Unplugging

2012-08-05

Very early in the first Matrix movie there's a quote that Neo, the main character in the movie, needs to "unplug". At that point it refers to getting away from the computer and doing something in real life. Later in the movie, when thinking back about it (especially at the start of the third movie) the quote goes a bit deeper. That's not very unusual for Matrix quotes by the way :)

I unplug too, though not often. There's one vacation a year (like, when going abroad together) where I don't touch a computer. This isn't very strict of course. It's pretty hard to not touch a computer these days. And I still carry my cell phone around with me. But I won't use it. I won't play games on it. I won't browse the net, read my email, or browse my tweets. I might use it to get a weather report or use maps for orientation. So purely functional usage is okay, but nothing beyond that.

That doesn't mean I won't do anything computer related though. Two years ago, while we were on a campsite in the Czech Republic (had wifi), I created my JS course. With pen and paper I wrote all the slides and assignments I'd be using in my (full day) course. This year, on a campsite in Italy (no wifi at all, mind you), I read through most of the current revision of the ES6 spec. Something I had wanted to do for a long time but simply hadn't come around to do doing. Reading it offline is faster because there are less distractions, but also harder because you can't "search" for some reference or read up on something you're not sure about. I managed :)

I've been doing this for a few years now. You could argue that it's a necessity, being abroad and having little access to internet unless you pay for it. But I'll retort that you could easily find a campsite with free wifi and power to make sure that's not a problem. And for all other times I go abroad, whether alone or together, I'll use a computer or my phone to do whatever. It's just one week or so a year I'll try not to. And I like it :)

It still seems to surprise people to hear that I can do without a computer. I can, easily. But not forever. Mind you, I sit behind a computer for most of the day. And I have no problem with that whatsoever. I don't need to go outside to get some fresh air. I don't care much for the sun. I don't do much sports. I get my satisfaction from other things. Still, unplugging every now and then is nice and I'll keep trying to do this once a year. For as long as that's possible anyways.

You too should try to unplug every now and then!