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Have you ever thought about what it would be like to simply stop using the internet? Not just Facebook and other social media, but the whole internet. No computers, no smartphones, no email, just living like the internet does not exist. Is it even possible? Probably not if you need to function in today's global culture. Just considering the possibility can be daunting. You'd lose contact with friends and family whose relationships you've spent so many years kindling and growing; unless you decide to keep in contact by snail-mail, of course--sitting down to actually write a letter on paper. No more would you be subjected to spam and constant bombardments of advertising. Your page and website views would no longer be tracked so that your personal advertising experience is tailored. Heck, no more tracking at all. Especially if you revert to a cash only mode of living, but that's another story.

Would you want to leave some lasting impression on the internet, specifically on social media? Kind of like a relic that says, "I was here!" Or maybe just cut yourself off completely, becoming nothing more than a fading memory to your old friends? "Hey, does anybody remember that guy?"

So, how would you do it? Delete everything? Social media profiles, email addresses, etc? Would you leave a backdoor in case you change your mind? Maybe change your passwords to something not easily remembered, write them down and put them in an envelope, and give them to a trusted friend to hold on to just in case? Or do the relic thing and change your passwords to something hard to remember, do not write them down, and do NOT give them to a friend for safekeeping?

If you go the relic way, what would be your last message to all of your friends? What epitaph would leave at the top of your profile? Would it be something profound? A simple goodbye and thanks for all the fish? Or would you just disappear silently into the night?

If you did leave the internet how would you prepare yourself mentally? So much of our time is consumed by the internet that to leave it seems an impossibility. Would you read more? Work more? Watch a lot of TV (trade one addiction for another)? Exercise? Go on a quest?

Dropping off the internet would be a little like dropping out of society; seeing as how much of our being social entails simply being on the internet. Sure, the interaction with people over the internet is not of the same caliber as face-to-face, but for many who are a little introverted the internet has allowed us join with others in the celebration of life, even if it is a virtual celebration.

I just wanted to throw these ideas out there. I'm not suggesting that anybody actually do it. That would be so anti-social. And scary. And selfish. And ... a way to gain back your sanity?

People say they can't do without internet not because it is impossible, but because they have no desire to do without internet. They are not asking themselves what it would be like without internet, they are asking what it would be like to have their opium taken away from them. An addict isn't going to ever like that happening. But they aren't likely to die because of it, either. They'll just have to do something other than surf the web.

Ah, too much questions.