Here I am on magnificent Bainbridge Island again. The temperature is about seventy. The skies clear. Flowers are blooming everywhere. Deer are frolicking in my back yard. And what am I doing? I am typing this.
Earlier this morning I was checking Drudge, my email, Twitter, Facebook and PJM, not necessarily in that order. Then I had a quick peek at the WSJ and the Financial Times.
I’m supposed to be on vacation. Frankly, I should have my head examined. In this modern world, we are too wired to relax. The Internet has murdered vacation.
I know, you’re saying, shut the damn thing off. But I can’t. I’m addicted.
For some people, it’s crack. For others, alcohol. Still others can’t get enough bacon cheeseburgers. But I’m on Wi-fi, 3G, 4G, whatever G… forever.
And worst of all is “social media.” Whoever gave it that name? It’s anti-social, in the extreme. Not only does it discourage talking to another human being personally, it’s put an end to looking at the world around us. Goodbye Wordsworth, goodbye Shelley, goodbye nature in general.
Yesterday, while walking through what’s known locally as the Grand Forest, an awesome agglomeration of Douglas fir and cedars with little creeks and bridges out of Hobbit-land, instead of staring at the wonders around me, I was mesmerized by the screen of my iPhone, answering a never ending stream of tweets, emails, not to mention alerts, one reminding me that I was in the Grand Forest and the GPS was on.
So what am I to do, dear reader? What is the cure? Every time I consider going cold turkey, I am flooded with “what ifs”? What if the stock market crashes? What if Israel bombs Iran? What if Obama resigns in favor of Sarah Palin? If I’m not fully wired, I will be the last to know. And I’m the CEO of a media company!
So I’m trapped. Maybe in the future this will be even simpler. We won’t have a choice. Our connectivity will be implanted in our brains. We will be wired from birth. Everyone will know everything all of the time.
How relaxing that will be. Who needs vacations?
Give your phone to your wife.
and learn to fish…
Suggestion #!: Go somewhere with no internet or cell service.
Suggestion #@: Just do it. Shut it off and go do something non-virtual. Chances are, nothing is going to happen of note in the next week or two, and if it does, you’ll hear about it anyway.
But don’t worry. We can put everything on centralized servers with “cloud computing” and have civilization destroyed when the Internet crashes! Should be fun.
Typical American – you need a vacation from your vacation.
I suggest Rinjani Caldera on the island of Lombok. If you can get down into a lava tube maybe it’ll shield you from the satellites and no one cares if you leave graffiti.
I don’t yet have an iPhone, but I can imagine that it can be a problem.
My cousin has a country house in the Italian Appennines with no phone reception: you might consider an option like that.
To address your specific concerns:
A stockmarket crash isn’t going to bankrupt you unless you trade in derivatives; and in any case you can’t do anything about it, once it’s happened.
Similarly, you can’t do anything about Israel bombing Iran (or vice versa), or Obama resigning; and if you are on vacation, you are not obliged to comment on it.
Nope.
When I go on vacation, the only devices I take are a cell phone and a Kindle. On my last vacation to the Florida Keys, I didn’t log on to anything for over a week!
Leave the computer at home. Use the cell phone to keep track of your Significant other (or as an alarm clock or reminder – be at the club at by 8:30 or loose your seat!). Read the Kindle while relaxing on beach.
My boss at a high-tech company informed the meeting that I was going on vacation, and that I was going someplace that didn’t have phones. I corrected him. “I’m going somewhere they don’t have a WORD for phone.”
Thanks Roger. It’s official. The laptop stays home when the family and I cabin in the North Georgia mountains this September. The forest, rivers and my kids are much more important than PJM.
I spent the largest part of the 4th of July, sitting in a deck chair, by the shore of Canyon Lake … my daughter’s insistance, that she wanted to spend the holiday in the water. So … we did take the cellphones, but left them in the car. I had a stack of books to read for reviews, so I read, she swam, and occassionally got the dog to swim in the lake with her. Internet cold-turkey — it’s not actually that painful.Just take it in little steps.
