One year, no internet- what’s reasonable?

I just don't see the point to be honest? Unless you were going to say regress your life to living authentically in 1950 or earlier. Then I can't see the excitement of it as a reading subject. I lived up until my early 20s without really using the internet. It wasn't exactly that much of a hassle as everyone was in the same boat.

I like things like this I would find it really interesting but it would have to be completely offline. Good luck with it and hopefully you can come back in 2026 and let us know how it's gone

Thinking about this, if you had a raspberry pi you'd probably be able to hook it up to a printer and have it check your email once a day and print out your emails for you.

But you have less than a week to say that up and test it...

How would you pitch it without the internet?

Also, if you have any kids it's impossible as all their schooling and health details require access. Schools now provide low income families with access.

If you're not a parent it would be possible, but difficult.

I think if you're going to do this you have to do it properly. Set an auto-reply on your email to tell people it won't be read and they have to telephone or write to you instead.

One workaround might be to have your emails forwarded to a friend who is willing to help you by printing them out to send on to you.

I suppose it would be quite interesting to see how someone would get on doing this in 2024/2025.

My parents never used the internet in their lives, although in their last couple of years I helped them by using the internet on their behalf - eg booking medical appointments and online shopping. And this was before 2020 when a lot more things probably moved online.

Probably an interesting project but not sure how successful writing about it would be. Maybe a retrospective blog!

Sounds like the incredibly smug articles in newspapers about how somebody 'didn't spend a penny all year' - but was already living for free in a place in central London where someone else paid for the council tax, electricity, gas, insurance and water bills, had 'friends' giving them designer clothes, shoes and food, had a fully functioning vegetable garden with a gardener who could magic up hundreds of pounds of plants and seeds out of nothing when not removing all pests by hand, could walk to work and in extremis, there was always an arts exhibition they could stroll into where they'd be given champagne and oysters for free.

You can't do it. You need it for bank accounts, for benefits, for tax, for shopping, for taking cash out, for getting the lower prices at the supermarket, for booking doctor's appointments, paying for prescriptions, for getting test results, for work, for leisure.

Even the so called off-gridders have internet access - it's how they make their money.

Was just coming to say the same thing!

Also that I'd be interested in your book xx

I haven’t RTFT, but would recommend the excellent book The Way Home by Mark Boyle. He goes beyond giving up the internet, he takes his whole life off grid and lives with no technology at all. Fascinating and very thought provoking.

I think this is an interesting book idea but if and only if you plan to stop using the internet. Which means no internet, obviously. A book about fancying quitting the internet while actually checking WhatsApp once a day would be supremely boring.

I'd expect no email. Sometimes I imagine ditching my smart phone but without email I would struggle in the modern world and I'd love to see how someone would do that.

WhatsApp would definitely be cheating. Text or get a landline!

Tbh if I were to read a book about this kind of thing I'd expect no internet and no smart phone.

If you want to do it, go for it, but I can't imagine a book, unless you are a very talented writer, would be particularly interesting.

"I wanted to order a pizza today, so I used the landline... and ordered a pizza..."

Another point is that many people go off-grid for their holidays - I do myself (camping where there is no phone signal etc.) and wouldn't really consider it noteworthy, so if you are effectively going offline for intervals between checking emails or whatever, you will lose a lot of impact.

Already been done really. Have a read of The Utopia Experiment by Dylan Evans, The Moneyless Man - Mark Boyle it's actually mostly about going without money for a year but there are his experiences of no internet also. Also Why you Can't Pay Attention by Johann Hari. He also explains his experience of going without the internet and how that effected his attention and focus.

How would you test impact? A sample of one is not conclusive and if you're reflecting on your own experience you have to allow for confirmation bias - do you expect to feel happier? Sadder? Isolated?

With respect, not many people have the luxury of going offline - jobs, banking, education is all facilitated by technology. My 94 year old nan lives with the internet as do many elderly people so it's not really something newsworthy - she's very reliant on other people FWIW

It would have to be a 'dumb phone'.

If you run a small business as you say id be wary of jeapodising that for this experiment unless you can afford to lose it

Phone is ok surely? And I guess non internet end connected computer like word or similar to type up the experience? I also wouldn't mind if you did a monthly podcast but someone else would need to upload it for you. and you wouldn't be able to access the comments.

You'd need to work around those exact reasons for not being able to give up the internet completely in order for the book to hold any interest. So definitely no email or WhatsApp whatsoever. No online banking. Absolutely no internet at all.

Literally the only interesting thing about the premise is finding out whether it's possible to live a modern urban life without using the internet at all (obviously there are elderly people and very "off grid" alternative people who do this anyway, but how will you make a life and career which has relied on being online work?). I imagine it would have to be one of those mainly light hearted/ humourous books about the mishaps and misadventures encountered when tying yourself in knots to find offline ways to do things which companies and corporations and customers have transferred online, with a serious message (either uplifting or worrying) as a sidenote.

There is absolutely nothing interesting about reading about someone who just decided to use the internet less though. Maybe you could get a (dull) article out of that if you already write a regular lifestyle column or something but it would not hold up to being a book or the central theme for multiple multiple articles.

I am employed full time in a job where (like most jobs) use of the internet is non-negotiable, so if I were to 'quit the internet' I would have to discount using it for work purposes unless I wanted to quit my job! Other than that I would expect 'quitting' to mean no (personal) use at all - including no streaming services, phone apps, 'smart' appliances, WhatsApp, Kindle, online buying etc. But with the work use continuing I suspect any book I tried to write about my experience would be rather lukewarm.

You have to remember that many of us grew up or were already adults by the time the internet came along. I completely understand that quitting in a digital world is not at all the same as time-travelling to 1983; but you will have to make an impression on people who are not going to be remotely wowed by you having to watch DVDs rather than Netflix or travel to a shop to buy something rather than ordering it online or phone someone rather than whatsapping etc.

Surely the fun of the book would be the work-arounds? And also the things that happen that we wouldn't expect? Pointless if you're on WhatsApp and email

It's not clear to me what this book is going to be about.

Surely, it will mainly be a year of struggling to live and manage workarounds for NOT having the internet.

And how can you talk about the downsides and ugly side of the internet when a) much of that doesn't affect you personally and b) you can really only talk about the downsides and ugly side if you're ON the internet researching it and other people's experiences (because it will be affecting a lot of people much more seriously than it's affecting you).

Surely the most you can do is stop using it and (the total inconvenience of that aside) monitor any improvements in your own welfare. Which doesn't really match your OP.

Or am I missing something...?

Yes sorry but it’s only worth it if you do everything offline and pay the premium if that means using a prepaid electric meter or buying your train and plane tickets at a physical travel agent. You’d need to receive and submit all your work by post too.

If I was reading about someone going offline for a year but they were actually online daily I would think they were a big fraud!

Either do it or don't do it.

I don't think it's possible nowadays to live without the Internet. Bank accounts, paying bills, arranging appointments, buying online because shops don't have what you need... All this and more.
I wouldn't be interested in a book like that, unless I'm thinking of doing it myself, which I'm not.
Use the time for something more useful.