Monday Mood: Retreat from a hyper connected world

I remember my first email account, I started law school in the late summer of 1996, and the University assigned me an email account. To access it, I had to go to one the terminals at the University and log in; later there was remote access; I opened my first personal email account that fall. A couple of months into graduate school, I bought my first cell phone, 30 minutes a month of calls in a limited area, for $30 a month. School was 82 miles from home, it felt better to have a connection on the road. That fall I bought my first desktop computer and we had dial up internet access at home. A few years later, I bought my first "smart phone" a blackberry. The salesman lied, he said in a week they wouldn't be able to pry it out of your hands, it was only couple of days until I couldn't leave home without it. And it had good international phone service. 

Today the easiest way to reach me is email, text is a second choice, I am hard to reach by phone as I often leave my phone in the other room and don't hear it, and if you don't show up on caller ID, I don't answer. I check email on my desktop computer, my phone, an Ipad, and a couple of Chromebooks.  I spend several hours a day connected to the web, YouTube is my primary media for entertainment. 

I probably spend far to much time being connected. And it is hard to get away from. 

Starting late this afternoon, I will be disconnected to varying degrees for a month, a retreat from my hyper connected world. In the first couple of weeks there will several days of complete retreat, interspersed with four days when I will be connected for a few hours, but only a few. After that I will have phone service, and WiFi in hotels. Last year we did WiFi at sea and found it disappointing, the service was really not very good, and it didn't provide a break from the connected world, it just moved it a new venue with crappy service. We are not doing that this year.  I will have phone and email when we are in Port (my phone plan includes 36 days of year of international service) and on the land based part of the trip.  

Just before the sun sets today, my retreat from the hyper connected world begins.  Worry not, there are posts scheduled for your reading enjoyment.  I will reply to comments when the retreat is over. 

My digital detox. 

Our Sunday in Ft. Lauderdale