Peter F Hamilton’s “Commonwealth” series imagines just such a time for being wired even before birth — not just electronically, but also implanted with “gaiamotes” that allow one access to an energy field that makes each person an empath — constantly broadcasting emotions into the ether around them to be read by others (and of course reading others as well). The electronics implants that wire one into that world’s evolution of the internet (“the unisphere”) and each person’s “u-shadow” are given/implanted at a couple of years of age, but the gaiamotes are transfered from mother to child while still in the womb.
TBH, it was a bit scary, and yet, of course from the POV of the characters, the thought of NOT having this kind of connection to the world/people/emotions/unisphere was the frightening thing. And who’s to say that if something similar to that comes about that it wouldn’t be just as frightening to such a person?
Oh, come on Roger. You may be habituated but you are not truly an addict. You know that all you have to do is leave the damn phone behind when you go for a walk, or a drive, or a trip. Any phone call or connection you miss will be either about something that has already happened and you can do nothing about. or something that can wait a while. You could just use the time for dreaming up a new plot for Moses.
” In Deuteronomy 5:15, while Moses reiterates the Ten Commandments, he notes the second thing that we must remember on Shabbat: “remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the L-rd, your G-d brought you forth from there with a might hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore the L-rd your G-d commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”
What does the Exodus have to do with resting on the seventh day? It’s all about freedom. As I said before, in ancient times, leisure was confined to certain classes; slaves did not get days off. Thus, by resting on the Sabbath, we are reminded that we are free. But in a more general sense, Shabbat frees us from our weekday concerns, from our deadlines and schedules and commitments. During the week, we are slaves to our jobs, to our creditors, to our need to provide for ourselves; on Shabbat, we are freed from these concerns, much as our ancestors were freed from slavery in Egypt.”
A symphony written with a rest becomes noise. Life lived without pause is a life of slavery. Self imposed perhaps but slavery none the less.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/shabbat.html
Lord your God. There, that didn’t hurt a bit.
The writer is showing respect for God by being humble and considering himself unworthy to speak or write His name. If there is something our society needs desperately, it is more respect and humility!
Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad, Gad.
There; what’s the problem – I love their pizza.
http://www.cairo360.com/article/restaurants/915/gad-the-egyptian-standard/
God awful sandwiches though.
Thank you Robert. I would add only item to your list – modesty.
Exactly. Keep Shabbat. The first thing I thought of when I started reading about your problem, Roger.
I keep Shabbat for religious reasons, but it can also be a principled decision about lifestyle and mental health. As a media executive, you can take an executive decision to cut yourself off from technology for one day a week, even if you are agnostic
.
Shabbat is all about ones place in the universe. At the most profound levels of existence and the most mundane we gain insight and perspective into life’s meaning and mysteries. We do not just sanctify the Sabbath, it sanctifies us.
Little blue pills Roger.
Take lots and lots of shiny little blue pills.
The ones in your pocket pill box, not the ones in the refrigerator.
Keep taking them one right after another until…
Until right before your own eyes the little blue pills change into giant, glowing bright blue flying saucers.
Then lay down and relax.
But, if you feel dizzy or silly and you’re not able to relax for at least 4 hours…
Don’t…
My cure was to read a big, thick book with a great reputation. Initially I picked it up when I felt the urge to go online but soon I was hooked on the book. I didn’t want to read it an electronic device like Nook or Kindle with their own built-in distractions. A paper book has a finite edge and is designed for concentration. It feels right. The book I chose to read was Tolstoy’s War and Peace. It took me about a 100 hours of actual reading time over three months and I’ll never forget the experience.
Congrats, Roger. You are now officially a Borg drone. (“You will be wired. Resistance is futile.”) Please upload a photo showing you with your new bio-mechanical implants.
