The last two weeks have been one of the hardest times I have had in years. Of course, I did not lose a job or someone close, but I did not have internet at home (for some unknown reasons, that I still fail to understand). Well, many would say that I am exaggerating, but trust me, I am not. Being a social media enthusiast, you don’t really realise how much you are dependent on the internet until you experience it.
For the past 2 years, I have been so passionate about social media and Web 2.0 that it became part of me. Most of my planning, work, information sources, connections and much more are online. It may seem funny, but even to plan what to cook for the week and to do my grocery shopping, I use Google Drive, so that my sister (who is in Mauritius) can help me with the recipes. As long as I had internet, everything was going on well. But two weeks ago, I came back home and realised I don’t have internet. To make it worse, the internet service provider said it may take 1 week to be fixed.
At the beginning I told myself that it is ok and I’ll manage. Seriously, I felt blank. I did not know what to do. Time seemed to go slower, I could not breathe freely, I was irritated, frustrated and feeling suffocated. Very often, I take breaks and switch off completely from the internet and social media, but when it happens against your will, it is just another story. I tried going out, meet people, shopping, cooking, but nothing was really compensating what I wanted.
I had internet at work, but for thousands of reasons I don’t like using my personal social media account for activities not related to work when on duty. And my problem was not that I did not have internet, but rather, I could not spend time on my social media accounts and carry on with my usual activities.
I do realise that I have become very much dependent on social media. But Social media is much more than one can imagine. It was a way for me to keep in touch with my family and close ones in Mauritius on Skype. It was a way for me to connect with people to share the same passion as me: making a positive change through Agricultural development. It enabled me to plan my work and manage my time so that I am able to do multiple tasks. It was a way for me to share information to others and lots more..
Many people (friends and colleagues who may recognise themselves if they are reading this) have even been calling me an addict, and deep down I know it is not good to be dependent on something that may go down anytime. But, now I’ve learnt my lesson and will try to have a balance between my social media activities and my normal life with out internet.
And needless to say that I missed blogging and traffic on my blog dropped a bit during these 2 weeks. But as we say, challenges make you stronger and I actually survived without social media for two whole weeks!
Have you also gone through this kind of situation? How was it? 🙂
I am fortunate that I can afford to have a backup just in case. I have a dongle in reserve that I use if my main internet connection goes down. Your article is a social study on just how much we depend on being “connected”. More and more country administrations are telling us to get our forms from their portals or fill-in our tax returns on-line. It makes you think how did we manage in the old days? I guess the answer is that we physically talked to people rather than to an avatar. So are we being robotised today?
I think in a way we are being robotised. We depend so much on technology and life without them seem so difficult. The funny thing is that I had no problem with my computer, but without internet, I forgot that my computer is still working 🙂
Sorry for the mishap. My service provider once in every three weeks does something to make my connection flop which results to me yelling at him and if he doesnt listen i cry looking the mirror before feasting on any snack that comes my way. So i discovered the way to evade the disappointments every 3rd week of the month is to go hiking and birdwatching so that by the time i return home, am too tired to even think of “refreshing any page”
Consolation base: There are good addictions and bad addiction. Ours is good 🙂
I remember spending three weeks (almost a month without internet because some unscrupulous people had stolen the cables throughout my village (voler feray). There was no phone and NO INTERNET. The worst was that it was during university hols. The nightmare! Initially it was hard but I caught up on reading big time, one book after another.