24 hours without the Internet or Email

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options I live in a place where people are so connection addicted they go to dinner with you and place their cell on the table. God forbid they miss a text. If they receive a text or a call, they will answer it, because it would be so wrong to just let it go to voicemail. If something comes up in conversation that can be looked up on the internet, they won't wait. They will do it. Right then and there. Seriously. Once saw a couple out to dinner in a sushi restaurant, both heads down, doing a his and her checking-the-cell kind of thing simultaneously. I'm sure you might understand why I'm looking forward to leaving here. Lost Angeles is insanity to the tenth power.

I'm afraid you need to get out more. This is ubiquitous. Moving away from LA is not the answer.

[Midpack]

I'm on daily for the most part, but when I don't have access it's because I am doing something more worthwhile, and it's not an issue AT ALL. Wouldn't hurt me to spend less time on the internet anyway...

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever I call cell phones the new cigarettes--something to handle, to kill time with, to look cool with (in the eyes of the users), to invest in (Apple vs Philip Morris). Someone should turn the old tobacco barns into cell phone manufacturing centers. Maybe there is even an app "patch" to download to use to wean one from the addiction.

No patch yet, but the first inpatient treatment center for internet addiction recently opened.

Internet addiction: New treatment program set to open - CNN.com

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh No patch yet, but the first inpatient treatment center for internet addiction recently opened.

I guess the online treatment centers proved unsuccessful?

[AFloat]

We live on a boat cruising the Pacific coast of Mexico and we'll go months without internet and when we do get internet in a port it's so slow that it's impossible to watch a video. We haven't seen a video of a cat in years. When we're out on anchor we do get emails via a system using a HAM radio but it's just text, no images so we can keep in touch with family and friends. We also don't have TV although we have a Sirius radio that we listen to music, no news thank you. Of course we both retired 8 years ago in our mid 50's so there's no work issues. It's very relaxing not having the constant noise of the internet and TV and it refocuses your mind on the immediate world around you.

When we do go back to the states we're amazed by all the people heads down watching their phones not taking to each other even in restaurants. Now that's a strange way to live.

Frank

[Options]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh I'm afraid you need to get out more. This is ubiquitous. Moving away from LA is not the answer.

No, the problem is I get out too much. Probably need to do more what I"ve already done: let people know they're either hanging out with me or their phone.

And you have no idea how much moving from lost angeles is the answer. Everyone here is on broadcast/performance mode talking about their script, their play, their pilot, etc., etc., ad infinity (and all I wanted to do is read my book in a formerly quiet coffee house). It's the entertainment culture: vapid, pathological, imbalanced, unhealthy.

As I've posted elsewhere, FIRE for me will be much more than a financial/w*rk change, it will be a life change, to include changing locations. And it will be a very, very positive change.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options I live in a place where people are so connection addicted they go to dinner with you and place their cell on the table. God forbid they miss a text. If they receive a text or a call, they will answer it, because it would be so wrong to just let it go to voicemail. If something comes up in conversation that can be looked up on the internet, they won't wait. They will do it. Right then and there. Seriously. Once saw a couple out to dinner in a sushi restaurant, both heads down, doing a his and her checking-the-cell kind of thing simultaneously. I'm sure you might understand why I'm looking forward to leaving here. Lost Angeles is insanity to the tenth power. Quote: Originally Posted by Meadbh I'm afraid you need to get out more. This is ubiquitous. Moving away from LA is not the answer. +2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options No, the problem is I get out too much. Probably need to do more what I"ve already done: let people know they're either hanging out with me or their phone. And you have no idea how much moving from lost angeles is the answer. Everyone here is on broadcast/performance mode talking about their script, their play, their pilot, etc., etc., ad infinity (and all I wanted to do is read my book in a formerly quiet coffee house). It's the entertainment culture: vapid, pathological, imbalanced, unhealthy. As I've posted elsewhere, FIRE for me will be much more than a financial/w*rk change, it will be a life change, to include changing locations. And it will be a very, very positive change.

You're right Options, smartphone obsessed, rude, "vapid, pathological, imbalanced, unhealthy" people are exclusively in LA. Everywhere else is idyllic by comparison. Go for it...

[lovingAZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 Fairly often for us, especially on camping or hunting trips. I have however noticed that the coverage has been getting more extensive in some parts of the boonies, a trend I am not exactly thrilled with.

Quite often for us also since we love to camp in our RV in out of the way places - off the grid, or boondock. The peace and quiet with no distractions from electronics is soothing to the soul.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

About twice a year. It drives DW crazy. We live in Baku. Back home, it is seldom out more than 15 minutes every couple of years.

[ABQ2015]

This summer there was a microburst storm that went through the center of the city and knocked down many trees with the high winds. There were leaves and branches everywhere and some flooding - cost the city more than $1M to clean it up. Our cable went out so no TV or internet for a day and I don't have a smart phone (but the electricity and phone worked). This happened Friday night and the next day neighbors were everywhere cleaning up their yards, parents and kids riding their bicycles through the neighborhood surveying the damage, people driving their cars around gawking at the downed trees and branches, etc. It was rather exciting and the most I have ever seen my neighbors in the 20 years that I have lived here.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options And you have no idea how much moving from lost angeles is the answer. Everyone here is on broadcast/performance mode talking about their script, their play, their pilot, etc., etc., ad infinity (and all I wanted to do is read my book in a formerly quiet coffee house). It's the entertainment culture: vapid, pathological, imbalanced, unhealthy.

I lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, in several different areas - Highland Park, Pasadena, Hollywood (central as well as the east end) and Mount Washington.
While the element you describe does most certainly exist, it doesn't apply to the entire population by a long chalk. I knew people from all walks of life, with many different characters and temperaments.

My theory about cities is that the transplants often gravitate towards them for specific reasons. People who want to work in the entertainment industries go to SoCal, people who are more tech-oriented, or who are more hippie/liberal/politically active types to the Bay Area. These are both broad generalizations, but you get the idea. When they get there, because they are new, they try particularly hard to "fit in" by emulating the characteristics they think they ought to have in order to become "model citizens" of their newly-chosen domicile. A similar argument is that different cities draw different, and particular character types.

However, in any city, the natives represent a more normal cross-section of types. IMO, by and large, natives from LA are about the same as natives from anywhere else, minor regional cultural differences notwithstanding.

Which coffee shops are you hanging out in anyway? I'm guessing not ones in Montebello, Eagle Rock, Downey or South Pasadena, to pick a few examples.