbours to chat etc.

Our day was fairly full and structured, e.g. we'd have the kids gather wood early mornings, then walk to the beach (about 4km walk), spend some time there, come back, shower outside, prep food, do a late afternoon walk (mostly to a neighbouring farm or two), chat days away.

We had another burst of under-stimulation/restlessness around 6 weeks, and we started driving to a nearby library to get some books for a little more mental engagement. Around the 8th week we started craving "normal" living a little, missing the extended family, and more, so decided our time off the grid was done.

We hired a houseboat, spent a few nights on it, and then slowly drove a rambling 2000km back home over 6 days.

If you can find a place devoid of cell service and internet I can recommend it - and I still am very cognizant of how easy it is to use phones / laptops / etc to lose hours of your life every day.

I also think my addiction to technical stimulation was related to the constant stream of novel content - I felt less like reaching for a device after I internalized that it doesn't have something new that I can consume.

Using these devices mainly for creating rather than consuming is less problematic, and less addictive (for me at least) and I still try to focus on creating rather than consuming content when I use my digital devices. Fully aware of the irony of posting that sentence in a social site ;)

I moved to a new country and there were a couple of barriers that prevented me from getting a phone right away. I decided to forgo the opportunity when it finally arose. I kept a kindle fire, a notebook and pen, and a cheap digital camera on me at almost all times. I can't recommend it enough.

When going new places I studied the location on google maps before leaving home. Instead of getting out my phone to find a place I had to ask for directions. Instead of googling for new places to try out I just walked around and discovered things for myself. Fortunately this was very walkable city. Keeping track of my surroundings mentally was stimulating, and I developed a great sense of direction. I challenged myself to keep track of North at all times (surprisingly easy in a city with streets laid out on a grid).

The language barrier was crazy, but without the ever present distraction of a phone I was able to learn so much. There was no "let me get out my phone and translate this" option, I was forced to learn. I did have a kindle fire that had wifi capabilities, which I used occasionally to send emails in a pinch, but this was few and far between. I kept Anki SRS on it and in those moments that fall in the cracks of life I was studying language flash cards or reading a grammar guide.

When I made plans with friends we had to arrange details ahead of time, usually via email or any one of the messenger apps you can use on a PC. This may have seemed like an inconvenience but it inadvertently introduced more structure to my life. I can remember only twice that my lack of phone made meeting up really difficult, but both times we eventually found each other.

I read so many books in those two years. The order imposed on my life by having to plan ahead, along with removing the distraction of a phone, supercharged my reading time. There were Friday nights where my friends had beer without me because they couldn't get a hold of me, but if I really wanted to I could have reached out.

Anything that I really needed to remember, I just wrote in a notebook. I didn't keep an app for my budget or diet, I just wrote everything down. The act of writing these things down made more mindful about how I spent money and ate food, I didn't need analytics from an app to help make decisions any more.

It seems like you lose a lot of convenience, but what you gain back is so much more valuable. My mind felt clear, when I look back on those years I don't remember all those things I wished I could have googled on the spot. I remember being completely engaged by my surroundings. I understand that living in a foreign country is the thing I look back on so fondly, but the no-phone situation was the music the play was set to. I can't recommend it enough.

Nowadays I can't even finish a book.

I'm not sure how relate-able that experience is because I was an only child and I was alone a lot. I'm sure most people (aka people with siblings) never get bored enough to re-read a book from scratch.

I guess I would say the good thing about the internet is that there's now a never ending stream of things to learn. The bad thing is that now I have lack of focus.