Technology is great!

Before the Internet, work began at 9:00 and ended at 5:00. It was rare to "take work home with you". Now it's almost like working nearly every waking hour. Even these forums can dominate time before spent out dealing with people face to face.

The mobile phone is a great invention. Was life really that much difficult when you couldn't send an SMS while driving?

So after nearly 15 years of this, I wonder what it would be like to dump the computer, dump the mobile phone, and go return to the more simple life of 1995. If any of you were to do that, would you go someplace less wired or stay where you are?

Easy, stay home and throw the junk out.

It doesn't work though, when I moved to where I am now all I had was a mobile phone with poor reception.

Bliss for a few months then I devoted the next five years to getting satellite internet, then a land line with internet, better mobile connection, satellite TV... the side of my house looks like a CIA drone monitoring station.

I doubt you could find any where on the planet where you couldn't do that if you weakened. As you would eventually.

North Korea?

I suppose being shot for having an internet connection would count as a type of aversion therapy.

i remember the old days quite well, we had pagers, then later on analog pagers we had a car phone and the operator actually listened in on the calls, warning us if were used foul language. there were pay phones on almost every corner, then they began making them to call out only; no incoming calls to prevent drug dealing. I had a calling card and had to punch in 100 digits to get the discount. i was still writing letters and using snail mail, i looked forward to going to the mail box and seeing more than just bills. samui is not far from absent of modern technology so if it were to go away tomorrow i think i would stay put.

North Korea?

Maybe...

http://bigthink.com/ideas/21270

218 - Korea's Dark Half

..So the South dwarfs the North, not just numerically (50 vs. 27 million), but also economically and even size-wise. Another stark reminder of the different worlds both Koreas now inhabit, is this map, a picture of the night-time illumination on the Korean peninsula.The metropolitan area of Seoul, the South's capital, holds 23 million people and is the second-largest conurbation on the planet (after Tokyo). Its huge lit-up area, close to the border with the North, is clearly visible from space. Other Southern cities, while quite a lot smaller than Seoul, are also clearly distinguishable on this satellite map, for example Gunsan on the western coast, directly below it the inland city of Gwangju, the cities of Masan and Busan on the southern coast, and several other cities, much smaller still.

By contrast (quite literally, even), the only speck of light north of the DMZ is the North's capital of Pyonyang, a single, neat pinprick of white punched through an otherwise completely black canvas. The minimal lighting belies the fact that Pyongyang is home to an estimated 3 million people. Gunsan, in the South, has under 300.000 inhabitants.

In 1960 we had a short wave on the sailboat that I raced. I still remember the call sign WB4845, Whiskey Bravo 4845. We kept the short wave hidden from view in a cupboard away from view in the main cabin. The boat had a racing crew of 8 men. None of the wives knew of the existence of the short wave radio. I remember my father telling my mother (with a straight face) he was thinking of buying a short wave next year. We had had the thing for at least 5 years that I knew of.

I raced on that boat for 10 years. Not once was the short wave used for a personal or business call. Only once I remember calling the Coast Guard because we had two injured men aboard after a storm. It was simple to get a marine operator and transfer it to a phone but we never did.

Funny how things have changed. Last night my 30 year old daughter couldn't sleep and called me on my cell.

If I gave up technology, where would I go? Right where I am right now. I can walk to anything I want in 10 minutes. Food, women, health care all in 10 minutes. If I can't find a food that I like, or a woman that will please, or health care that saves my life, so long world.

I lived for many years off the grid.

It was fine. Of course now & then if you do not keep up with what work is needed

you may find yourself powerless for a few hours but other than that very nice & very quiet.

With the price of photovoltaic technology dropping & the efficiency so much better than before I would

give it another go & just might.

I would not need to move anywhere to return to it.

i would like to live in a rain forest with Flying as my neighbour. my wife would be happy to discuss with him daily for hours the advantages of possessing physical precious metals and i would play chess with Mrs Flying.