A lot happens in a week, or does it?

Mon 12 Oct 09 21:17 Attention: open in a new window. PDF | Print | E-mail Across the globe Brian Teeman

nothing happens in the desertRegular readers will have noticed, I hope, that last week I was on holiday and was not online.

Due to changed personal circumstances that no longer means picking up a back pack and travelling to one of the more remote parts of Africa, Asia or Arabia. Instead I would be doing a more traditional sun, sea and swimming vaction on the Greek island of Kos.

I checked before leaving the UK and the hotel had wifi in all areas and I was already  taking my laptop with me to watch some movies.

So why did I chose to stay offline?

I could try and tell you that it would not be a break from work if I was online but the reality is that I've come close to achieving something few people ever do. I actually enjoy my work.

I could have chosen to stay on-line anonymously, not writing blog posts, commenting on others, answering emails etc. but that is just so never going to happen.

I could have sat in the hotel bar, or in a lounger by the swimming pool, with my laptop powered up and the wifi activity lights blinking, but would I then be "the sad geek who can't log off", someone who just can't survive without reading about the minutae of other peoples lives over a morning coffee? Or could I really survive without the Net, even if it was only for 7 days.

What I was hoping to ascertain was:

  1. would I really miss the net if I stayed offline?
  2. would I overcome the temptation to just have a "quick look"?
  3. would anything truly significant happen that I would be disconnected from?

Before I left home I would have guessed Yes, Yes and Yes.

In reality the answer was "only a little", Yes and "absolutely nothing".


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