ምሕረት ብሩክ

I am on the Internet.

In fact, I write this blog post and publish it online to share with whoever may read it because of the Internet. My work, an absolute dream come true, also requires me to be on the Internet; mostly to send communication emails, save files to shared drives, and search up important information to get my job done. The Internet is also where I look up grocery flyers and recipes, book tickets for shows and museums, and schedule my doctor’s appointments- all from the comfort of my couch. The Internet gets me places too; far and wide- from home to foreign places and back home again. In fact, the Internet is an absolute dream come true. Forgive my naivety, but how did anyone ever live without the Internet?

I love it here. No, not here here, but this little life of mine that the world said was impossible; impossible to disconnect, impossible to unplug, impossible to spend time offline. And do what? Too late, they all shrugged and said, this is life now. Well, this is life for me now and seven years later, there’s no going back. I have made my bed and I must celebrate.

A few lessons, realization, tips, tools and tricks from spending Friday evening and all-day Saturday without my tech gadgets.

1. I love my smartphone. I love GPS. I love my music apps- Hoopla and Apple Music. I love looking up the weather and knowing before it’s too late. I LOVE THE UBER APP— more on this later. I love iMessage and trying to beat the text bubble appearing before my punch line. And I love brain-dumping in my Notes app. That’s about what my dumb-smartphone can do.

2. Yet, I can leave the house without my phone and be completely okay. I don’t need it. It’s just nice to have.

Nothing fun happens on the internet. So, I learn little by little, I get used to getting used to. I get used to spending weekday evenings out because the alternative isn’t social media reels that keep me entertained and feeling connected until I pass out from exhaustion. It’s plenty of time, space, and void; ample, endless, unrelenting. It demands to be filled, with anything, so I learn to find stuff to do, and make the effort to do them; after work, before a workout class, after an evening out and the night is still young. A fitness instructor once told me, you either learn to love the pain or love the result. Can you love both?

Not long ago, I used to leave the house and go about my day in the wilderness of the city without a phone, without internet, without the ability to reach someone “in case of an emergency.” It was a time before portable internet and smartphones. It’s a funny thing what you can get used to, and forget there ever being a time without: Without smartphones, without internet, without, without, without. It’s not like I haven’t tried to be without since, here and there, but it came out of frustration, annoyance and spite even, of an economy that turned my attention for sale to the highest bidder. I was simply young, idealistic, angry: It passes with time. Lately, through the passage of time and learning it’s mostly inconvenience rather than actual emergency that make connectivity on the go such a necessity, I find myself curious about a day spent offline. In fact, I have learned to love my smartphone and the internet these days,, but something about going out into the world without, when being without seems impossible, out of the question, even transgressive, that piques my interest, my curiosity to unplug.