Y’know…computer technology is amazing, and an amazing gift to humanity. But…
Yeah: BUT… It’s also a a curse, most often manifested in the form of endless technohassles: long, complicated struggles with the operating systems of every damn thing we need to live our lives in an “advanced” society — from can openers to phones to cars. The telephone is a particular problem. What used to be a simple enough device is now a portable mini-computer and an indefatigable carrier of nuisances. Nuisance procedures, nuisance programming, and most of all nuisance calls from solicitors and hustlers combine to make us feel miserable and harassed.
What to do about it?
Well, I have A PLAN.
Mwa ha ha! It just came to me as I was out driving around in search of gasoline and fresh bread:
Henceforth, one day a week — one whole 24-hour day from 6.a.m. to 6 a.m.— will be declared, promised, and dedicated as a Techno-Free Day.
- No computers
- No computers disguised as telephones
- No email
- No online news
- No blogging
- No telephone interruptions
- No online scams
- No nothin’!
The accursed computers go off and stay off for 24 long, quiet back-to-back hours.
This will mean, as you might imagine…
- No aggravation
- No frustration
- No unsolvable ditzy impossible-to-grasp problems
- No pestering
- No unknown parties tracking what we do
- No distractions
- Minimal annoyance
Yeah.
Seriously: I have HAD IT with the constant technologically-driven distraction and annoyance.
And…I’ve decided I deserve a break from it — as should all of us.
Pick a day of the week, then, and…revert to the freakin 1950s!
- I like to read the morning news. Fine: zip down to the grocery store and buy a newspaper before breakfast.
- Create an answering machine message saying something like “I do not answer the phone or check my email on [thus-and-such a day]. If this a real call from someone who knows me personally and has a real reason to speak with me, please leave a message and I’ll call you back tomorrow. If it is an emergency, please call 911. If you are a phone solicitor, please find another use for the time you would waste filling up my machine with your pitch.”
- Do not answer the phone.
- Do not even turn on the computers.
- Find some relaxing and fun things to do outside the house and go do them.
It is time to disconnect from all the crazy-making techno-crap. I can’t stand another minute of it!
testing
Good luck. It’s harder than it seems.
No doubt! Probably the only way to do this trick would be to have a retreat somewhere with zero connectivity — a mountain cabin, a tent, a cave — where you could go and hide out.
Let us know how it goes!
I recently had to get a new phone and I haven’t turned on the screen hours (or whatever it’s called – when you stop getting notifications at certain hours at night) which is definitelynot great for my screen time use.
How exactly one is supposed to learn to use one of these devices escapes me. The Apple store’s class (heh!) was spectacularly unhelpful. Have spent the ENTIRE day hassling with the computers, with an IT tech in residence for several hours. Firefox is now extinct on my laptop; having to use Safari, which I pretty much…well…revile.
I think maybe i hate computers…