Internet Withdrawal Symptoms

[modhatter]

I recently lost my Internet for FIVE WHOLE DAYS. It was an eye opening experience. Besides, not being able to get or pay my bills, look at my e-mails, scan and send out papers to bookkeeper, use Skype to make any calls, I felt like I was cut off from the world.

Seriously, I think if it went on any longer, I was going to get the shakes. Addiction is a scary thing, and we are sometimes blind to knowing we are addicted.

 

[yakers]

Not just the internet.

My name is yakers and I am a RE board addict.

There, that wasn't that hard, was it?

 

[W2R]

These days, it seems like the internet is every bit as necessary for day to day life as electricity or a car. I wouldn't want to go without it for five days either.

When I have been temporarily without the internet for brief periods in the past, what I missed the most was being able to look up anything on the net to find out about it. The internet gives me more information like that than I could get from the biggest encyclopedia.

 

[dex]

Over Logging (Season 12, Episode 6) - Full Episode Player - South Park Studios

No one in South Park has internet and there's no telling when, or even if, it will come back. Desperation sets in as the fear of the unknown spreads rapidly across the country. When Randy hears there still may be some internet out in California, he packs up his family and heads west in search of a signal.

+++++
Some scenes might not be appropriate for some people.

 

[TromboneAl]

When I try to cut down, I end up spending more time on the Internet. Is that a sign of addiction?

The real problem is when you close the loop. That is, when you have enough things that you check online (e.g. ER Forum, bike forum, piano forum, etc.) such that when you've finished checking the last one, it's time to check the first one again.

 

[FIREd]

Oh yeah, I am addicted to the internet as well. But now, with an iPad and a mifi, I find comfort in the fact that I will still to able to access the internet even if we lose power for several days... It's a sickness really

 

[MasterBlaster]

I recently lost my Internet for FIVE WHOLE DAYS. It was an eye opening experience. Besides, not being able to get or pay my bills, look at my e-mails, scan and send out papers to bookkeeper, use Skype to make any calls, I felt like I was cut off from the world.

Seriously, I think if it went on any longer, I was going to get the shakes. Addiction is a scary thing, and we are sometimes blind to knowing we are addicted.

What no Porn !

How can you cope without the internet ? It really must be tough !

 

[Nords]

I recently lost my Internet for FIVE WHOLE DAYS. It was an eye opening experience.

I'm trying to imagine how much surfing, home improvement, and exercise I'd accomplish.

I'm not actually going to try to do it. I'm just going to imagine it.

 

[obgyn65]

I do not have access to internet when I go to medical missions in third world countries. It's actually pretty difficult to go without internet access during a week or two at a time. In some places, I don't have cell phone coverage either, making things even worse.

 

[Tractor guy]

My father in law doesn't have internet & lives 1000 miles from us. When we go visit its for a week. No internet, he won't allow me to do any maintenance on the house (which is falling down around him), and I don't like his taste in TV.

About the 3rd day, I can't take it any more and take my laptop to the library so I can use their free Wifi. On the 4th day, my wife does that.

Lorne

 

[Midpack]

I would drop television before internet. I guess I could go use public access, but it sure is nice to surf wearing my fuzzy slippers with my dog at my side...AT HOME.

 

[freebird5825]

I always leave my laptop home when I go on trips.

I prepay all my bills after I transfer extra money to my bill paying account. I send emails to e-friends and let them know I will be offline. They all have my cell phone number, so they can send short messages to me from their email or cell via texting.
I can usually find a public terminal at a hotel or condo if I really need to go online. If visiting friends, they have a computer I can borrow. I take my Garmin GPS with me so I can navigate and find things like stores, gas stations, tourist attractions, museums and public parks, etc.

The long and short of it...it is really nice to be offline for a week or more.

 

[Moemg]

I always leave my laptop home when I go on trips.



The long and short of it...it is really nice to be offline for a week or more.

I also usually leave the laptop at home when I travel . I do have my Nook so if I need to check my email I do but otherwise I'm on vacation.

 

[vicente solano]

When I try to cut down, I end up spending more time on the Internet. Is that a sign of addiction?

