Ask HN: Is it still possible for an individual to quit the internet?

14 点作者 krrishd超过 4 年前

How do you do it without being a total hermit? Can you even come close?For all the talk of exit vs. voice, and the internet as the destination to exit to -- is there any meaningful way to exit from it without isolating yourself from society?

12 条评论

thisistheend123超过 4 年前

If you would like to quit internet and also retain your connection with the society, then I guess you would have to define society and your connection with it.Living in a modern day City, it would be difficult I guess, because so many daily life services/chores are now partially or wholly dependent on Internet. And if most of your family and close friends are also living in a city, then it becomes more difficult.But let's say that you move to a rural area, then it should become achievable. Parts of world, still untouched by hyper advanced internet dependent technology, will still retain the old ways of doing most things.You may have to convince your close ones to move with you and it becomes more difficult if you are married and have children.Starting on this path, early in life should help.

评论 #24625476 未加载

keiferski超过 4 年前

...dissolution of the biosphere into the technosphere...Depends on your work. I imagine sailors, off-shore oil rig workers, or fire lookouts don't spend much time online. With satellite internet growing, this might not last for long.Otherwise, the trick is to drastically limit your device usage. Keep your phone off by default, and only turn it on for 15 minutes a day. Use Self-Control [1] to block distracting sites. Etc.1. <a href="https://selfcontrolapp.com" rel="nofollow">https://selfcontrolapp.com</a>

评论 #24634187 未加载

tubularhells超过 4 年前

What do you mean by 'the internet'? News sites, twitter and your facebook feed? I don't read the news, don't have a twitter account and only use my FB account for talking to people via Messenger and the desktop client Caprine. I don't visit their site, and I do not engage with the platform in any way. Ah yeah and reddit. I nuked all my comments&posts and deleted the account. Haven't been back since.In many ways I'm untouched by the shit escapade that is going down in the world this year, and I'm glad for that. I only follow some niche bloggers and my webcomics in an rss reader, and that's my daily digest. How do I keep myself entertained? Books & all the other things you can do away from the computer, spiced with the occasional night of video gaming.

googlycooly超过 4 年前

IMO it is not necessary to quit internet or even social media unless it is really (I mean really) affecting your life. The benefits that you get from having access to internet and social media is way more than the negatives that you think.But, anything is harmful if consumed too much (Lol, Even Oxygen)

sigmaprimus超过 4 年前

I think it is possible, 3 years ago I didn't have a connection in my home. I used to have to drive into town and connect through open Wifi hotspots.I still do not have a cellular phone plan, I have the phone but it is not connected to anything other than my home Wifi and I primarily use it as a BT mp3 player and camera.Unfortunately quitting the Internet does put you at a disadvantage in many ways, including financial. Many restaurants and service based companies offer big discounts for either online ordering or using their apps.I would compare not having internet to not having a bank account or credit card, it can be done but puts you at a disadvantage.

core-questions超过 4 年前

Sure, why not? I quit Facebook et al. years ago. The only place I still post is here, for a little catharsis; but overall I don't miss it much. Maybe you mean a full exit, not using the Internet at all even for information purposes; but there's no reason to be so drastic. Just exercise self control and become read-only, for the most part.I am more in contact with the people I care about now. Voice calls and texts are so much more direct and personal; you become involved in people's lives, rather than perfecting the art of exchanging the role of being the bystander.What are you so scared you're going to miss out on?

评论 #24624289 未加载

sydbarrett74超过 4 年前

Why act so drastically? It's not an all-or-nothing proposition. You can quit social media without sacrificing the convenience of online bill-paying, as an example.

评论 #24624293 未加载

AnimalMuppet超过 4 年前

Well, you can use the telephone. You can write letters. You can visit people in person (or you could six months ago).You can pay bills via mail, or even in person. You can go to a physical ATM (or even into a bank lobby) and get physical money. All that is doable.Where I can't quit the internet is professionally. Especially with so many people not in the office, there is no way we can function without the internet.

codegeek超过 4 年前

Quit social media, political media and rest of internet is just fine.

dzhiurgis超过 4 年前

IMHO what's more concerning is 'quitting smartphones' - it's pretty much impossible to have online banking, use e-gov or even 2FA on Google without a phone number.

cyberdrunk超过 4 年前

Plenty of older people are not on the Internet and are not isolated from society. They tend to have richer real-life social networks though.

pdkl95超过 4 年前

The non-internet "analog option" must be preserved. I can speak from personal experience that it is becoming more difficult. Unless more people need to actually use the analog option they will be removed in the name of "efficiency" and "replacing legacy baggage".Asking if it is possible to opt-out of the increasingly digital, interconnected, and interdependent aspects of society isn't particularly important. We need to try anyway to preserve the possibility.Dan Geer on this topic[1]:> The most telling fork in the road of them all is whether we retain an ability to operate our world, or at least the parts we would call critical, by analog means. Analog means, and only analog means, do not share a common mode failure with the digital world at large. But to preserve analog means requires that they be used, not left to gather dust on some societal shelf in the hope than when they are needed they will work. This requires a base load, a body of use and users that keep the analog working. [...]> What we have here is an historic anomaly, an anomaly where the most readily available counter to an otherwise inexorable drift into a vortex of singleton technology risk and the preservation of a spectrum of non-trivial civil rights is one and the same counter: the guarantee, by force of law where necessary, that those who choose to not participate in the digital melange can nevertheless fully enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to opt out of the digital vortex does not thereby require that they live in medieval conditions, and, by doing so, we reap a national security benefit in the bargain as those opting out are the base load for the analog alternative. [...]> And that is what I am here to tell you, that the future of humanity and cybersecurity are conjoined, so that as we prepare to make some decisions that are of the fork-in-the-road sort, we need to think it through because in making decisions about cybersecurity we are choosing amongst possible futures for humanity. Those decisions will be expensive to later reverse in either dollars or clock-ticks.> The onrushing world of full personalization means the rational decision for the individual or the small entity does not and will not aggregate into the rational decision for society at large. Perhaps that is the core effect from a rate of change up with which we cannot keep. [...]> You, we, are the masters of the universe now. What will we do with that power, which we have but a short while more?[1] <a href="http://geer.tinho.net/geer.ncc.8x18.txt" rel="nofollow">http://geer.tinho.net/geer.ncc.8x18.txt</a>edit:Video of Dan Geer's talk: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbDEbfijxNY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbDEbfijxNY</a>

评论 #24624683 未加载