I want to find/create a community that does not use Internet
I’ve ended my extended Internet abstinence about a month ago, but I’m still severely cutting back on my Internet use. Overall, it went well, but I think it could have gone a lot better if I was living in an entire community of people who didn’t use Internet (do you know of any?). Doing it on my own felt like living in Brave New World — I’m assuming you’ve read Huxley’s masterpiece. I really identified with the character who’s originally from the savage lands and starts living in the BNW world. He felt so overwhelmed by all the soma and the people addicted to the soma that killed himself at the end. Don’t worry, I’m not nearly that stressed out. But it’s still interesting to think about: mindless Internet games, videos, social media drama, tv are simply today’s soma. It’s effectively sedating our culture — I hate it.
Oh, and Google’s “Project Glass”
Those glasses that shove a computer in your face? That thing is the devil incarnate. People will just sit around watching cat videos all day. Brave New World much?!
That was metonymy: cat videos are just an example of the larger phenomenon. We’re just becoming more and more a sound-bite culture, obsessed with instant gratification, constant novelty, and high stimuli. We’re already so absorbed in our phones and computers, reading shit articles, daily news drama, watching thirty second YouTube videos just for entertainment. Even the “educational stuff” is pop facts with no rational argumentation or dialectic or sustained focus. It sucks us into our iPhones and not into each other… people are getting so addicted: mindless Internet games, videos, social media drama, tv are effectively sedating our culture — I hate it.
Nonetheless, here’s why I’m posting. I really, really want to find any communities, regions, or social communes that don’t use Internet. I’d like to find one — or create one if it doesn’t exist.
Yeah, I could go to a remote, mountainous region in the Himalayas, but I’d rather not butt in on a people’s culture like that. I’d rather not contribute to globalization. Instead, something somewhere in North-east USA? Actually, I’d be interested to know of any place regardless of geography.
I found this guy who lived on his own with no Internet in Cuba and decided to try to replicate it in the USA. I wish him luck. Here’s an excerpt of his blog. Oh, and here’s the Reddit post from which I found the blog post, which has quality critical comments (quality as in not like the unrestrained hatred one often finds on the Internet).
“I moved into a new apartment at the start of April, and decided to try an experiment: not having an internet connection.
When I tell people that I don’t have internet, they assume that it’s because I just moved in, and haven’t set it up.Nope, don’t want it.
Is it because I can’t afford it? Nope, don’t want it.
At this point, people become a little confused. Why would I not want an internet connection?
Anytime everyone believes the same thing without question, there’s a good chance it’s something that we as a society haven’t thought through. This can be a good idea for things that have stood the test of time. But if something is new, we can’t afford to accept or reject an idea without question.
The internet snuck up on us. It’s extremely useful, but we haven’t thought through how we should use it. It’s gotten steadily more enticing…there’s so much more you can do and read.
If you want, you can spend your whole day on the internet. And that’s a problem. I think it’s a bigger problem than most people are willing to admit: many people have become internet addicts.
I was one. Here’s my story.”
So, know of any accessible community that doesn’t use Internet?