The real problem is when you close the loop. That is, when you have enough things that you check online (e.g. ER Forum, bike forum, piano forum, etc.) such that when you've finished checking the last one, it's time to check the first one again.

+2

 

[vicente solano]

I would drop television before internet. I guess I could go use public access, but it sure is nice to surf wearing my fuzzy slippers with my dog at my side...AT HOME.

 

[braumeister]

We lost our DSL for two days recently, and it was a serious nuisance. I was really relying on the 3G signal to do things on my iPhone. The iPhone is also my constant companion on trips, but on the second day of our outage, I actually found myself driving a few miles to the coffee shop with my laptop. Since at least 25% of the others in the coffee shop were doing the same thing, it seemed very natural. Plus they have good food and magnificent bagels!

 

[modhatter]

It's comforting to know I'm not the only one suffering from this affliction. I wonder if ATT and Comcast know how sick we really are. Could be bad for us if they know.

 

[NW-Bound]

In my month-long RV trip, as we stayed at remote state campgrounds, we did not have Internet. But as we were on the move often, we would stop by public libraries to use their WIFI to check up on my portfolio. Got to know if the market crashed, and I needed to cut the trip short to go back to make some money, ya know?

I also do not have Internet at my boonies home, although I could get a wireless card. I need to get away from my addiction occasionally in order to read and do some navel gazing.

 

[kumquat]

I always leave my laptop home when I go on trips.

I guess I'm the opposite. I left my laptop in Mexico during my last trip there.

I hadn't planned to do that, but we returned to our place one day and found stuff all over the floor and the laptop, digital camera and $10 cell phone had gone AWOL. [-]Sh*t[/-] Life happens.

 

[powerplay]

It's comforting to know I'm not the only one suffering from this affliction. I wonder if ATT and Comcast know how sick we really are. Could be bad for us if they know.

I think Comcast is on top of it since they just raised their rates $5 a month.
Hope I don't have to go back to work to support my internet addiction.

 

[GregLee]

My power went out for 3 hours a couple of days ago, and my UPS (450VA, < $50) will only keep my computer up for about 10 minutes. I was so irritated that I ordered a new UPS with 3 times the capacity (1580VA, < $200).

 

[Sue J]

I'm a serious computer user. I thought I'd have a tough time being without the internet. On the last couple of trips we've made I was able to go without internet for days and it was easier than I expected.

On my last trip I took a netbook and it was a few days before I even opened it and then I just checked email and the bank site and put it away.

When I'm home it's always available and I'm dependent on it for everything.

 

[scrabbler1]

When I try to cut down, I end up spending more time on the Internet. Is that a sign of addiction?

The real problem is when you close the loop. That is, when you have enough things that you check online (e.g. ER Forum, bike forum, piano forum, etc.) such that when you've finished checking the last one, it's time to check the first one again.

LOL you got that right! The dreaded loop.....

My internet usage went up when I finally switched to DSL a few years ago from dial-up. Only my desire not to aggravate my sensitive wrist (I wear one of those protectors while on line, at least most of the time) keeps me off the Net.

 

[hankster]

We're on vacation in Hawaii and I'm glad I brought the laptop. It has been indispensible for getting information on dozens of different things from restaurant menus to tropical fish guides for snorkeling, all from the comfort of the condo.

Our friend has a Droid for us to use in the car. Don't leave home without it

 

[deserat]

Yup - count me in here, too. Was just at a resort in Austria and they had no internet in the hotel room and a very limited modem capability in the conference room for the meeting.....however, I was able to handle it OK.....funny thing, when I left the house for the trip, had no TV signal nor internet capability, left early for airport....had nothing to do! Well, could have cleaned or something else, but why?

The access to unlimited information for answering questions, getting recipes, etc, is amazing - have a question? Google it or something like that. Want to buy something? Amazon or a shopping comparitor site is valuable. Does wonders for enabling an impatient person in their endeavors The internet and access to information has been a society and life changer - those of use who remember when we had to go to 'someone who knew' or to the library and look at microfiche realize how amazing this is.