One year, no internet- what’s reasonable?

[Mustlovebronte]

Hello and merry Christmas! I am thinking of quitting the internet for one year and pitching a non-fiction book/long form articles about the experience. This has been mulling in my head for the last few years and for different reasons 2025 would be an ideal time to do it. Similar to Ultra Processed People, I feel like companies have sucked us all into this insidious, life- sucking trap. I want to experience and write about the good, the bad, and the ugly of our digital world by using myself as a test subject (as well as getting expert opinion/latest research). 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, or would you consider it reasonable that they checked their email and WhatsApp once per day (as an example). I am self employed but most customers email me which is something I would need to work around (and nothing's impossible). I guess I want to gauge what people would consider ‘cheating’. Thanks for reading and really looking forward to any opinions xx

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the trouble to reply!

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 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?

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.

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.

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

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

Thanks for the feedback, no my life is not particularly exciting 😂. Food for thought here, there is a saying that almost all non-fiction books could be easily condensed into a long form article! X

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I think Stolen Focus covered it pretty well amongst other topics

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)

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.

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.

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.

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...

Exactly this!

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.

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.

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 .

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?