Anyone else slowly ditching digital life?

[sparrow]

It started in January. My smart phone was acting sluggish and it was time for something new. I suddenly decided I really didn't want another smart phone. I used to always carry a book with me and read while waiting for a kid at an activity.  I had the Kindle app on my phone, but when it came right down to it, if I had a spare 10-15 minutes, I'd log into Facebook. I was tired of always being connected.  I bought a plain vanilla Tracfone with triple minutes and year-long card off eBay. I haven't missed the smart phone in the least and I've read FOUR more books than the same time last year.

 

Now I've started thinking about pictures. We have zillions of meaningless digital pictures. What am I ever going to do with all of them? Is it possible I could lose all of them in some solar flare? Maybe. I look at the photos my mom and grandma had.  They're often not organized and stacked in boxes, but sometimes in albums, and it felt like each picture meant something, because it had to. You only had so many pictures available on the film. I've decided to go back to using the old 35 mm Canon AE-1 my parents had while I was growing up. It's also something new to learn.

 

Full disclosure, I do still carry an old, disconnected Nokia Lumia in my purse because it has a working GPS chip in it. I will occasionally connect to Wi-Fi if it's around and sometimes snap a picture, but overall I'm not missing my connected, digital life and I'm definitely feeling much more in the moment.  Anybody else growing weary and feeling the call of analog?

[scrapbookbuzz]

Haven't started unplugging yet but I know what you mean. I prefer a hardcopy of a book verses a digital one. I have full libraries of both!

I do get tired of everything being technology-driven. Anytime I think about researching something, my husband says, "Google it." I often response with,

"I don't want to be on the computer. It messes with my brain after awhile." And it does, it truly does. I even notice it in my 11yo ds if he's been online too long.

He gets really irritable.

 

As for smartphones, I haven't decided what to do yet. I, too, am in need of a new-to-me cell phone. One that will actually work all the time. Haven't quite decided which route

to go with that, though. But, like you, I do get tired of the "always being connected" issue. Personally, I think I'd rather just live in a cabin in the mountains with actual books and

only turn on the cell phone during once-a-week trips to town!

[NorthwestMom]

ME! I announced a Facebook vacation last Monday and have not logged in since. I feel relief.

 

I have been noticing for quite awhile how everyone is mesmerized by their phones - it's like a drug. I want out of that. 

[Guest]

Yes, very much so.

 

I jumped on the internet bandwagon in 2001 because of one of those long distance relationships that never work out but did not own a TV or play video games before that, left the tech ed to my then-children's father who was interested in such things, and went to play on the swings with the kids at Park Day when everyone started talking about Reader Rabbit, Print Shop Deluxe, and whether they were going to upgrade to Windows 95.

 

I was at writing dot com when it was stories dot com. I was at mothering dot com during the TWWS incident. I got rid of Windows when D*mn Small Linux was new enough to be safe to use online. I was on Myspace when my kids were, switched to Facebook when my kids did, was threatened and scared by trolls during < name of political thingy involving the internet > in 2011.

 

I don't like the direction the internet is going. I don't like the surveillance, the tracking, the "customized advertising", the lack of outrage about Windows 10, the cliquishness and classism of Apple, the tracking devices on smartphones, the experiences and wonderful books that my 7 year old is missing out on that I was able to give my 27-23 year olds, the hurt feelings and misunderstandings with my 80yo parents, and I am just tired and done.

 

I love free software:

 

https://www.fsf.org/about/

 

and I love tinkering with my computers, but I have not proven to be particularly effective at outreach and since I look a lot older than I am, I'm ready to pass the bean dip and pull the granny card:

 

"I don't know because my computer doesn't work any more and Junior says there's something wrong with Windows 98 so he can't fix it for me until he gets back from the Peace Corps next year or the year after that."

 

My cell phone provider gave me the choice of "upgrading" to a smartphone or a flip phone with a text-to-speech engine and "Senior Mode". I chose the grannyphone.

 

I use a Canon EOS 20D but still have the EOS 650 film camera my mom gave me for a combination college graduation and first baby present. I never jumped on the selfie/instagram/picture every moment wagon in the first place, but I think you're probably right about film cameras.

 

ETA: 7yo ds's current read aloud is my grandmother's hardback copy of a Wizard of Oz book that is exactly 100 years older than he is. Yes, you can download a copy of it for free on your Kindle. No, it is not the same. Not even remotely.

