Group Calls for Day with No Internet.
January 26, 2002 7:36 PM   Subscribe

Group Calls for Day with No Internet. Bah humbug.
posted by adampsyche (37 comments total)
 
"A British campaign group ... call for Internet users to log off and enjoy a Web-free day in the open air."

Those Brits, so arrogant about their clean air. We Americans dare not go outside and breath pure carcinogens.
posted by fleener at 7:46 PM on January 26, 2002


Here are the details at their site.
posted by sycophant at 8:11 PM on January 26, 2002


MSNBC can't even tell us what day it is?

Man, it's too cold to spend a day outside. Try me in the Spring.

Maybe I'll organize a group to call for me eating pie for breakfast tomorrow.

Mmm... pie.
posted by adamv at 8:11 PM on January 26, 2002


the Web is my TV. I barely watch television, but I waste great swaths of my life online doing nothing.
posted by rebeccablood at 8:19 PM on January 26, 2002


I think this is a massive plan so they can download at amazing speeds while we are all logged off and not taking up bandwidth.
posted by bytecode at 8:20 PM on January 26, 2002


Pry it...from...my cold...dead...hands....
posted by jpoulos at 8:46 PM on January 26, 2002


"They have arranged a day of theatre, poetry music and walks along London’s South Bank."

Clearly these people don't have 6" of snow on the ground.

I agree with adamv.

I already have plenty of webfree days - IN SUMMER.
posted by Salmonberry at 8:46 PM on January 26, 2002


A forecast of sixty degree temperature for the New York City metro area in January is good enough incentive to stay off the 'puter for the day.
Plus football playoff games!
posted by ooogiebooogie at 8:50 PM on January 26, 2002


With rebecca on this one.
posted by bjgeiger at 8:57 PM on January 26, 2002


They seem to think the Internet is a bad thing.

"A vehicle for social isolation"? Without the Internet I would have approximately zero friends! (I'm not a loser, I just play one in real life.)

The 'net isn't *everything* of course (I met all of my now-net-friends in real life - moving is a bitch), and I love all sorts of non-Internet things, the outdoors especially (heh, like it's some kind of special place I visit). But I see no reason to try to reduce its role in my life.
posted by whatnotever at 8:58 PM on January 26, 2002


DoBe? Excuse me, did I hear that right? I don't think it rhymes with lobe.

I'm sure someone will be blogging the day's events.

Maybe next we should have a day without language.

I'm really fractured tonight...
posted by joemaller at 9:19 PM on January 26, 2002


Oops. It's past midnight, and I just logged onto MeFi to find out that today is the day I'm not supposed to use the Internet. O.K., I promise to turn it off right now. Really. Well, maybe I'll just look around a little more.

(I actually was off-line almost all day Saturday, and did take my kid to the [snow-covered] beach in the national park here. Maybe those intolerant Brits would count that.)
posted by LeLiLo at 9:53 PM on January 26, 2002


Language Is A Virus.

This reminds me of a group that existed in the late 1980s who called themselves "The Society For The Eradication of Television." They used to have a newsletter where they wafted philosophically on all the ways one could just say no to technology. Walk instead of drive a car. Sell your TV and then if there was something you wanted to see on TV go and bug your friends who still have TVs and make it a "social engagement." I always wondered how they made their newsletter without using technology. They're defunct now. I guess they finally just said no to photocopiers.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:58 PM on January 26, 2002


I tried spending most of the last nine months without the internet (not of my own choosing), and I don't reccommend it to anyone in their right mind.
Lost my nifty (to me) domain name to pornsters... (Yeah, the phrase One Swell Foop is just DRIPPING with eroticism), so please don't go looking for me at my old address.
I'm not yet finished rebuilding my off-line life, and just starting to rebuild my on-line one.
But I know I'm going to stay on the web continuously until this foolish "day with no internet" is over... wait a minute: NetZero now limits you to ten hours a MONTH? Did this happen while I was gone?

(yes, this is a totally superfluous ego-trip post --- you people didn't actually think I'd CHANGE, did you?)
posted by wendell at 10:13 PM on January 26, 2002


joemaller: I like your Day Without Language idea. (I'm assuming you meant spoken.) Pick a day---any day---and let's go for it and see what happens.
posted by realjanetkagan at 10:14 PM on January 26, 2002


hey, I'll follow anyone outside for a DoBe
posted by victors at 10:45 PM on January 26, 2002


realjanet -- My sister does that every year on her birthday. (April 23rd, oddly enough also the birthday of the greatest English language user -- Will Shakespeare.) Drives out of town early in the morning and goes off 100-200 miles, in a direction where nobody knows her. Then comes home after dark, not having said a word all day.
posted by LeLiLo at 10:48 PM on January 26, 2002


A day with no internet? But won't that mean that the terrorists have won?
posted by MidasMulligan at 11:02 PM on January 26, 2002


I'm tired of these ephemeral movements. Let's go for some actions with material consequence. Prisoners, I declare January 27 a day without anal sodomy. January 28 is a day without shooting up. January 29 can be a day without child abuse. I'm sure there are many more we can ponder while we choose to spend our recess outside.
posted by fncll at 11:19 PM on January 26, 2002


I'm surprised there aren't more of these "days without" events. Here are some others I've found...

