To Internet or Not
The Wired Writer Writes
I have a love-hate relationship with 24×7 connections. I have a smart phone, a desk top computer and a laptop, a Facebook presence, a blog (duh), and gawd help me, I tweet and twitter away—lines from works in progress—a wireless router, and chant my OM’s in tune with the rattle and hum of the virtual highway. I even earn my living in this byway. I access as much as I am accessed.
I plug in—like a junkie sniffing—as my arm reaches for the smart phone adorned in a sexy pink jumper on my two-tier bookcase to the left of my bed. My right eye flutters open to scan my person email accountS, work mails, and text messages, all before I march up the courage to de-duvet, slitter out of the platform bed and place my Herman Munster’s flat on the faux white marble flooring. I stagger with no swagger to shower away the sleep. The hot water pelting down on me opens my pours, reawakens my mind, and refreshes the unfinished to-do list growing faster than the dust bunny commune under my bed does. My mind reconnects with the universe reminding me of the pages yet to be edited, the story poem mid-rhythm, the letters to a lover I dream of, the story forming in the darkest recesses of my mind.
I love the speed at which my connection sparks and revives but as my mind turns over and reshuffles the list, pushing the older unfinished work to the head of the list I wonder how Will Shakespeare would cope with the infusion of white noise, the buzz of the telephone wires, and manage his creative works. What would he say about the possibility of being wired each minute of each hour, day, week, month? ‘Tis the question of the post.
To Internet or Not
To internet or not, ‘tis the question of the day:
Whether the mind grows of its own accord or flounders
The missed comments not made on Facebook,
The lost sleep of not knowing or sharing from the lack of posting,
No tweeting, or uploading, clicking or surfing
And, in the solitude, ending the 24×7 connection. To breathe, to walk
Without restriction – to finish a conversation without interruption
The hunch, the carpel tunnel, the crossed eyes-gone
That peace within restored—your creative selves entwined
Pledging to thy self, this new union. To breathe, to walk
To inhale deeply with no stress of buzzing and ringing. Ay, there’s the rub,
For in the peace of calm will you miss the virtual world you are so fond,
When the month is gone and connection restored
Will you take pause? Honor your new self, respect
All you have learned? And the books you read, poems and love letters written
With care which have warmed and held you, kept you clear
Will you love and honor them too?
Or at midnight on the thirtieth day at 12:01
Will you reboot and shout Halleluiahs?
To internet or not, ‘tis the question of the day
Come clean, could you power down and out for a month?
I couldn't do it. My computer is always online, unless I'm sleeping. Part of my love of being online is feeling connected to other writers. I talk to writers all over the world and without the internet, I wouldn't be able to. I'd really miss that. I wouldn't get to talk to you, Brenda.
I also need to be online for my editing and to promote my books. Really most of what I do related to writing takes place online. And since I can't live without writing, I can't live without the internet.
I couldn't do it for that long, not by choice. Some blackout or unfortunate circumstance would have to occur. I can, however, cut out certain things associated with the internet. Actually, I don't use the internet on my cell. I don't Facebook daily, nor twitter. I don't blog daily either. I could benefit by cutting blogging down to twice a week. Hmmm…In other words, I can minimize my usage of the internet a great deal, for a month but not give it up for that length of time.
However, in defense of writers, I think that online dictionary/thesaurus is so convenient and speeds the writing process along. 
Tosh: I am not in support of giving it up, but and do limit my time online (says the woman who sits in front of a computer all day long). I am talking about my writing life, where I do limit my exposure to the airwaves (but the computer remains on). I don't tweet or FB everyday, but then again, I don't tell the world about my comings and goings, either. I do love to hate being connected but it's a mood thing.
I have often thought about this Brenda, but no, I don't think I could power out for a month. It would involve me using the telephone. I hate that thing. However, I travel to the US fairly frequently and my data/voice/text packages on my iPhone only cover Canada. So to avoid roaming charges, I SERIOUSLY DO THINK TWICE about downloading emails, making a call, sending a text or tweet, and suddenly consider my phone for emergencies only. It's painful. I feel displaced. Am seriously thinking of buying a TravelPak add-on for the cupcoming hockey tournament weekend in Lake Placid. What does this say about me??
