AIBU to see the irony in threads about no having a penny but using the internet to rant??!!

[scuzy]

not on this forum but other ones i frequent i see many thread about having only a fiver in purse to last til next week to feed the kids. i mean seriously if things are that bad would you not get rid of the internet (unless its free) or sky or other luxuries??

or are they poor me attention seeking threads?

Oh sooo true Endo. I cannot have a conversation with my daughters without them having their heads buried in their mobiles, I find it so damn rude TBH.
We would walk everywhere, occasionally use the house phone to make arrangements if Mum wasn't around to moan about the 'two bob' it costs and 'you can pay me that out of your saturday job money'! And we would write notes, endless notes. usually in class of course but maybe I shouldn't say that (from one trainey teacher to a fully fledged one!!!)

have you tried to live without the internet

i had to go 3 months without and i'll tell you its on easy

even trying to order a phone line to get internet access i needed the internet

Were moving and dreading no proper Internet for few weeks :(

YABVVVVVU - being online is an essential, not a luxury. It's like saying people should stop heating their homes and should sit in the dark to save electricity! Are you very old/completely uneducated? Do you have no understanding of how most people use the internet? Personally, it saves me a fortune every month - I can do things like banking from home instead of taking a bus to the bank, I search for things I want to buy second-hand or discounted, I can find cheap tickets if I need to travel somewhere, I email rather than posting letters or making phone calls, I watch TV for free instead of subscribing to Sky, I read the news online instead of buying the papers... the list goes on and on.

Oops sorry scuzy, I feel so strongly about this that I fired off my rant as soon as I'd read your OP without bothering to read the rest of the thread!

YABU, I always look to cancel other things first. The internet is my only entertainment and more importantly I use it for job hunting.

Another mum at the school asked me for job hunting help recently. Over 90% of the jobs she has tried to apply for insisted she apply online. She was struggling to get enough time at the library computers due to looking after her DC, the computers being rationed due to demand and their use for classes etc. The best time for her to job search and make applications is at night when the DC are in bed. She can then apply for more jobs than she otherwise would, spend more time on each application thereby increasing her chances of getting a job.

There was another thread on here complaining about schools setting homework that required internet access yet not having enough computers for the children to do it on. There were posters complaining that people were irresponsible if they didn't have internet. They can't win can they.

Maybe I am being irresponsible paying for internet every month but I don't smoke or drink so spend nothing on cigarettes or alcohol, don't put the heating on if it is just me in the house, don't buy new clothes for myself, eat the cheapest food possible, don't go out on nights out etc so I can provide for dd. I think I deserve a little time on the internet, maybe that's selfish.

Digression but minus273, love yr user name - is yr name Kelvin?

No but you are along the right lines whatdo

I would get rid of the TV, the licence fee, sky, my telephone, my hi-fi system and my magazine subscriptions before I got rid of the internet. YABU

I think someone who knows they only have a fiver till next week is probably more financially aware than someone who just puts things on a credit card.

So just because someone's poor that means you get to judge and prioritise how they should be spending their money according to your ideals, OP?

YABU

I introduced a friend who was v hard up to surveys now she earns the odd £10 with valued opinions it makes a huge difference- the odd few quid i make really helps too as does access to offers at supermarkets cheap recipes and socialisation.

If they are that poor why dont we just open the workhouse?

YABU. If I want to go to the nearest library to use the internet it would cost me £2.50 each way on the bus. To go twice a week would cost me £10.00 per week plus I work full time so it just isn't practical.

My broadband with Sky only costs me £7.50 a month and is unlimited. I am also tied into a contract so it would cost me to cancel it so even if I was extremely hard up the internet would not be going.

Glad you've seen the error of your way op

I'm well skint! I have internet. Had it cancelled for a few months when i couldn't pay, but its back at the moment.

I am constantly looking for better paid jobs on it and constantly ebaying too! I could live without it but it would be harder for the kids to manage because of all their school/college work.

Well done Op for admitting you were wrong!

I was thinking about this last night. I remembered that about 4 years ago the jobcentre was closed down in my town. People complained that local unemployed people will now have to pay over £4 to catch a bus to travel 13 miles to the nearest jobcentre. And what about single parents with little ones?

The answer was; people can access the job centre online to job search.

It's just an example of how much we have become dependant on the internet (for right or for wrong). How much we take it for granted that everyone has access.

There's a town in England somewhere with free internet coverage!

I used to think it was a bit ironic, but if you think about it, there are so many ways you can get internet cheaply or freely...and it's not like they're putting coins into the machine. What strikes me more is when there's a TV show on the poorest families and they are feeding pounds into the TV and they do have branded foods. Yes yes the level of poor in this country is different, but so is the level of what we see as luxury.

I don't think the internet is essential. Or it shouldn't be, at least. When you're at school, it's not going to hurt to take an extra half hour looking at books and writing it down (assuming you don't have dyslexia or something and the computer is a lifesaver). For one thing, writing something down manually keeps it in your head longer, so you remember it better. I don't like the idea of relying on a machine to take all the hard work away. And the internet can be brilliant for information, but books are always more comprehensive imo.

YABU. I HAVE to have the internet for DD to do her homework - there's never a pc available at school before her homework needs to be handed in, and she gets detentions otherwise. Which is unfair on her. So while right now, I do literally have less than £5 in my purse (sodding CSA - Ex-P has paid, they haven't sent it through to my bank on time), I am able to rant on here while my DD is at school and not using the internet. I can't just 'cancel' my internet, either - if I did, I'd have to pay right up to the end of the contract. You can't just break a legally binding contract with your internet service provider without financial penalty, you know. If I cancelled my Dongle now, I'd have to pay the remaining 11 months at once - which is £165.

So YABVVU, and surely everyone knows that you can't just 'cancel' a 12 / 18 months internet contract without paying until the end - so you have to keep it going anyway, or you'd have to find a HUGE amount of money, rather than the £15 a month payment.

YABU

It's essential in this house - how else would I help ds with his Maths homework?

I think that many people have no idea what real poverty is....

The internet is not essential....it remains a luxury in my book.

I get 6 months internet access on T Mobile (dongle) for £20.
That works out at 83p per week.
Hardly a luxury.

Ha - if I got rid of the internet I'd have no job because I work from home on internet related tasks which comprise 100% of my work. It's thertefore absolutely essential. There must be many many more people like me who would not be able to at least part of their job if they didn't have the internet.

Despite this "luxury" I can however state categorically that I am broke.

bleddy BT are charging me £90 to cancel my broadband!!!!!!!!!

(had to move in a hurry, staying in temporary accommodation)

Huntycat Check with your DDs school to find out if she is entitled to free laptop and 12mths dondle supply through goverment scheme,my DD got it for DGD at the beginning of the year.Not sure if still available but worth a try.