The internet has become such an integral part of our lives, but is that necessarily a good thing? What would your life be like if you couldn't use it anymore? Paul Miller of the Verge decided to find out by signing off for one year. Could you do the same?


Here are Paul's hopes for the experiment:

In my wild fantasies, leaving the internet will make me better with my time, vastly more creative, a better friend, a better son and brother... a better Paul. In reality, I'll still be the same person, just with a huge professional and personal handicap. The things I'll miss most, like playing StarCraft with my friend from high school who lives in another state, or sharing Rdio and long read links with a co-worker at the next desk over, I hope to replace with more direct interactions, and more "meaningful" activities - whatever that means. The worst case scenario is that a year from now I'll be found wandering in the woods somewhere, muttering URLs to myself.


Personally, I'm not sure I could disconnect unless I had something specific to do for a year. And with that, I think it would have to involve technology in some way. There are plenty of offline and tech-free activities I enjoy, but I don't like to write by hand and prefer to scan/color my drawings on the computer. I'm sure we could all adjust to an internet-free lifestyle if we had to, but could you ever make the choice? We want to know.

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I'm leaving the internet for a year | The Verge