Day Without Violence early April
Day without Tobacco May 31
Day Without Cars (Galapagos Island) June 5
Day without Cars (Europe) September 22
Day without Art/World AIDS Day, Day without Museums December 1st
Day without Pesticides (Peru) December 3
and (I can't tell if this next one is a spoof, or is serious)
Day without Underwear National Commando Day, December 17th
posted by bragadocchio at 12:35 AM on January 27, 2002


Doo Bee Doo Bee Doooo
posted by delmoi at 1:20 AM on January 27, 2002


It was a cold, rainy, miserable day here in Kyoto, so am I ever glad I got broadband in November. 10 minutes ago I got email from a high school classmate in California I haven't heard from since graduation 15 years ago. Bet I wouldn't have met him down by the Kamo River in the rain. As soon as we reach the far side of February, I'll start getting excited about cycling and hiking again.

Thank you, internet, and God bless you.

p.s. YahooJapan still hasn't gotten around to billing me for router and almost 3 months of ADSL service. They were so swamped with applications when BB went live that they must have stuffed all the apps in a box somewhere.
posted by planetkyoto at 1:20 AM on January 27, 2002


How about a day without campaign groups?
posted by walrus at 2:44 AM on January 27, 2002


Oh, sure, the Internet is great. But some people (myself included...?) do take it to addiction-like levels. I think forcing these people to spend a day without checking the same websites again and again, mindlessly surfing, and generally accomplishing nothing, would be a good thing.

That said, of course, fncll is right. There are far worse social ills out there to tackle first.
posted by chrismear at 2:49 AM on January 27, 2002


I know it's kinda frivolous and all, but has anyone else had it up to here with other people's little suggesting about how one aught to be living? Less internet, less television, less tobacco, less fat, less booze, porn, salt, blah blah blah...

Everybody off my ass. Run your own pointless lives.

I don't really even indulge that much in most of what I've listed above, I'm just sick of being told what to do. Nobody has life figured out. Shut up.

If they had their lives figured out, they wouldn't feel the need to run yours.
posted by dong_resin at 3:06 AM on January 27, 2002


You know, I have been known to fit in a walk AND the internet in a single day....it is called time management.

Don't these people have better things to do with THEIR time?
posted by bunnyfire at 3:26 AM on January 27, 2002


Go outside? .... pchhh ya right. Seen the weather in ol' Blighty recently?
posted by MintSauce at 4:04 AM on January 27, 2002


After two days without MetaFilter this week, I've done my part!
posted by Carol Anne at 5:22 AM on January 27, 2002


I think this group would be a lot more beneficial if they concentrated on closing the digital divide.
posted by sadie01221975 at 5:38 AM on January 27, 2002


I agree with bunny. Moderation is a nice thing. But a day without 'Net? Outside contact is so overrated.
posted by adampsyche at 5:38 AM on January 27, 2002


Good call, Mintsauce. They should call it, Everybody Stand Outside and Rot in the Flood Day. Super Idea. I'll stay here and read about it, thank you very much. Then my time management skills tell me it's time to get to my kickboxing class.
posted by Quixoticlife at 5:41 AM on January 27, 2002


rb: the Web is my TV. I barely watch television, but I waste great swaths of my life online doing nothing.

Except writing books... and parts of books...
posted by feelinglistless at 6:01 AM on January 27, 2002


Hey, the european day without cars is on my birthday. That's cool. so, i promise not to drive in europe on my birthday. of course, I don't drive anyway...

I go through phases of being more and less addicted to the internet, and to TV. Definitely partly related to the weather, and to my schedule. Currently I'm unemployed, and I haven't had classes since early December, so for almost two months I've spent too much time wasting time. But i've a busy afternoon today, & start spring semester tomorrow, so won't feel guilty for checking in this morning.

These "day w/o" days are kinda dumb, but maybe kinda useful, in just reminding us to be aware of what we're doing. TV & Tetris I use as mindless escapes; sometimes being online is an escape, but it's less mindless, so I don't feel as if it's entirely wasted time. I usually read something interesting.
posted by mdn at 6:51 AM on January 27, 2002


[nitpick]

"Roll a dice"? Die, dammit, die!

[/nitpick]
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:44 AM on January 27, 2002


i don't even know what i'd do with all the time, if i had a day without the internet... oh yeah, i'd work.
posted by lotsofno at 8:30 AM on January 27, 2002


I don't have to log off just to get some fresh air. All I have to do is scoot my computer closer to the window.
posted by Jessy at 4:42 PM on January 27, 2002


Just checking in.
posted by EngineBeak at 5:30 PM on January 27, 2002


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