 

Also ETA: 7yo ds wants to get HIS grandmother a nice paper journal and a quality fountain pen for her 81st birthday after seeing how much I am enjoying contents of the boxes Dad sent me when he moved to an apartment in a retirement community and getting to know my late grandmother as a promising young teenaged poet and scrapbooker before 1929 happened and transmorgrified her into a typist and human voicemail machine.

[Lisbeth]

FB is wearing thin for me.  I am taking longer and longer breaks, only checking on groups that announce meetings for local IRL activties.  I need an info/meme/digital togetherness holiday.

[Halcyon]

Yes and no. You can pry my kindle out of my cold, dead hands, but I have quit facebook and all other social media. I obviously check in here a fair amount. I have a smartphone, but only because my business requires it. I don't surf the web on it, or anything like that--i use it for texting, phoning, checking email for work. Sometimes I play Bejeweled on it LOL. I have begun using a paper calendar rather than Google Calendar--i was annoyed because my phone loses charge pretty quickly and some of the time I was without my calendar. 

 

I rarely use my phone for photos. I got a cheap digital camera and upload the picture to Walgreens as soon as I can so I have a hardcopy of the ones I like, then I delete the rest. I like having hardcopies (I used to scrapbook) and feel they are much more "real"-feeling than digital. 

[Susan C.]

I am wondering too about unplugging at least a bit... I do run newspapers thru my FB feed, but the latest article mentioning how FB knows everything I read is a little unnerving...

 

Last week I turned off the papers to lower the length of my feed... so FB starting giving me other friends' likes and comments, ugh. But it still took a fraction of the time to get through. I do live in a small town with a pathetic newspaper, so I do like the connection to the outside world... I am thinking of picking one paper and getting an online subscription if I choose to limit FB, or just going to a few newspapers sites and reading there.

[sparrow]

It looks like I'm in good company!  Thank you for sharing your stories. So weird to think I'm missing the simple times of the nineties!

 

I can recognize that part of my problem is that I'm an info junkie. As a kid, I was obsessed with dictionaries and encyclopedias. Constant access to the internet can be too much of a good thing for me.  I have lots of useless information floating around in my brain, when what I'd really like to do is slow down, learn something new, and apply it in my life. 

 

 

I also recognize my laziness! I never get my pictures printed!

[PrincessMommy]

I have a smart phone that I have purposely avoided connecting to the internet.  I've had one for 2yrs and I think I"ve gone on the internet a handful of times. I refuse to put things like FB or my email on my phone.  My phone is my phone, a camera, and occasionally my audio book holder.   I have one game I play on it... and even that it too much. 

 

I have always preferred paper books to my Kindle.  I never take my Kindle anywhere in fact.  I still take my book with me to appts.

 

But, I definitely hear ya on the photos.  I've weed through my photos on my phone and put the good ones on Dropbox.  I'm liberal with the delete button.  But, it's still feels like a jumbled mess.

[KungFuPanda]

Nope. I teach dance classes. I refuse to go back to the days of lugging around a boom box and multiple CDs. My Bluetooth speaker fits in my dance bag and connects to my phone? If the choreography is too fast, I use an app to slow it down, or repeat the same loop of music. I embrace the technology. I could go back if I had to. I could also haul water if I HAD to, but I REALLY prefer indoor plumbing.

[Guest]

Nope, I love my digital life!  I'm barely on FB, so maybe that is the trick?  I love that I can take quick photos of the kids, send them to my far-away relatives and put them on a Project Life page to be placed in the photo album, all in under a minute.  I love that I can quickly and easily keep in touch with my sisters who are far away.  We are all so much closer now that we can group text instead of talking on the phone in our spare time.  Technology is the best!!

[kewb]

I don't know how much I am leaving as I was never 100% in.

 

I have a smart phone and a Kindle. I like the convenience of the Kindle when I am out and about. It does weigh less than a book.

 

As for the pics, I have been contemplating making yearbooks from the gazillion photos for easier perusing. I miss having photo albums around to look through.

 

I only have facebook, which I do not use as much as I used too. Never tweeted or snap chatted or instagrammed. I am not a gamer.

 

I used to blog about our homeschooling but once the kiddos reached high school age they didn't want me posting everything.

 

It took awhile but I feel I have good balance right now.

[regentrude]

No.

I like using technology and find it saves me time for other pursuits.

Looking up something online is infinitely quicker than going to the library to look for a book with that information (which they likely won't have and have to order), and the only way to book travel or shop for items I cannot obtain in my small town.

Our digital photos are archived and serve as a visual diary. We travel a lot and have often referred to the image library like one would to a journal.

