One year, no internet- what’s reasonable?

You have go offline completely (no Email, WhatsApp, etc.)
I also would expect you to publish and market your book without the internet after all it's a life sucking trap.

Do you not work?

If so, how would this impact that?

What about all of your bills?
Mine seem to need email and some form of online commitment (although I’m sure you must be able to still do it all over the phone/paper based).

You would need to not do online banking etc either.

If you want to do this then I look into being funded by a phd.

I think it will be very interesting and having someone perhaps in a psychology field to help, will be make it that more thorough.

Edit: sorry I’ve just realised I didn’t read your OP properly which answered half of my questions.

You cannot do a study of going without internet but then still be using it every day.

As the PP said, it’s like going a year without alcohol but having one alcoholic drink a day still.

I'd be interested in reading the book if you did it properly. No internet at all, no internet-connected services. A book about someone who only used the internet once a day? No. I know several people who access it less often than that.

That would be like giving up alcohol but just having a shot and a beer each day. So either go cold turkey or don't bother.

It would be like reading about my childhood when the Internet hadn't been invented 😀
Are you sure you want to put yourself through that hell for a year?
Young people might be interested but do they read books, you'd be better off with a Blog but that would defeat the objective!
Us oldies will be rolling our eyes, been there done that.
*If you wanted to look up some information, you went to the library or if you were lucky your family had a set of encyclopedias.
*Want to make an appointment, go to the phone box and look up the number in the phone book (if it hadn't been vandalised)
*Arrange an event with friends or family, off to the phone box again.

• Want to buy clothes, traipse around the shops. *Need a food shop, traipse to the supermarket or the corner shop. *Need medical help, ring 999 from the aforementioned phone box or wait until the GP surgery opens. *Need a taxi, off to the phone box again. *Want a holiday, traipse off to the local travel agent. *Need to travel by train or bus, turn up to the bustop or train station and hope you've not just missed one. I do wish you good luck though

“I logged out of my Mumsnet account but aside from that carried on exactly as normal” - one woman’s harrowing tale

100% off line IMHO.
I think it would be interesting but better "sold" as a one-off TV documentary rather than a book.
Unless you have a truly riveting life, I can't see how reading about this topic would be gripping.

Ps. Unlikely to sell any books but expect there would be quite a few articles and TV and radio appearances in it. It’s mildly interesting.

I also am not your target audience. If somebody wants to live without the internet they can move somewhere with no coverage - there are acres of rural/wilderness land in Canada and the US which aren’t online, before you even start with the developing world.

But yes checking your email and WhatsApp and whatever else daily is absolutely cheating. What else are you “just” doing - just paying your bills online, just doing a quick supermarket shop, just checking twitter? You’d need to swap your phone for a Nokia and cancel your internet for the year, in my book. No using the internet in coffee shops or libraries etc either.

Out of interest, are you planning on using other services which use the internet too, like computerised banking systems? Or just not using the internet personally?

I would just ask my mum about her life. Or any of the other people who don’t ever use the internet.
Yes you would have to go off grid completely. Snail mail.

I’d definitely say go for it OP!i

in fact a close relative is talking about doing something similar ..

You'd have to be totally offline for it to have any chance of selling. No email. No WhatsApp. No smart phone. No iPad. No computer. No streaming/smart TV. Nothing.

I agree that it would mean nothing at all otherwise it would be pointless. But I also wouldn't read the book in the first place because I like internet and don't really have any desire to read about how hard it is to give up Netflix or pay a bill online.

'My question is, if you were to pick up a book like this, would you expect the author to go offline completely and work around the inconveniences'

Er, yes?! Otherwise what is the point of the book. 'I went offline except when it was inconvenient'?!

If you're going to do it, you've got to REALLY do it. Even if you do, I really can't see the point or many people being interested

If you are going “no internet” I would expect you to absolutely abstain from the internet. No email. No whatsapp. No voip. No streaming. no smartphone.

if you want tv, music, or other entertainment, you need to figure out a way to get it without the internet. If you want to communicate, you need to figure out a way to do it without the internet. If you want to get communication from your child’s school, no internet (good luck with that one by the way, at least at our school even the children get their basic info online).

Who is your audience? Purely anthropological, i think you need to go full no Internet and talk about the genuine issues you face, e.g. like not being able to pay a bill amd talk to others, like the elderly, with similar problems, or you need a health hook, such as an eye problem driving you to navigate a non-dogital world, including job opportunity problems (like an editor having to correspond with you by post).

Alternatively, aim for the regular Joe trying to reduce phone use and wrote about how friends and family reacted, impact on them too, benefits like more quality family time etc. You could probably then write about how your first day, week month went and why you needed to make some cheat rules.

As pp said though, like fuck would I read a book by someone who gave up the Internet but still checked it daily. I could accept a weekly 15 min slot on a Sunday. But tbh, using text all day instead of WhatsApp is utter nonsense*. I'd also like to hear about how you're moving away from the need to check emails every week e.g. subscribing to postal contact only or changing your contact information with companies for anything other than banking correspondence.

*edited to add, it's nonsense because the problem, to me, is not the Internet, its phone use. I'd rather read from someone who gave up a smart phone.

Unless your offline 100% not interested at all, no online banking, no online direct debits, no cashless payments, no smartphone, no internet , no catch-up tv, no mumsnet, ect. it all uses online services.

Not sure how your going to manage all that though.

I think it will be impossible in the modern world. But if you are going to write a book about not going online for a year then that's what you have to do. Checking once a day or once a week is still using the internet

There are millions of people who have lived for many years without the internet.

I’m one of them. My book would be short. It would say ‘The internet makes life easier and more interesting. The end.’

Sounds like a tedious book. I have seen it before in a newspaper article but that was just for a week.
life it set up to use the internet, why make it so hard for yourself.
if you are doing it you need to fully commit, no smart phone/whataspp/ email/ no internet tv- streaming services/no social media/ browsing/ apps etc

Of course you can't use e-mail if you're quitting the internet 😂

I don't see the point personally, who will really care?