Paul Miller recently came back online after quitting the Internet for a full year.
About a year ago, Miller was convinced that the Internet was making him unproductive, and even corrupting his soul.
"My goal, as a technology writer, would be to discover what the Internet had done to me over the years," Miller writes on The Verge. "To understand the internet by studying it 'at a distance.' I wouldn't just become a better human, I would help us all to become better humans. Once we understood the ways in which the internet was corrupting us, we could finally fight back."
So at 11:59 p.m. on April 30, 2012, Miller unplugged his Ethernet cable, turned off his Wi-Fi, and replaced his smartphone with a "dumb phone."
Everything was great at first but Miller eventually realized just how wrong he was.
Here are five lessons he learned.
- The Internet wasn't holding him back from being creative and productive. He was solely responsible for his shortcomings.
- Paper books are great and you don't need the Internet to learn new things. But it still takes motivation to read a book, with or without the Internet.
- Receiving a dozen letters a week can be just as overwhelming as receiving hundreds of emails a day.
- It's harder to find and connect with people without the Internet. "It's easier to text, or SnapChat, or FaceTime, than drop by someone's house."
- "A 'Facebook friend' is better than nothing."
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