On Tuesday I finally made the move I've been working toward for a couple of weeks: I disconnected the internet at my apartment. Now I'm more counter-cultural than ever: no television, no cell phone, and now no internet. I think it begs the question, "Why?", so let me attempt to explain.
First, the cost of service went up considerably when my introductory six-month period was up. Spending $60 each month on internet service is reasonable for my budget, but I don't believe in spending money just because I can. If the internet were something that I felt was really benefiting me and encouraging me to grow in faith, maturity, and virtue, then the expense would easily be justified. However, it seemed like it was in fact having the opposite effect.
What I found was that I was spending more time than I felt I ought to delving into all kinds of reading and research on numerous blogs and a few discussion forums. Although I was reading good, wholesome Christian blogs, I found that this time was becoming more of a compulsion than an edifying activity. First Corinthians 6:12 says, "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything." I wouldn't say I was being "mastered" by the internet, not the way an addict is mastered by drugs, but it was supplanting other good, beneficial, and more necessary things in my life.
I also observed that although I have numerous books that I have bought or borrowed and am very much looking forward to reading, I have spent practically no time reading books. Although reading blogs is interesting and edifying, I think it is much like television in that it requires very little attention span, and it is very easy to switch from one channel to another to find new stimulation. It is a lazy man's way of making time pass by with the mind in neutral. Dr. Doug Groothuis, one of the seminary professors that my friend Chris talks about, is a keen critic of contemporary American culture, and just skimming his list of "Important Books about Television", with titles like "Amusing Ourselves to Death" and "The Humiliation of the Word", is enough to convict me of the shallowness of my intellectual life. I want to develop a better attention span for reading and thinking, both for entertainment and for edification.
Now that I'm "unplugged", it will be interesting to see what I learn about the role that the internet had played. Already on the first evening I noticed some habits that I had never been aware of before: During my drive home, I found myself pondering various points of trivia that I could look up when I got home. At the grocery store, I noticed that I glanced over the DVDs on clearance as I passed by, checking to see if any titles caught my interest for downloading and watching on an unoccupied evening. When I got back to my apartment, my first instinct was to want to turn on my laptop and fire up email. As I cooked dinner, the apartment felt somehow more empty and disconnected from the world than before.
I expect that this will be an interesting experiment.