I use facebook to keep in touch with IRL friends, and we coordinate our homeschooling events through a fb group; it is neither time consuming nor aggravating.

I use Teaching Company courses extensively for homeschooling, and using audible for that saves me hundreds of dollars.

And I would not have been able to homeschool my kid through high school and into an elite university without this forum.

 

Aside from the fact that I work and my job involves teaching online classes, communicating with 600 students and coordinating several instructors by email.

 

 

[sparrow]

Nope. I teach dance classes. I refuse to go back to the days of lugging around a boom box and multiple CDs. My Bluetooth speaker fits in my dance bag and connects to my phone? If the choreography is too fast, I use an app to slow it down, or repeat the same loop of music. I embrace the technology. I could go back if I had to. I could also haul water if I HAD to, but I REALLY prefer indoor plumbing.

 

This is another reason I like hanging on to that Nokia Lumia. Music!

 

Yeah, don't get me wrong. I'm not going off grid, nor was I ever fully invested digitally, I'm just enjoying the extra time I'm getting because I don't have the will power to not go to FB when I'm waiting for my kids.  It was just too easy to kill time that way. The little things I've done have been good for me!

[Lady Florida.]

Nope. I love the digital life and technology. It makes my life so much easier and helps me keep in touch with people. 

[DawnM]

Every activity we are involved with uses email or Facebook to communicate.  So, no.

 

I also really LIKE being connected.  

[sparrow]

Every activity we are involved with uses email or Facebook to communicate.  So, no.

 

I also really LIKE being connected.  

 

Oh, yeah, every activity group is linked up to FB and email, including our business, so it won't be going anywhere in my life, but I don't feel the need to check on it when I'm out at dinner, for example. That's why I don't need it on a phone.

[ScoutTN]

No, but I have never been in way deep. I think I have a good balance.

 

Just got my first smart phone this summer. I don't hang out on the web much, except here! ;)

Shopping, gps, recipes, homeschool info, travel planning are all useful and excellent and I wouldn't like to do without them. Online classes will definitely be a part of my kids' education and also a part of my continuing education.

 

I have always printed my photos, never been on FB, and I prefer real books. I rarely go anywhere without a book and usually a pen and paper. :)

[regentrude]

Oh, yeah, every activity group is linked up to FB and email, including our business, so it won't be going anywhere in my life, but I don't feel the need to check on it when I'm out at dinner, for example. That's why I don't need it on a phone.

 

I don't need to check when I'm out and about either, and have been the smart phone holdout for the longest time.

It is, however, very convenient for travel.

[NorthwestMom]

Every activity we are involved with uses email or Facebook to communicate.  So, no.

 

I also really LIKE being connected.  

 

I get that, too. I'm taking my break during summer vacation because I do need to be connected when everything starts again. 

[Liz CA]

I am using a laptop, have a simple cell and this is the extent of my electronic possessions.

 

I agree that a break from online life is always good for me. I need to read and take my dog for a walk on my day off to recharge and not be glued to another screen.

The computer is as much a utilitarian item to me as it is used for entertainment. I come to this forum and I occasionally buy a few things online. Otherwise I work online sometimes and use email.

My simple cell phone still works and until it is no longer able to handle simple calls or texts, I will not replace it.

We are not big on pictures so no need to take a pic every 5 seconds and store it somewhere.

 

I am annoyed by internet tracking, invasion of privacy and tailored advertisement but I think this is the brave new world I have to deal with if I want to be able to buy an item online now and then. I minimize private information, partly because of my work and partly because I am a private person. I am not on any social media.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't use a cell phone regularly.  I have an old no frills dumb phone that sits uncharged in a drawer 90% of the time. 

 

I do like e-books.  They take up less space!

 

I do love being able to look stuff up on the Internet so I can't imagine giving that up.

 

 

[Amira]

Nope, but I've never had a smart phone so I'm not connected everywhere I go. Ebooks mean that I can read new books and that I always have another one to read when I finish one even if I'm stuck in the hospital unexpectedly. I keep track of friends all over the world with email and Facebook. I would be lonely without the Internet. Learning about new places we're moving to is so much easier with Internet access.

 

I wouldn't like it if I had to have a smart phone or couldn't have a dedicated ereader though. I don't like it when digital stuff takes over my life. But I can't ever wish away my digital life because it would take away too much good.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Nope. Digital life is bloomin' fantastic. So is non-digital life. I like having both.

 

me too!

[Ewe Mama]

I've never been on Facebook, so that hasn't been an issue in my life. I finally succumbed and bought a cell phone two months ago. It's a flip phone that I have used exactly twice.

