Can you go for a whole week without using technology?

Question

No computers, TV, cell phone or i-pods or any other gadgets. Use only a radio and a landline phone. Can you do it? For me it's no big deal because we do without that stuff when we go camping for a week in a tent. It's easy if you stay occupied. Don't get bored.

Answer 1

No problem.   I haven't had a tv for 18 years and never  had any of the others at  home.     I did get rid of the wood cook stove and get a gas one last spring; does that count?   At work they want to buy a cordless screwdriver for $60.   I'm like "I can get you one for less than a buck."

Answer 2

I have done this, at my dad's homestead. He uses solar power during the day for enough power to use the vacuum and to power his satellite phone. At night he powers up the generator if he needs lights . There is no tv reception or radio reception, only a cb radio.

He grows all his own food and hunts for meat. He has chickens for eggs and lives on a lake where he can fish for salmon.

It's incredible, and we keep busy all day doing chores and walking through the woods looking for good firewood to cut.

At night we sit down for dinner and soon after fall asleep reading a book using electricity stored in a car battery from the solar panels.

It's really wonderful and I have always found that when I have to go back to civilization I am sorry.

Answer 3

For entertainment, I am sure I would be fine.  Books are amazing things.  But we don't have a landline, so I guess I couldn't do it.

I am curious about your definition of 'technology.'  Cars with internal combustion engines wouldn't be considered technology but hybrids would?  Landlines are not considered technology but cell phones are?  Would an old UHF TV be ok by your definition?  What about my dishwasher and other kitchen appliances?

Oh, and green living is not necessarily about depriving yourself or living without technology.  It's about conservation, i.e. prioritizing your energy use and cutting down where you can, and (even more importantly in my opinion) it's about shifting to newer, more sustainable technology.

Answer 4

no i agitated if i forget my phone for 1 day! haha :)

Answer 5

This would be like a rehab-detox program for me, but I'd like to give it a try some time. After i turn off my computer?

Answer 6

I lived like this for 2 weeks because I was on a loooong trip (with tents and everything)

Answer 7

OMG! I could not do that I am like addicted to my phone! I just got 20 more dollars on my account last week and i already need another twenty! im at like 3 dollars! And I  could not not go on my laptop! I go crazy if i cant check my email for periods of time. especailly now cause my friend is mad at me and i havent seen her for about 3 weeks and she hasnt emailed me! i need technology!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

impossible.. I work at fords fixing their testing equiepment. computors anylysers and so forth. if I dont use technology i dont work. if i dont work i dont get paid . if i dont get paid i die.

Answer 9

i can....but only 4 an hr or so

Answer 10

I find I actually physically feel better if I quit watching TV...just give me a good book.  But to do without lights a stove or a fridge, that would be hard.  I cannot even imagine doing without indoor plumbing.  Louisiana is just too hot to go without A/C.  I guess I'm more spoiled than I thought.  Great question.

Answer 11

Radio and landline phone isn't going without technology.

Yes, humans can go technology and can even be somewhat comfortable with minimal technology (not no technology, you are probably bringing quite a bit of technology with you when you go camping, including the tent).

The question is whether many people would want to live their entire lives that way and the answer is a pretty resounding NO (otherwise that's how we'd all live).

Answer 12

I think you mean without electronics or high-tech equipment. Anything modified for the purpose of completing a task is technically technology.

Answer 13

i couldnt do that.

Answer 14

Tents, clothes, food are some of the most technical stuff we use.

Think of the equipment used to grow crops, from plant breeding labs to agro-chemicals & machinery; processing and distribution; lightweight camping equipment uses advanced metalurgy and plastics; then do you hike from home to the camp ground?

Without technology you would not get bored, you would be out gathering (no hunting tools remember) food and digesting it raw, unless you find some wild fire.

Technology is how humans survive, don't knock it. It is only an issue when used mindlessly and without respect for the finite and interconnected nature of the planet's life-support systems

Answer 15

I did that in Hawaii for two months and it was amazing. I pooed in a bucket, bathe in the ocean, no lights, cooked using small fires, in a canopy forest, but it was very difficult  eating properly, so I broke down to eat occasionally in local restaurants, and bought food at the market. Otherwise I had all my needs met. Next time I'll do that more isolated.  I know what to prepare for.

The biggest difference is the resetting of my internal clock. Sleep at sun down, wake before daylight. I was in tune with the cosmos. Then taking in all the sub-tropic ambiance was amazing. The tropical birds began a chorus at 4:30am that I presume even the locals don't experience. You have to be in the forest to hear it.

Answer 16

Been there done that ...

Answer 17

quite impossible to do that coz it seems that everything is related to technology.

Answer 18

Yes I can go without the above (tv, pc, mobile etc) , although is a car included (as I need it for work etc).

It is good you are trying to motivate people to forgo technology to help the environment and themselves (pun).

Answer 19

I could