← Digital Detox

A note from Michael, delivered by internet

The Carrier Pigeon Problem

If I want to reach you and share something without using the internet, what are my options here?

I’m talking about spending less time online on a website that you can only visit on the internet.

The irony is not lost on me.

Such is the situation that we’re in, but let’s look at our options.

The offline alternatives are not looking promising

  • A carrier pigeon in a peaked cap carrying a small envelope
    Carrier pigeon

    First I need an aviary, a tiny mailroom and a clerk in a peaked cap. Then I train each pigeon to find a particular reader, wait while they read the message and carry their questions home. “Message for Brenda in Wolverhampton!”

  • A postal clerk beside a gigantic pile of letters
    Thousands of letters

    Print every page. Fold it. Find an envelope. Buy stamps. Lick. Repeat several thousand times. By the time Brenda replies, I have written three more articles and she has moved to Shropshire.

  • A telegraph operator tangled in a long strip of paper
    Telegram

    PLEASE SPEND LESS TIME ONLINE STOP THIS ADVICE IS COSTING ME BY THE WORD STOP.

  • A town crier ringing a bell in an empty village square
    Town crier

    I hire a man with excellent lungs to stand beside the fountain and ring a bell. Brilliant reach, provided every reader lives in one village and does not mind the newsletter arriving at dawn.

  • A message in a bottle drifting across a large ocean
    Message in a bottle

    I roll the article into a bottle and trust the currents. If Brenda lives in Wolverhampton, delivery via the Atlantic is ambitious. She may receive it after a fisherman in Iceland opens it in 2041.

  • A drenched man making smoke signals as a fire brigade approaches
    Smoke signals

    I light a small fire on the nearest hill and attempt to explain digital boundaries in three puffs. Rain cancels publication. Sunshine brings the fire brigade.

  • A biplane dropping thousands of leaflets over a village
    Drop leaflets from an aeroplane

    I hire an aeroplane and drop thousands of leaflets over the country. Most land in hedges, ponds and Mrs Henderson’s washing. One reaches Brenda. She uses it to steady a wobbly table.

  • An exhausted man carrying leaflets along an endless row of front doors
    Go door to door

    I knock on every door personally. At each house I explain why we should spend less time online. By the time I reach Brenda, she has retired and I have worn through fourteen pairs of shoes.

At this point, the internet starts to look almost reasonable.

Or I could admit the obvious: the internet is where people are.

Going offline forever is not the point

Most of us cannot permanently retreat from digital life. Work, banking, cars, travel, email, security, messages and ordinary administration are tied to computers and phones. I run an online business. I am not writing the website from a cave and sending each article down the mountain by donkey.

A proper break can still be immensely useful. A day, a week or a longer period without unnecessary media can clear the fog and show you what you miss, what you do not miss and what deserves to come back.

But eventually, most of us return.

The aim is not to build a life with no technology. The aim is to build a life in which technology has a clear job and is not quietly running everything else.

Keep the tools that genuinely help. Put limits around the ones that tend to expand. Remove the things that repeatedly take more time than they are worth. Make enough space to notice the people, work and ordinary life already in front of you.

Use the internet when the internet is the right tool.

Then, when the job is finished, leave.

Give your next online session one clear purpose

Before you open a browser or app, write down the specific reason you are going online. Finish this sentence: “I am going online to…”

For example: “I am going online to pay the electricity bill,” “send the proposal to James,” or “book the train to London.”

Do that task. When it is finished, close the browser or app instead of looking for something else to do online. The pigeon may remain available for ceremonial duties.

Build a better relationship with technology

When technology needs a jobCompare blockers and tools for changing your setupClear the fogPlan a digital detox that fits your real lifeKeep what serves youStart using technology more deliberately