No, I’m not referring to a high-speed internet connection; but a week of turning off the constant online chatter, and then within that silence, allowing creative thoughts to emerge.
(If you cannot enable the video, click here to view it on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVzFwJvxj5s
Last week on a Facebook posting, our friend Peter talked about going retro and posted a photo of himself from yesteryear. Well, it inspired me to go retro too, only with a WiFi Fast.
You remember the days of no twittering, blogging, Facebook-ing, Google+-ing, or being LinkedIn. No iPad, iPhone, iTunes, iNeedConstantChatterInMyHead. (If you don’t, you’re waaay younger than me.)
During my week off-line and being free of social networking I felt as if I was living way back in the early 1990’s; when you connected with people via the telephone…but not just any telephone, it was a land line—but no one actually called it that. Or OMG, you wrote them a letter, without words like LOL and OMG, and you sent that letter via the postal service.
So, was disconnecting an easy process for me?
No, not at first. But I went cold turkey and Steve refused to be an enabler. When I asked him to look up directions for me online, he suggested I try the phonebook. (Wow, I’d almost forgotten about those.)
Did I like being off-line?
I loved it.
Once the vog left, I took the time to check out the big surf at Ho'okipa Beach - Just wish the photo did it justice.
It was a bit like giving up chocolate. Very empowering; yet I missed the sedative qualities of the constant electromagnetic energy, pulsing off my computer screen at me as I fed my addiction to networking; just as I would miss the boost of serotonin levels that I get from eating chocolate.
Will I do it again?
YES. From time to time.
But, who would want to WiFi Fast forever. Finding balance is what is needed. (And that includes with television too—chatter is chatter, whatever the medium. Come on you can do it…just click the button.)
By the end of the week I was reminded that I truly am, by nature, a hermit (which by the way I love being), and now I know for a fact that I am, without a doubt, a cyber hermit as well.
Who knows, saying this may ruin my chances of ever being a published writer, but the fact is, I am a reluctant social networker. I feel like the almighty Wizard behind the screen (computer screen in these modern times…think OZ right now), is going to zap my wifi into oblivion. If I’ve no new blog posted next week, you’ll know what happened.
With that said, as we all know, the internet can and does have an amazing ability to change lives. May we all use it for uplifting each other’s spirits and lives.
The day after completing my WiFi Fast, I read this article…online, of course. It’s a good read – Jake Reilly’s ‘Amish Project:’ 90 Days Without a Cell Phone, Email and Social Media – College Student Drops Social Media
“Listening Below The Noise” is a wonderful book about the gift of silence, which a friend of mine, Anne D. LeClaire, has written. If you want to tap into your creative nature, check it out. “Anne LeClaire takes her reader to that quiet place within where it becomes possible to hear what one’s heart needs to say.”
My WiFi Fast came about at the perfect time, I had cut my foot and couldn’t hike. Also, part of the week the island was hidden in vog. For those of you that don’t know, vog is Hawaii’s version of smog, but from the volcano on the Big Isle, versus too many cars.
Indian Head Test Pattern: Used from 1947 to the mid 1970's when television stations signed off the air each night.
Next week Steven and I are hoping to hike Kings Highway.
Would love to hear from other WiFi fasters…when you’re back online 
Signing off Wray