Preparing to Disconnect

2024-03-29

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My wife and will soon take a trip to a remote cabin with a few friends. We are deliberately planning this excursion to disconnect as much as possible: get away from the hustle of the city, detox from the Internet, and connect with each other and the natural world.

I began thinking about what to pack this morning. The essentials came to mind first: rugged clothing, medicines, camping chairs, and so on. But after I mentally checked off obvious provisions, my mind almost immediately wandered to what electronics I might want to bring. I have a Game Boy Micro: it could be fun to play offline games on that for a while. Or I could bring my DevTerm and sync articles from Gemini using offpunk before leaving. Or perhaps I could bring my ThinkPad with Navigatrix installed and test out connecting to the Internet via radio.

Then I paused and contemplated what I was thinking. My idea of "disconnecting" was to still engage in all the distractions I surround myself with in everyday life and only removing the condition that they be actively connected to the Internet. How disconnected can that really be?

What I will do instead is bring only analog devices--or at least devices that cannot function as general-use computers. I plan to bring a deck of cards, some dice, and a few books for entertainment. If I want to navigate around the site, paper maps and a compass will suffice. Light will be by campfire, or by lantern or flashlight only if necessary. And communication devices will be limited to a phone with mobile data turned off, and possibly a handheld radio for emergencies.

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[Last updated: 2024-03-29]