Hate it or love it

Could you manage months without modern technology?

A few years ago a post appeared on social media several times that went something like this.  There was a picture of a rustic cabin somewhere out in the woods, without internet connection or even electricity, heated by a wood stove and cooled by whatever breeze there happened to be.  The details varied, but the offer was something like: if you live in this cabin for six months (or four, or two), without modern conveniences, you get paid $100,000 (or some such large sum).

It was certainly no more truthful than the great mass of misinformation flowing around.  We suppose it was trying to make the point that, for most of the population using social media, being cut off would be such a horrible experience that even a huge payment would not be enough to make up for it.  But for the moment, let’s consider it as a real offer.

We’ll leave aside a lot of practicalities, like the sheer physical effort of chopping enough wood for a winter’s day (or week), or the acute danger of sickness or injury (suppose the axe slipped?) when one cannot summon medical help quickly.  Assume you can take the period off work without jeopardizing your career, and someone will cover your mortgage payments while you’re gone.  And no, there will be no reality-TV show being made of the experience.  We’ll concentrate on just two aspects of the offer: being cut off from electronic communication and having to do all the chores oneself.  No Instagram or GrubHub.  How would you fare?

No doubt for many the shock of being thrown on one’s own mental resources would be immense.  We’ve already seen that just thinking can be terribly uncomfortable.  Boredom would be acute, without the myriad distractions around in today’s life.  After a day, or a week, these would be ready to give up and hike out the few miles leading to civilization.

But for others it would be an immense relief.  As it is now, they long to get away from the incessant noise of modern life, the ads appearing everywhere and the glut of misinformation and nonsense.  Quiet evenings by the light of a kerosene lamp reading the books we’d like to get around to (yes, we put ourselves in this group), with only the sound of the fire for background, sound very attractive.

In fact, the quantity of money would be irrelevant to both these groups: for the former, no sum would be sufficient; for the latter, they’d happily pay for the experience.  That was our main conclusion when we first saw this “offer.”  We are completely undecided about what fraction of the (social medium) population would actually be swayed by the opportunity for fattening their bank accounts.

We think, though, that those who put themselves firmly in one or the other of these groups would find something different on actually being there.  Smartphone zombies might wake up and notice the world around them, and find that thinking can actually be rewarding.  We know that our consultants would find at least minor irritation in not being able to look up things at a moment’s notice, and might find that their own thoughts not as entertaining as they would wish..

We suggest you ask yourself the rustic cabin question.  The answer itself might be enlightening.