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in history class today, we were talking about how humans, since the revelation of the internet, have come dependent on the computer and all it's glory. And Mr. Franklin said that the human race has become weaker and the average REM radiation level of the average human has gone up like two ten-thousandths of a REM {which apparently isn't too great, but i dont' know. this is a history teacher and not a radiation expert}

anyway, it got the wheel's in this mook's brain a-churnin'.how long do you think you can deprive yourself of your computer/internet before you start convulsing and going through withdrawal?

for me, i can go at least a couple weeks. maybe a month and a half before i feel the need to clear out all the spam in hotmail account.

and what about you, my fellow internet-feeding, radiation-collecting computer-junctifying minions?

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Air force... if you ever join the militant wing, join the Air force

Army = jockos
Navy = seasick nerds
Marines = show offs
PeaceCorp = hippies

AF is the way to go

I did an experiment on myself two years ago this month to see if I could go the entire month without signing online, and I did it.  It was difficult, but that's the reason I wasn't around for the CoN4 launch.  I kept a diary thing and uploaded the whole of it after the 31 days were up, calling it "31 Days of Horror."

But taking myself away from the computer entirely wouldn't be possible because I need the computer for schoolwork and stuff like that.  It's just an integral part of our lifestyles now, it seems.

BTW, upon seeing the name of this topic, I was expecting to see some sort of "contest" in here, similar to the one featured on an old old episode of Seinfeld...boy, that would have been interesting.



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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Well, since this is the main way that I talk with Rich, I tend to need to be here daily, and I am here daily. However if I'm visiting Rich, or vice versa, I can go a good week before I want to at least check my mail. though I do like to go to the CoN and my webcomics daily...

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

Off-topic, but I see you have a new avatar, Elena.  

I've never actually depended too much on my computer, because I actually came really late into technology. I can still remember using a pen and WRITING, not TYPING, my high school reports. Then I got a typewriter, but there was too many typos, so I always had to cross out letters and stuff, which made my report look really messy, so I decided to get a computer to correct my typos before it goes on paper.

I think I'd be able to last two months, or even three, but I would need to tell everyone I won't be on for a while.



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Nine-hundred ninety-nine billion nine-hundered ninety-nine million nine-hundred ninety-nine thousand nine-hundred ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall...

I might be able to last 12 hours without my computer, and that's when I'm sleeping. I started doing homework on the computer when I was in Grade 5, I believe, and when I got the Internet, I became hopelessly addicted as it soon became my main medium of communication.

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Fear the Minstrel Boy, for he sings.

I absolutely could not give up my computer or the internet.  Its always difficult for me going on vacation away from my computer, and it takes forever to catch up on things.  This semester I'll have a class that will require lots of time on the computer.  

Plus, I don't use the phone often to contact people.

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"So in the end
I will be-what I will be
No loyal friend
Was ever there for me"
-Gollum's Song, Emiliana Torrini

i can last awhile, i think. the max. amount of time I can be internet-less... probably about 3 weeks. But I need my comp. I play games, listen to music, burn cd's, type fics and short stories, etc. The longest time I've been without being on a computer... about 3 consecutive days. And I don't think I'd be able to beat that.



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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Yeah, that's about it.

Seriously, I got hacked off when I was up at 4am this morning and couldn't get on due to a cable modem crash. I'm sad.



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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Hmmm...interesting. I could probably go a few weeks, maybe even a month or more if I'm determined. Might be an interesting (albeit traumatic) experiment to try. So, if you guys don't hear from me for a while, don't worry, I'm not dead.

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*END TRANSMISSION*

I really only go on my computer to visit the CoN, and to back-up my writting. (I do all my writting on yellow paper in pen, not on computer). So in the past I've been able to go for about six months befor I feel the need to save all my writting on disk. I guess I'd just need to give up the forum here to be computer free.

I could go about 3 weeks without one, but the problem is that now I'm completing my High Schooling through the computer/internet, so if I didn't have one I'd be failing classes and not getting my work done

But probably 3 weeks I could go without, but need to get on to check my mail and say Hellow

I don't know, never tried. I went without it for an hour once.

That was a joke, in case anyone doesn't have a sarcasm detector.

Well I went a month in the summer without it, but I it just feels like part of my schedule to go on my computer and surf the internet. Go catch a wave.

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

I only get on to check my mail and chat with friends.Since I live pretty far from a lot of my friends phone bills can get pricy
I could probly go a few months though.Personaly I think phone calls and hand written letters are far better then this dumb box

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Things have not changed
You have changed

Henery David Thoreau

Every summer I'm away from computers from late May through early August, so about 3 months is my max. CoN is the only thing I really missed about the internet last summer (and the two summers before that I was completely fine with no computer access.) I suppose I could go longer if my job lasted longer, but it doesn't, so I'll go with 3 months.