This missive reminds me of a post I read back in the mid-’90s on the Usenet newsgroup (remember those?) devoted to cruises. The writer wanted to know if he could send/receive faxes and e-mails while aboard ship. Having enjoyed a weeklong cruise a few years earlier, I felt compelled to (verbally) slap this workaholic fool upside the head. So my reply went something like “Good grief, the whole point of a cruise is to get away from it all. If you can’t unplug yourself from the office for 3-7 days, then don’t go on a cruise!”
I’d say Roger and those like him need a new 12-step support program. Call it “Netaholics Anonymous.” Step 1 is locating the “off” button on all those electronic gizmos. Step 2 is actually pushing the button.
A brother in law recently passed away and I was allowed to snarf up his Harvard Shelf of Books and accompanying Harvard Shelf of Fiction. Nothing special, both published in ’63 or so, but complete and readable. I can find both online through Gutenburg and others, but I won’t. One piece a night, sometimes read to my 3yo granddaughter sitting on my lap. Offline. Way offline.
You say you run the joint. I presume you have lackeys associates who can keep you informed at need. Use Allow them.
And it’s really annoying that I can’t do html tags here. Coupla bourbon and branches might have something to do with that, but that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.
And speaking of Borg, How come there are no Borg Riverdance videos on YouTube? C’mon, this is a no-brainer and thus ripe for ST fanboys.
Think of yourself in this light, Roger. You are the spider trapped on your own web. For sustenance you naturally retort. But you are still trapped.
Leave the charger at home, forcing yourself to ration your online time so your devices stay charged for the duration of your vacation.
A quick check in the AM, a quick check at night to feed the monkey on your back and satisfy yourself that the world hasn’t gone to hell without you, then power down and back to vacationtime fun and games.
Take the time to sharpen the saw and re-invigorate yourself — we’ll keep an eye on the world for you.
Cheers!
Aw, c’mon.
Work is fun, and so is blogging.
To heck with vacations!
Roger, two pieces of advice:
(1)Trust in your friends. If anything major happens, from Iran to the NYSE, to the end of horrific regimes, your friends will call you; so
(2) Keep your phone on to receive major news by phone, and don’t check Drudge, email, Twitter, Facebook and PJM.
Just trust that you’ll get a call whenever something big happens. You can depend on your friends to keep you up-to-date.
Before email and faxes that’s what we did. Remember? Don’t worry. Be happy.
Wired from birth? Sounds like a Borg initiative…can’t wait. We will love it. Resistance is futile.
Ignorance is bliss, what you don’t know won’t hurt you, no news is good news,
Not me. I head to the forest. No phone, no electric.
I never took anything electronic on vacation with me then last year I got caught in Eastern Europe during the Icelandic ash cloud. (Who could’ve predicted that?) In addition to the nuisance of having to find information I ended up having to cancel reservations and make new ones at the last minute etc at rather dubious looking internet cafes where I didn’t like typing in my credit card number. Nothing bad happened but it taught me that my purist “off grid” on vacation stance was too extreme.
Maybe the 3G or Wifi Kindle (plus basic cell phone) is the way to go. You can check email, some social media, and headlines on favourite sites on a Kindle without much difficulty, however, actually surfing the net is awkward enough that you will not want to use it much but can do so in the event something big happens.
Trips I have taken outside of cell phone / internet range:
1. Rafting the Rio Grand;
2. Hiking the Divide in northern Colorado;
3. Hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Also, going 8 or more time zones away can encourage limit use.
Also, the last time there was a market crash, a major natural disaster, a new war – did you really take any action? We all think we’re more important than we are (other than to our loved ones).
Leaving now on vacation…I’ll check back on other responses next week.
Roger, welcome to our beautiful state. We are better for your visit and hope you enjoy your time here
ITS CALLED SELF CONTROL.
Just got back from a beach house rental vacation with the family.