 

Something I witnessed last month really drove home the fact that many people are too into their high-tech life style. My family went to our town's fireworks for Independence Day. There were lots of families parked in the same lot, which was an area from which the fireworks could be viewed, as well. The cars/vans/SUVs all had their doors wide open, so it was easy to see what other people were doing. We must have walked past a dozen families who were totally silent. They were not talking to each other at all. Every single one of them was on their own device and paying no attention to the fireworks. They would glance up and then go right back to their devices. There was no awe, no joy, no emotion. They were so focused on their little computers that they could have cared less about the people they were actually with. It made me very sad.

[Garga]

Check out prices on how much it costs to develop a roll of 36 pix nowadays vs uploading your pictures to mpix.com and having them mail hard copies to you. It's almost prohibitively expensive now to develop film. I don't see digital pictures as the same as being linked online. The type of camera you use can still get you hard copies.

 

We start school a week from tomorrow and the boys and I will be drastically cutting ourselves off from electronics. Well, I'll be shutting us all off from it. They'll go kicking and screaming.

[lllll]

nm

[Butter]

Nope. Digital life is bloomin' fantastic. So is non-digital life. I like having both.

 

You said what I was thinking.

 

As for all the pictures (which I take using a regular old digital camera; pictures taken on my cell phone are generally taken specifically to post on Facebook or text to someone), I do digital scrapbooking.  I print my layouts and put them in physical scrapbooks.

 

Also, I love reading on my (eink) Kindle.  I actually am not comfortable holding paper books.  My hands are small or something so it hurts to hold most books.  I can read much longer comfortably using the Kindle.

[sparrow]

You said what I was thinking.

 

As for all the pictures (which I take using a regular old digital camera; pictures taken on my cell phone are generally taken specifically to post on Facebook or text to someone), I do digital scrapbooking.  I print my layouts and put them in physical scrapbooks.

 

Also, I love reading on my (eink) Kindle.  I actually am not comfortable holding paper books.  My hands are small or something so it hurts to hold most books.  I can read much longer comfortably using the Kindle.

 

I never said a word about giving up my Kindle Paperwhite :001_smile: .  I spend equal time reading paper books and reading on the Kindle.  I think I read more on the Kindle because if I see there is only 15 minutes to read the next chapter, I usually do it!

[SparklyUnicorn]

When I was a kid I asked a lot of questions.  I had to write them down and wait to go to the library when my parents would take me so I could look stuff up.  And that was not often.  Then in high school we had a decent library so I'd go to school early to hang out in the library.

So the Internet is like a questioner's dream come true. 

 

 

[AmandaVT]

I try really hard to have a good balance. I'm like SparklyUnicorn though, I was always looking stuff up in encyclopedias when I was a kid, so being able to look things up online is wonderful for me. 

 

I do have a smartphone - I held out for a long time, but my dad, brother, sister in law and cousin all live 5 hrs from here. It's wonderful to send them a picture or video whenever I want and to have facetime video calls. Awesome way to keep in touch!

 

I have FB, but pretty much only go on for my groups. Twitter is great - I get news there and football updates!

 

I refuse to be the person that never looks up from their phone though. I keep it in my purse unless I need to make a call or take a picture or something.

[AmandaVT]

oops - double post!

[Mabelen]

The Internet is my lifeline to my family in Spain. I left my country before the Internet was a thing. Life is so much better now. Having said that, it can be hard to strike a good balance. It is true it can be too much of a distraction, however I was one of those people who would consume encyclopedias daily so there is that. There were plenty of late nights in my high school and college days taken up by encyclopedia surfing.

[Guest]

I feel strongly both ways.

 

I am grateful for my smart phone and I use it a lot.  I like the brand I get, and I swear at it a lot less than my dh does at is smart-er phone.  

I've made friends over FB and TWTM that I've met and become friends with IRL. 

I learned how to peel a mango on the internet, so now I eat mangos. 

I've read a lot more books on my Kindle Paperwhite than I would have read on paper, because the type-size is adjustable, and because I have a selection to choose from when I have my Kindle with me.  

I am happy that I got to help with my 40th high school reunion by using the internet to locate more than half of the people we couldn't "find".  I was especially glad for this because I had recently acquired a short-term disability that made it pretty much impossible for me to leave my chair.  This gave me a job that mattered, and helped me deal with that bummed-out feeling during disability.    

 

But I dislike the itch to be in touch all the time.  Or the obligation to be in touch all the time.  

I dislike the pie-eyed staring into the phone/device when I am trying to talk to someone.  I hate it worse when I do it to them.  