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Hip-Hop QOTW:

"Yeah, where I'ma start it at, look I'ma part of that
Downtown Philly where it's realer than a heart attack
It wasn't really that ill until the start of crack
Now it's a body caught every night on the Almanac"

"Game Theory"
The Roots

I can go for ages without doing anything vital on my computer (as my lack of posts probably indicate...).  I can remember writing out book reports by hand, too, but since most teachers require typed reports nowadays, it's not our fault if we do the bulk of our academic writing on the computer.

However (on a slightly OT vein), I do think people in general have become less...er...civilised since the invention of email.  Spelling, grammar, and a firm grasp of the narrative no longer seem to be important social skills.  This is very sad.  Clear, graceful commucation through written language is an art, and as a whole I think society is losing it.   If everyone wrote more letters by hand, the world would be a happier place.

I think I went three months without internet and computer last summer.  It was actually quite liberating.

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"Turd-cookies!...they're hot and soft, though..."

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead, Are heaped for the beloved's bed; And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone, Love itself shall slumber on.  - Percy Bysshe Shelley

Quote (Hsiu @ 13 Jan. 2003, 17:20)

However (on a slightly OT vein), I do think people in general have become less...er...civilised since the invention of email.  Spelling, grammar, and a firm grasp of the narrative no longer seem to be important social skills.  This is very sad.  Clear, graceful commucation through written language is an art, and as a whole I think society is losing it.   If everyone wrote more letters by hand, the world would be a happier place.

I couldn't have said it better myself.  Perhaps I'm just a stick in the mud.

Anyway, I can say that losing access to a computer wouldn't put me into substance withdrawal, but would definitely make my life ten times harder.  I love to write, but it's difficult with paper and pencil.  Maybe technology has made me a softy, but the cramped hand and messy graphite smudges don't really cut it with me.  Also, I'd lose access to e-mail and IM, meaning that I'd be seeing far less of friends who live far away.  And of course, it would be a lot more time-consuming to find or look up information.

I guess the long and short of it is that I could go on without a computer, but it wouldn't be comfortable or half as efficient.



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"I always have a quotation for everything - it saves original thinking."
~Dorothy L. Sayers

"The truly remarkable thing about television is that it allows several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely."
~T.S. Eliot

"Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as reality - in your own mind!"
~ Bruce Lee

Personally I think I could go without a computer forever.  At least if the price was right.  If someone paid me enough I could go without it indefently.  However seeing as how no one is ever going to pay me for that I would have to say about 2 weeks.  I have always had a computer and the internet in my life.  My dad owned a computer stroe and he has since sold it, but I did grow up with computer and the internet.  I was playing games on the computer when I was like 6 and started internet games around then too.  Personally I think they should put a surgon generals warning on these things

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We all have our own hells and fires we must pass through, but when you have passed through them, you must ask yourself.  Was I consumed by the flame? Or was I tempered by it?

Quitsis - "Whip, Chaingun, don't bug me I'm killing"

Quote (Hsiu @ 13 Jan. 2003, 23:20)

I do think people in general have become less...er...civilised since the invention of email.  Spelling, grammar, and a firm grasp of the narrative no longer seem to be important social skills.  This is very sad.  Clear, graceful commucation through written language is an art, and as a whole I think society is losing it.   If everyone wrote more letters by hand, the world would be a happier place.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, agreed.  Though if people continued to write all their communication online and just injected a LITTLE BASIC PUNCTUATION into their IMs, I think the situation would be massively improved.

I just can't stand it.  These devices exist in the language for a REASON, and I usually have to spend a lot more time working out what people are trying to tell me without any grammar.  Try copying this post, removing all the punctuation/caps etc and see if you can understand it.  I bet it's harder.

I wish people would REALISE how much less stupid they seem when they type things out properly.  In a vague reference to the prejudice thread, that's one I have.  I'm much more likely to take someone seriously (assuming I don't know them already) if they're typing proper sentences and not just going "hey how are you im good ive had a real fun day today first i..." because frankly, I can only associate that in my mind with speaking to someone who's no older than six.

Rant over.  And the answer is, I can go almost indefinitely without a computer if I don't actually have access to one, but if a suitable computer is accessible, I have massive, massive difficulty staying off it.  It's an addiction.

if my computer was taken, i think i would be alright. i dont know how people can live when they HAVE to have their computer around. seems kinda to me like a hard existence i think. well i guess its more fun to have around when youre really good with computers because im not. they just frustrate me like crazy.

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You watch the world exploding every single night
Dancing in the sun, a newborn in the light
Say goodbye to gravity and say goodbye to death
Hello to eternity and live for every breath

Your time will come...

I can go a long time without it, like if it was being repaired or something, but if the computer is in my room the whole time I could go a week or so. I need to catch up pretty often.



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Lou: There's a couple of guys fighting down at the aquarium, Chief.
Wiggum: Do they still sell those frozen bananas?
Lou: I think so.
Wiggum: Let's roll.