Sure tech devices are great. Gps, cell phone, iPad, kindle… Terrific for checking out the menu at the Chinese carry out, getting directions to the golf place etc. Kindle is fantastic because I love to read and it works in the sunlight.
I like to be sure to include a lot of activities where you just cannot use any of that stuff. Surf fishing, swimming, bike riding, hitting a bucket at the driving range, tennis… Whatever you like. Most important is spending time with family and friends.
Leave it back at the house or hotel room and step out. It will be there when you get back.
One of my favorite cartoons shows men and women wandering the beach each with a thought balloon estimating how many emails will be awaiting their return. I agree with leaving the computer behind. That’s the only way to avoid the temptation to do work.
Whenever I find myself prompted by a so-called “answering machine” to leave a voice message, I introduce myself as “Hello, this is the questioning machine”, to keep the overall balance of the universe on an even keel. So, there is indeed some robotic counterpart to politeness in general and consideration in particular: the “answering machine”, that will allow you not to be interrupted at any time by anyone for any reason.
But this argument has no purchase on teenagers: They grab the phone within fractions of seconds of the onset of the first ring. Evidently, they have not learned to keep their train of thoughts uninterrupted when it makes sense to preserve its momentum. As a matter of fact, they behave as if the interruption was the thing! and the only momentum worth having is that of the chaos-and-emotional-saturation that comes with it.
So if interruption is not longer the thing for you, just turn the darn thing off, and open it only for 10 minutes every day, at whichever time you do not have a duty of spontaneousness towards the people around you. The world will keep spinning when you stop pedaling, and the next time you are back to pedaling for a good reason, you will do it with renewed energy and incisiveness.
If the cyberoholic 12-step program does not exist yet, please write it, and have your talented acolytes play it on PJTV, where we can all benefit from it!
Have seen this behavior in young cashiers. Paid him the money but he had to reply to a text message before giving me my change.
Ten days in Europe, no cell phone and no laptop. I had to check directions on a computer in the hotel lobby once, and use a couple of ATM’s and airport auto-ticket machines. Other than that, I was off the grid. I didn’t even notice. The non-virtual world is just as interesting as it used to be.
I am not near as wired as Mr. Simon, but find I have to get away; I go to the regional park and just sit there and stare for a while.
There were times when Thelonius Monk would get up from the piano and let his band roll along, once they were in the groove, and if you’re confident Pajamas can do the same, enjoy your time off.
On the other hand, maybe your idea of heaven is tweeting and being tweeted while surrounded by a majestic forest.
Whoah dude! The world can end without you. Shut it off. Have a cold beer.
On trips, I walk away from connectivity, although I might periodically borrow a computer when I need a little fix. I carry a cellphone, turned off, in the event of an emergency.
If the world is going to melt down in my absence, well, it has melted down before, and then it goes on in some form or other.
When I started on the internet over 10 years ago, I thought Instant Messaging (ICQ/Mirabilis) was the coolest thing in the world, talking to people halfway around the world, in real time. Eventually, however, I reached a point where I no longer particularly wanted to know what they had to say
I feel sorry for people standing on busy street corners, staring into their handheld whatevers and missing the life about them.
One might argue that social networking is really quite anti-social, in the kind of exchanges it engenders. Thomas Jefferson wrote about what we lose in our “advances”, and so, today, the person can read the little screen and the latest buzz, but no longer reads the stars or feels his place in the universe.
I feel sorry for people standing on busy street corners, staring into their handheld whatevers and missing the life about them.
I would think such distracted pedestrians would make excellent targets for pickpockets and purse snatchers.
Roger, be sure to check out Bloedell next time you’re here. Awesome Hobbit seeking there. Fort Ord is a cool little hike with original cannon bunkers still standing, and Battle Point park is fantastic for little ‘uns. It’s a shame the Island is perhaps the most steadfastly liberal enclave on the planet.
I consider my cell, and all other telecom tools that I’ve purchased to be there for my convenience, no one else’s. If I’m on vacation, it’s not convenient.