Surviving offline... for a month! (well almost)

I have recently been blessed with the opportunity to take a break and travel around Australia for a month. Before I left I made the concious decision to not take my iPhone with me and to avoid using the Internet and any means of social media.

As a web developer this was always going to be a difficult task, no getting in touch with friends or checking for updates on Facebook, no Twitter, no email, no text messages... and no coding updates to the framework I am developing (sad I know!).

So... how did I cope?

Well, to save money on our flights (and get better seats) I had to check-in online, so the rules were broken before I even left, oops!

That aside, I managed to go the whole month without using the Internet or phone, hooray for me! This was despite the fact that everywhere I went seemed to be strewn with Internet Cafes, hotels have on demand WIFI and Internet workstations. Even bars had computers where people were lined up glued to a screen posting Facebook updates.

I did wonder why you would do this on holiday? surely you would want to relax and remove yourself from the things that stress you out in normal daily life (like computers)? Or is it that social media sites such as Facebook allow us to keep in touch with our family and friends when we are away and this is what we can't keep away from?

I will admit, the temptation was always there to post an update and some pics from my camera to my friends and since arriving home I have got straight onto Facebook and uploaded a photo album.

In summary...

Life does go on without the Internet and mobile phones. If you take away the devices then you remove the temptation, you soon forget why you want to use them in the first place. Having said that, these things do have a part to play in our modern and often hectic social lives. The Internet and especially mobile is a quick and easy way of keeping in touch. Clever applications such as online check-in have obvious benefits for us and businesses. The Internet and social media is part of our lives, it is up to us to make the best use of it without it taking over our lives.

How would you cope without it? Could you last a month? a week? a day? an hour even?

As not to leave you with such deep thoughts here is a photo of a Kangaroo I met...