One year, no internet- what’s reasonable?

See, I remember those times too but I might potentially find it interesting, in a sort of 'gosh, I'd forgotten it was like that!' way.

It would have to be a total internet ban though, otherwise I think it's cheating really.

No internet at all. It can’t be that difficult or at least according to those dipstick parents who think no one under sixteen should have a smart phone. Live like a 15 year old with strict parents, it’ll do you the world of good according to them.

No MN either OP, you’ll obviously never manage that if you can’t even start your book without us.

It is a lot harder now as businesses expect you to be online.

Exactly. Everyone born pre 1990s lived like this.

Honestly. I remember life before the internet.
I really dont see the point of this.
It's a bit more time consuming to get things but you make up that time by not being able to scroll through shite!

Of course it would mean no email checking!!

Your self employed tax return will be a nightmare. But.... That's surely the point of your book? There are others out there who can't or don't want to access the online world but increasingly society is making it compulsory. Presumably you'd write about the difficulties encountered (as well as the gains) and maybe seek to interview others who feel digitally excluded?

You'd need to be completely offline otherwise it's as fake as the person who wrote about being a hermit when they were no such thing. What would be the point if you're still checking your mail? Any of us can do that. I don't have a phone, I don't have a tv, I'm not on facebook, I wasn't on MN until a couple of months ago. There are more people than you imagine who are not living their life on the internet.

I think it could be interesting, albeit difficult. I was talking recently about travelling before the internet - it seemed a lot more exciting, not being able to look up places and virtually see them before you went there. The downside is that most tickets are digital these days.
I don't know about the emails, I guess they are different from using the internet so you would need to decide if you were offline completely or simply not using the web.
I don't know if I'd be interested in it or not. Ultra Processed People is quite in-depth - are you able to do the same?

OP this is what actually going cold turkey on the internet and mobile phones looks like.

would you consider it reasonable that they checked their email and WhatsApp once per day

This tickled me. Of course not. Those of us old enough to remember lived entirely without internet for years. 'Only' checking once a day is completely normal for many many people.

This book might be interesting in about 40 years, when all the people old enough to remember are dead. And 'only' checking once a day is a feat. But not now!

Obviously, you'd have to go completely Internet free, otherwise you're writing a book about being on the Internet slightly more than huge numbers of people (probably older generation) who already use it less than once per day!

To be honest though, i wouldn't be interested in reading a book about it I'm afraid. I thought ultra processed people was a bit tedious as it was the same message told a million ways, and at least that had lots of different scientific studies to discuss. A whole book to say (I'm guessing) it was hard, but kind of worth it in some respects, but not sustainable to thay degree long term - no thanks.

I think this is a really interesting idea. I think it should be completely offline though. Will you interweave studies / research etc about impact of internet on society throughout the book? Could there be a way to scientifically monitor the impact of life offline on your health eg brain changes / improved concentration etc?

So you want to write a book about being offline, while still being online?

I wouldn’t be interested in a book like this , I was alive in a time with no internet and I see nothing clever or funny about going back there . I would also expect the person to be completely offline , no email , no WhatsApp etc otherwise what is the point .

Checking once a day makes the a farce of the idea you’d be Internet free. The fact you’re planning what Internet use you can get away with claiming to be Internet free should tell you a lot about inauthentic your approach is. What would your book tell us?

If you need to check things like email and WhatsApp, may be better to go mobile free and just use the Internet at home on a computer.

If you were going no internet I'd expect just that.
No online banking, no online utilities, no online shopping, no online communication at all, no online contact with school, no contactless payments in fact I'd say no smart phone at all just a dumb function phone, Nokia do lots still.
No cloud hosted work documents etc.

Only then would this be even vaguely interesting - to see if it's possible to live in the UK without it.

Exactly this!

I wouldn't be interested in reading a book about this @Mustlovebronte . Also, I don't believe anybody could do it either. Even if it's someone very elderly who doesn't 'do' internet and smartphones etc, they would still probably have to get someone else to do things for them - via the internet and smartphones...

I have a friend who isn't connected to the internet. She just sees it as part of her normal, everyday existence. It is unusual, but she refuses to connect. She doesn't view her life as any poorer as a result. She paints and reads books.

Checking your email and WhatsApp daily is not being offline for a year 😂😂😂😂

And no, sorry, I wouldn't be interested in reading about a gimmick like this. I wouldn't read an article on it let alone a whole book.

What’s the point in writing a whole book when you’ve nailed the reality of it in one OP? You can’t reasonably live and work in today’s world without the internet because you do not exist alone in a vacuum. If you wouldn’t actually be living without the consequences of going completely offline, you can’t authentically write about it as an experience.

Yes you are describing my life until I was about 20. It really wasn't all that. And the real advances have only come about in the past 8 years or so with better phones etc. The Internet is good in many ways ...its all about balance. So either go 100% or nothing (but the practicalities are tricky)

I think Stolen Focus covered it pretty well amongst other topics

Yawn! I can't be bothered with the endless articles and books about how life would be so much better without access to all the wonderful services we get from the internet. My life is a thousand times better now than when I was a child in the ultra-boring 50s and 60s, simply because I now have access to information I could never have dreamed of when I was younger.