I take comfort in believing that Shakespeare didn't go far without his quill and seriously doubt he could go a month without dipping into the inkwell
Good question Brenda. I don't think I could do it for a month. Though unplugging now and again would be a very good idea. My first book was released into the world over the summer and since then I've been tweeting and facebooking and blogging and generally cruising like a mad woman. It is like an addiction though. I might get more actual writing done if I unplugged.
Great Post!
I. Love. It!
Honestly, I'm not sure I could disconnect. It's like caffeine. Without it, things could get very ugly!
Super post.
Hi Annie-Glad to see you here on grrlguide. I know, it would get scary if all us addicts to the wifi and satellites were unwired. It would be living zombie movie, yes?
Such a timely post, Brenda. Social media has been so helpful, yet also controlling. I fear I'm losing control over it. If I could get through two days without the Internet, I suppose I might have a chance at skipping it for a month. Wouldn't be able to do it now (because of book promotion and all), but some day, Brenda. Some day …
What about you?
You are sOOo clever, Brenda!
Its funny to me that the internet is supposed to be about connecting (and it does connect us in ways we have never been connected before!) and yet because of it, often times we seem to connect less with our very selves.
Brenda,
This is so funny that you should ask this question right now. My husband and I just had a fight about this exact subject this morning. He thinks that phones should be turned off at night and I, having three children spread out all over the U.S. want to keep it on in case I get a call in the middle of the night and someone needs to get ahold of me. My argument lost…especially since my number, although easy to remember, happens to be the same as an old airport shuttle number and in the middle of the night I ever so often receive calls from travelers saying "Is this Bel-Air shuttle?" I didn't have a leg to stand on since last night at 4AM one such traveler woke us up.
Hey Brenda,
Great post! It is really hard to imagine life without being plugged in, and it takes intention to truly remove myself from all the plugs that bind me. I love your Shakespearean tribute. I wrote a really similar post in April of 2010 about the FB/ Twitter/ online writing platform issues. I too wrote in Shakespearesque prose. I dug it up: http://meaganfrank.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/wilt-… It sounds like you would enjoy the new movie coming out "Anonymous" too. I am really looking forward to seeing it. MMF
No possible way. My job requires me to be linked to use the internet all day, plus to run my website. So it's a no go for me.
Kati-you are a woman connected, and the website wouldn't be possible without being wired.
This is hillarious!, I'm seriously thinking of taking at least two weeks off next Summer to have time to devote completely to my novel. Except for Word, everything else will be off limits. I really want and need to do this. November is a bad time for me to do Na-No-Wri-Mo, and I find it impossible to work on everything at once, so it's my novel that has got the short end of the stick. It's very much on my heart and mind. Media can completely take over our lives and I think we have to be careful as to how much we allow. Hugs, Elizabeth.
Brilliant poem and post! I chuckled through the whole thing. Oh, how our lives are so caught up in technology! You showed us most beautifully through humor!
Blessings!
That was masterfully written!! Amazing. My jaw was hanging down. Now, as to the question asked…I couldn't do it either, BUT, having said that, I do miss life without a computer. We think we can't live without it now because we have created it so. Many things depend on the computer. But before we all had laptops and iphones, things did NOT depend on being wired 24/7. I liked it better that way. I think we were all much more connected to our REAL lives than our virtual lives. Not sure this is all a great thing.
Nope a no go for me. Our internet went down for 24 hrs. not to long ago, I had my phone but oh what a trial. Nope not me.
Jan-Are you sure, you seem to be struggling here.. smiles! We lost our wifi last year and I had the shakes, so I know how you felt.
teh internet is my lifeline..without it I would flounder more then I have,,,,,so hallelujah internet…As always…XOXOOXOX
True, you are connected intimately and as prolific. I see many others will be singing their joyous Hallelujahs alongside of you.
I don't know about a whole month! I know when I go back East for Thanksgiving and we stay at a rambling homestead down dirt roads in the middle of nowhere, I adore it. My nieces and nephews may have their laptops, but I am not even tempted and my cell phone is off cuz up in the hills I can't get reception anyway. It is so blissful and I lap it up. But, a whole month, hmmm….
—Brilliant.
William would be proud to know you, B. Xx
Kim-My only hope is Will doesn't send down a bolt of lightening to strike me down.
It's gotten to a point where I can't fathom a month without being online. If you'd ever told me this day would come, I wouldn't have believed you. Just a year ago, I wouldn't have believed I'd have a Blackberry. And yet, now I check my texts, emails, etc. before my eyes are halfway open in the morning too. Even if I just get up in the middle of the night to pee! It gets to be a sickness!