I am bewildered with where all my time goes, especially when I realize that "just sitting down to send a quick note" turned into an hour of meandering on FB.  

I hate the amount of time it actually takes to maintain the devices...even when I like the results.  

 

Most of the things I dislike are really very much under my control, so that's the next job.  Setting the boundaries with technology.  

 

Now, does anyone know for SURE when the 6s will ship?

 

LOL

 

 

[lailasmum]

Not ditching but getting better at choosing what works for me and what doesn't. Some things are more of a hassle when they become really advanced or connected and others become much simpler. I live in an area with poor mobile phone coverage so it's stopped me becoming too reliant on them, however there are some functions on smart phones that stop me owning a lot of other things so they can save hassle too. it's like that with a lot of technology, I've got more experience to know what I like and don't so it's easier to buy into some areas and not others. 

 

I do love modern digital photography over film. I liked film too but I love the technology that's out now it just makes so many things easier. There was a long while where I didn't change over, preferring film but that's definitely gone now. I still own several film cameras but they're not something I would use day to day especially as I don't have space for a darkroom any more.

[FriedClams]

I have an app that turns off a lot of the distracting stuff during the day for me so I stay more focused. You can set it on a schedule or just turn it on, and you can pick what works ing your phone and what doesn't (so I can use my camera, but not surf the web). It takes 60 seconds to shut it off of I really need to. I LOVE it. (It's android - OffTime. I think the iphone one is Freedom?)

 

I also quit Facebook. It's been WONDERFUL. I rarely miss it. It's been a few months and I don't see myself going back.

[No More Perfect]

I love the digital life but I'll tell you that quitting Facebook 3 years ago was one of the smartest decisions of my life. My iPhone and Macbook have become essential since I deal with thyroid problems and the brain fog that comes with it. I could live without them, sure, but a lot of important items that need to be done would be forgotten. Facebook, on the other hand, was a time waster and I was glad to be rid of it.

[marbel]

I'm another one who loves certain things, doesn't like others.

 

Currently I don't have a smartphone, but when my old flip phone finally dies, I'm planning on getting one. There are parts of my life that would be made so much easier by being fully mobile.  I have a kindle fire, and take it with me wherever I go, but sometimes I need to be able to do things without wi-fi.  Our old standalone GPS is dying, for example, and I need a GPS frequently. 

 

I love google calendar - my family uses it and it's so easy to see schedules and avoid conflicts.  But I also keep a paper calendar (bullet journal).  It's not a big deal to me to put the information in two places; in fact that helps me remember things better.   I love having lots of reading material at my fingertips when I am out and about. 

 

Facebook is a nonissue for me.  I use it but I unfollow people who annoy me and check in on my extended family every few days.  I have notifications so if someone posts something to my wall I'll see it.   It's very manageable for me. 

 

So I don't think I will become "that person" who is always staring at the phone.  I know my family will tell me if I do.  I was surprised to find my husband becoming "that person" for a while after getting his first smartphone.   But time, and reminders, remedied that pretty quickly.  If we were talking and he was looking at his phone, I'd just stop speaking and if possible I'd just get up and walk away.   That helped him realize what he was doing.  

 

[Vida Winter]

I still cling to my old flip-phone which rarely requires charging.

 

For dd's 11th birthday I bought her an electric typewriter. It was such a hit that dd15 had to have one (found it at a garage sale last weekend).

 

Thinking about buying a turntable so I can see if my albums will still play.

 

 

[Susan C.]

 

 

Thinking about buying a turntable so I can see if my albums will still play.

 

I have 2 analog ones in the garage, had to get a digital one new that would play through our receiver. My adult kids went nuts hearing my old lp's! And the sound is awesome, way different than CDs.

[sparrow]

When I was a kid I asked a lot of questions.  I had to write them down and wait to go to the library when my parents would take me so I could look stuff up.  And that was not often.  Then in high school we had a decent library so I'd go to school early to hang out in the library.

So the Internet is like a questioner's dream come true. 

 

Yes, and no, on this.  As I said upthread, I've always been an info junkie, too.  I love having access to answers at any time, but I can literally waste hours, flitting from one subject to the next. I'm not saying this is an internet problem. This is my problem.  I'm not cutting the cord, I'm simply making some small efforts to limit when and where I have access.  I think the title of my thread is probably a little misleading.

 

A few years ago dh and I were visiting my parents, who didn't have the internet, and we couldn't think of the name of an old TV show. We couldn't stand not being able to look it up and ended up calling his parents to do it for us!