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Living without a laptop

Laika

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
hey everyone, :)

Nearly six weeks ago my laptop broke. It was just over a year old and the screen started dying. After disassembling it in an effort to repair it and replace with a working screen (from a box of junk from old laptops)after realising it wasn't comparable I put the laptop back together only to find it actually made it worse.

Rather than rush off and buy a brand new one for about £500 I held out and decided to see how much effect it would have by being without it for a while. The fact that seleotape was part of the insides of my old laptop, including sticking the wire that connected to the start button, did not fill me with confidence that spending that sort of money (again) was a gaurentee I was going to get something worth buying.

I gave up TV a few years ago and noticed a dramatic improvement in my mental health (which is what I was hoping for). Trying to go without my laptop was worth a try to see if it had similar effects.

I have stayed in touch on RF using my mums iPhone (using private Internet so I get a bit of privacy). I had tried to cut down the amount of time I was on my laptop before but with limited success. So the past six weeks have been quite a change as my laptop simply "ate" up time, hours passing in a day. The days feel longer.

One unexpected side effect has been my relationship with my parents has actually improved. I have simply had the time to talk to them and that has opened up communication on lots of things.

I didn't lose weight as I was hoping for, but my lifestyle didn't suddenly become more active after my laptop died as the depression is still there. (It's stabilised which I am still happy with though as I can work on it). I have occasionally helped out my dad with the garden, such as shovelling cut grass on the compost heap or in composting bins.

One major decision I made was to empty my bedroom of books and stick them down in a shed in the garden. I have a compulsive tendency to over think things and being surronded by books and being on my laptop didn't help that at all. It meant that I couldn't do practical stuff (being so inactive) so instead over intellectualised stuff.

Suddenly having time on my hands, I did take a book that was left behind in a bedroom closet (a biography of John Kenneth Galbraith) and started reading. I did try to find some classic novels in the house and read them too. I didn't get all the way through but My concentration has improved quite a bit.

when I had my laptop I used to play music all the time, whereas now I don't enjoy listening to the same tracks on YouTube on the phone. Strangely, They just don't move me at all. I occasionally open the bedroom window to listen to the bird calls instead.

The thing about electronic devices is that it is a sort of instant gratification which means we can be more impulsive (or compulsive). For this reason I am holding out against getting a new laptop until I really know what I want to use it for. In the end, it swallowed time in the day and only superficially kept me entertained.

As technology increasingly comes to dominate our lives it also shapes us in subtle ways. E.g. I now get up about 5am to check RF on the phone. I thought I would share this as it may be useful to get people to rethink their relationship with technology and whether it is healthy.

I realise the irony of doing this on an Internet forum btw. ;)
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
hey everyone, :)

Nearly six weeks ago my laptop broke. It was just over a year old and the screen started dying. After disassembling it in an effort to repair it and replace with a working screen (from a box of junk from old laptops)after realising it wasn't comparable I put the laptop back together only to find it actually made it worse.

Rather than rush off and buy a brand new one for about £500 I held out and decided to see how much effect it would have by being without it for a while. The fact that seleotape was part of the insides of my old laptop, including sticking the wire that connected to the start button, did not fill me with confidence that spending that sort of money (again) was a gaurentee I was going to get something worth buying.

I gave up TV a few years ago and noticed a dramatic improvement in my mental health (which is what I was hoping for). Trying to go without my laptop was worth a try to see if it had similar effects.

I have stayed in touch on RF using my mums iPhone (using private Internet so I get a bit of privacy). I had tried to cut down the amount of time I was on my laptop before but with limited success. So the past six weeks have been quite a change as my laptop simply "ate" up time, hours passing in a day. The days feel longer.

One unexpected side effect has been my relationship with my parents has actually improved. I have simply had the time to talk to them and that has opened up communication on lots of things.

I didn't lose weight as I was hoping for, but my lifestyle didn't suddenly become more active after my laptop died as the depression is still there. (It's stabilised which I am still happy with though as I can work on it). I have occasionally helped out my dad with the garden, such as shovelling cut grass on the compost heap or in composting bins.

One major decision I made was to empty my bedroom of books and stick them down in a shed in the garden. I have a compulsive tendency to over think things and being surronded by books and being on my laptop didn't help that at all. It meant that I couldn't do practical stuff (being so inactive) so instead over intellectualised stuff.

Suddenly having time on my hands, I did take a book that was left behind in a bedroom closet (a biography of John Kenneth Galbraith) and started reading. I did try to find some classic novels in the house and read them too. I didn't get all the way through but My concentration has improved quite a bit.

when I had my laptop I used to play music all the time, whereas now I don't enjoy listening to the same tracks on YouTube on the phone. Strangely, They just don't move me at all. I occasionally open the bedroom window to listen to the bird calls instead.