Thanks for doing such great things with such a great topic.
Miss June, I hope you know there is no going back now that you are hooked. You would need detox and Betty Ford. Your visit and thoughtful comments are always appreciated. (I'm hooked as well, but once and a while I free fall into the void without a worry,)
Oh dear friend, you have heard my heartbeat! The poem speaks volumes about our world today, how addictive social networking and surfing and tweeting can be. I often crave a reprieve from all the online stimuli. Love the way you juxtaposed Shakespeare with the internet era! Would he have a blog if he were living today? And can you imagine what he’d be tweeting or posting on Facebook?
Imagine if Emily Dickinson had a blog or a social outlet! Wonder what comments she’d get on her letter to the world…
THIS is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me,—
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.
Her message is committed 5
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!
I can disconnect for a day or so – even an entire weekend. But a month? Not thinking I could do it. I'm too dependent on things like thesaurus.com, with being able to look up a bit of research online.
I *don't* have a smartphone, or a laptop, so when I do disconnect, I'm fully away. Maybe that helps me feel a little less like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix.
I love your poem – it really causes me to pause and think – could I? It would be very difficult but I think I can. I have actually managed to go Sundays off – and some Saturdays – of course I don't have a smart phone, my laptop is 4 years old and I don't use it much, I don't have Facebook and won't, and I finally broke free of Twitter except for once in a blue moon. But… no email? No blog posts? No checking fave blogs? For a month? Maybe. Maybe not. Not sure I want to test it. Very good thought-provoking post!
Funny, I read another blog post today about disconnecting as well. It does get overwhelming — blogs, your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, texting, email, etc. Last weekend I went nearly an entire day without any of it and it was okay. But I couldn't do it for a month. Nor would I want to actually. I guess that means I'm an addict.
Hi Leah, must be a trend of late or people are feeling to wired. I think we're all a bit addicted.
Bremda – Great food for thought. I'm only off when I'm SWAMPED with other obligations. After all, we only get 24 hrs in a day. Driving uses time as well a work. I've disconnected for a week or two when on vacation in another location, but it was hard. Now, here at home, maybe no more than a week. It's food for my psyche. Probably an additiction . . . but I have so few vices. I must disconnect every now and then to get some serious work done . . . I still have a book to publish and this is number one after all the years it took to write. I must set priorities. And you need to finish your rewrite . . . LOL
Hi Nancy, yes I do have a rewrite and it's going well, not fast enough for me though. Some days I wish I could call in well to work and spend the day on my bed working on the edits. Oh well. And yes… we are addicted.
One word, no, BUT I have as a result of other reasons went without it for as much as two years since I originally "plugged in" sometime in the mid 90s. So I CAN but when asked its no I can't which really means won't. I am kind of glad that NO cell services work in the area where I live too, so I just have internet on the laptop and not anything fancy on a phone. __Good post!
I love your writing, Brenda, and have to say if it weren't for all this plugged in nonsense, I would never have stumbled upon you. But you're right, it's all bit Matrixy, isn't it? I have unplugged for weeks at a time but as with any plate of cold turkey, it's the first few days that are the worse. Gobble.
What a creative post! I love the take on Hamlet. As for the answer the the question, in theory I think it would be a great idea and would probably allow me to tap into some new areas of creativity and come out a better person ot the end of 30 days. But practically speaking, it would damage my livelihood. I work online everyday to earn a living, and to be on the Internet but not peek at my Facebook or email would just be torture, like drug withdrawal. Which is funny, because there was a time in my life when I got up in the morning, lived my life, and never had a single thought of computers for years on end. Amazing. But one the genie is out of the bottle it's near impossible to shove her back in and jam down the cork.
Lady, there is no way I could power down for that long. The Internet is my connection to the outside world. It’s how I read the news story of the front page, how I learn how to do things, how I communicate with friends and family, and how I post my stories. Nope, there’s no way I could make the sacrifice. I think this says there’s something seriously wrong with us, hermana. Perhaps it’s time we go back to the basics like the Amish. Although something tells me that if we were to do that, we’d be dead in a week!
I know, Bella, who could really unplug? No one, it seems. I am sure we'd survive but we'd struggle that much is clear. Like you I am connected all the time, for work all day, but at night, I am writing. My son says maintained he was Amish until girls started texting him, then he joined the wired world.