This is the first time I’ve touched my computer in 36 hours.
My iPhone remains powered down in my laptop case.
The more I use the internet, the more my brain turns to mush.
I lose the ability to pause, analyze, and calculate.
In just 36 hours without the internet, I have clearer, more rational ideas than I did after weeks of nonstop internet usage.
36 hours without the internet
At 7 pm on Saturday, I turned off my phone and put it in my laptop bag in my office closet. I also locked and covered my computer.
That night, I watched TV with my wife, read a book, and then fell asleep.
Sunday morning, I woke up, fed our dog, and made coffee.
At that point, I’d normally go to my office to do a brief gratitude-focused meditation and begin working on my computer.
Knowing it was an internet-free day, I chatted with my wife. Nothing important. We shared how well we slept and talked about how cute our dog is when he’s tired.
I read for an hour.
I rearranged my office.
I loaded my backpack with a 20-pound paving stone from our driveway and took Rex for a hike.
I’m happier when I exercise first thing in the morning, but I usually wait until later in the day. Instead, I work on the computer first.
Without my computer and phone, I cycled through feelings of “oh, this is really nice” and “what am I doing with my life?”.
I cleaned out my office closet.
I cleaned our garage.
I chatted with Callie.
We had dinner with my dad and stepmom.
I planned to turn my phone back on after 24 hours, when I got back from dinner.
I wasn’t ready to return to the internet.
I felt calm, peaceful, clear.
The dangers of normal internet usage
Forget the dark web, forget pornography, forget falling in love with an AI chatbot.
Forget social media.
The real danger lies in routine Google searches.
You open your mobile browser to search for the price of a pair of jeans.
You then wonder, “I wonder where the package is for my replacement credit card?”
You open the Gmail app.
Two hours later, you have 15 emails on your mind, six browser tabs open, and a mind cluttered with to-dos and uncertainties.
You do this every hour, every day, every week.
No wonder most people are unhappy, unhealthy, anxious, and not living up to their full potential.
Author Arthur C. Brooks in The Happiness Files states, “Overload of unnecessary information can lower well-being…If your employment involves a screen that forms a window to the vast wilderness of the internet, then it is always imploring you to drift away from what you are supposed to work on.”
Mindfulness, or focusing on one thing at a time, is key to happiness.
The internet is its kryptonite.
How to use the internet without feeling miserable
Take a break.
For at least one hour a day, put away your phone, computer, and all other internet-connected devices.
Read a book. Take a walk. Talk with a family member.
Furthermore, do a daily 12-hour fast from phones and computers. From 7 pm to 7 am, put your phone and computer away.
Once a week—such as Saturdays or Sundays—spend a full day without the internet.
Humans once lived their entire lives without it.
Andrew Carnegie, once the richest person in the world, managed his steel empire for much of the year by sending handwritten letters across the Atlantic Ocean.
We can put off our pressing Google searches for one day.
Our brains will thank us.
Our families will thank us.
Our future selves will thank us.
—Matt