The thing about electronic devices is that it is a sort of instant gratification which means we can be more impulsive (or compulsive). For this reason I am holding out against getting a new laptop until I really know what I want to use it for. In the end, it swallowed time in the day and only superficially kept me entertained.

As technology increasingly comes to dominate our lives it also shapes us in subtle ways. E.g. I now get up about 5am to check RF on the phone. I thought I would share this as it may be useful to get people to rethink their relationship with technology and whether it is healthy.

I realise the irony of doing this on an Internet forum btw. ;)

Ha. I probably shouldn't reply knowing you'd probably have wasted twenty seconds of your time. I just got a lap top and unfortunately, I am the other way around since I started school. I didn't need a lap top before but then, I always had my smart phone. So I have three electronics and I am not even an electronics person.

It does help with mental health, though. I haven't watched t.v. outside of working a show here or there for almost six years. This new lap top made it up, though. Now, if not for school and the project Im working on, it would be pretty useless.

Okay. Cut your phone of now. ;)
 

illykitty

RF's pet cat
Well, I am constantly on the computer to be honest. When we go off on vacation, I feel a lot less stressed and don't have access to any form of internet.

We cancelled our Sky subscription a while back. We do have Netflix and Crunchyroll but it feels so much better to not be bombarded by adverts. I feel a lot more sane!

I couldn't go completely without the internet though. Like Saint Frankenstein, it is my primary form of socialising. Plus I do use YouTube a lot. I wish I could use it less but I do think I am a bit addicted.
 

Rick O'Shez

Irishman bouncing off walls
I realise the irony of doing this on an Internet forum btw. ;)

Yes, it's easy to waste a lot of time on "social" media, and it can be quite addictive. My compromise is not having a mobile phone, which means I only partake while at home.
 

Jumi

Well-Known Member
A tablet can help. You can use your home's wifi and at least for me I don't feel like spending as much time with a tablet than typing away on a keyboard.
 

Laika

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
When my laptop(s) would break, I would fly into a huge panic because the Internet is my only real social interaction with others.

Yeah. I had that and that's why I tried to fix my laptop so I could get back to it. Just using the phone has proven to be a bit better though.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
Yes, it's easy to waste a lot of time on "social" media, and it can be quite addictive. My compromise is not having a mobile phone, which means I only partake while at home.

How do you survive that? :eek: I can't go anywhere without my mobile.

Well, it's my lane-line and every other means of communication with work and school, so...

Thinking of how I can bring down the costs and just use public wi-fi that would bring down my internet couch time.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
images
 

ShivaFan

Satyameva Jayate
Premium Member
This was a fantastic read! You are inspirational.

However - you should consider, if you do get another "computer" (soon, however, your TV will be a computer with full internet streaming) - I do most of my "stuff" on my smartphone and not much on the laptop(s) anymore when I am home - you might think of opening a SiriusXM "internet" account where you can listen to SiriusXM over a browser because they have a huge selection of music and music genres (one of my favorites is the Krishna Das Yoga Radio Channel on Siriusxm internet along with the Spa Channel - great music! I listen using an app just for SiriusXm on my smartphone. I clip the phone on a mount in the car and run a nice speaker that I plug into the phone...

BUT ... I do use my laptop(s) to run investing software and tools. But what is also a lot of fun, you would like it if not already doing so, is to have your own domain(s) and author webpages. You would be pretty good at that is my prediction.

Also, start to play with Linux a bit.

But your "retreat" from the laptop is very admirable! Good "down time"!
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
I wish I could go back to going without the internet (we didn't even have it when I was a kid). But between school, searching for parts and to fix things and electronics to fix and resell, finding guides for repairs I don't already know how to do, socializing (the internet has made it a million times easier for me, and it helps put me on a more level playing field since no one has things such as body language and vocal tones to go with), my occasional editing projects, writing, and advertising my services and goods it's become something I can't go without. And I don't even use social media except to advertise services and products - I tried to get into the habit of at least one post per day but I got really busy last week and haven't posted in about a week. I've even been considering getting something like a Wacom Intuos pad to cut down on the paper for my drawings and to better get the benefits of digital drawing. And then when I eventually get back to the job search, that will be one more thing I'll need it for, and I'll likely be needing it for nearly any career I'll have.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
I have been on something of a boycott of my own smartphone for the last few days.

The darned thing seemed to be constantly harping on me to tell me what I should care about and when.

I may well eventually decide that I do not want a smartphone at all.
 
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