I went on a trip to Mexico, where I was off the grid including the food, water and money grid for seven days. It was a kayaking trip around an island. All food and fresh water were packed up. It wasn’t very long, but it was a real vacation and it was nice to be off the grid.

My only worries were whether we had enough food and water and where I was going to pitch the tent.

As long as you live in a moderate climate, you don’t really need all stuff, except perhaps refrigeration. That’s a great invention.

One further thought…

Almost all our electronic communication is, in some way, channelled through SATELLITES. Voice, fax, banking, TV, radio, LD telephone, Blackberry, etc. - ALL require working satellites to function.

I wonder how many are aware of just how vulnerable those satellites are? Just ONE little “burp” from the Sun, and they’re gonners. It’s likely possible right now for some countries to aim a laser at a satellite and vaporize it!

I wonder just what all these “hooked-on-electronic gadget” types are going to do with themselves when they have to actually WRITE a note by hand, CALCULATE a sum by hand, or DO ANYTHING manually? I mean look what happens now when the power goes out for a few hours!

My guess is there will be CHAOS on a scale not seen since the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. NOTHING WILL WORK, folks… you won’t even be able to go shopping.
Ain’t it going to be fun?

Oh, and to all those who think it won’t happen - GUESS AGAIN. It’s very likely to happen and when it does, only we who’ve chosen to live “off the grid” as much as possible will be able to carry on.

Have a nice day. It could be your last.

Hope you enjoyed it

Calm down, NotImpressed. You are responding to points the author does not make. That is, he is not advocating going backward. He merely points out, and rightly so, that all innovations, no matter how beneficial, have a few downsides, and he is wondering aloud how it will feel to be out of the loop for awhile. That’s it.

Back when, we used to strap the bed rolls to the bars hang the saddle bags on the fenders, o ya the masses didn’t have mobile phones and PC’s were still science friction, we would leave for places were the tribes of our kind gathered spending months getting there and back. We met all kinds out on the road some very good people and some not so good. So what if the rednecks wanted to put us in jail or kill us it just made the trip more interesting.

After just returning from one of these trip,s again without phones , computers or satellite any thing, I just cant see what the big deal is.

You chose to be part of this culture or you don’t. You chose to be a parasite with all its entrapment’s or you don’t.

I expect a really good story out of this adventure. From HAND written notes? I spent 2 weeks in Tahiti in’83 and everything was in french so we just hung out with the natives and did not read,hear or see a thing about the “real” world. I cried when I left….

You don’t really have to go to China to get off the grid.  There is a thing called an on-off switch…. using it is cheaper than buying a ticket to backwoods Asia.

I feel so lucky… I just turned 70 which indicates that I entered the work force when there more than enough jobs for everyone (never had to send more than one or two resumes to land a good job) and left it when you’re lucky to even get a response from sending 100! What a dispiriting situation.

Back in the mid-60s I left North America for Australia via a ship from Vancouver. The P&O Liner Arcadia as I recall. Something like 27 days via Honolulu, Suva, Auckland. The only communication with land was via ship’s radio. I suppose that during an emergency a passenger could use it but I didn’t hear of anyone doing so. There was no radio, TV, internet, cell phones or any other communication devices. We were “off the communication grid” well and good. The feeling of FREEDOM was something I’d never experienced before or since. I was a thrill.

Now, in retirement, I watch with amusement the “younger set” - all hustle and bustle - cell phone permanently snuggled up to an ear. Internet, Blackberry, email and all the other “leashes” they willingly wear are anathema to me. I could not and would not hand over my freedom like that for any job or reason.

It is PROVEN that this high level of chronic stress produces disease and illness and dysfunction and death. This not my opinion or assumption. Read the literature. Ask a doctor or other health professional.

My advice to the young: find a job where YOU control the majority of your time. I’m really sorry that, for many, this will not be possible. But be advised and warned… submitting to being put on a leash and under constant stress, no matter how high the pay, WILL EVENTUALLY KILL YOU. Think about what your good health is worth to you.

Get the book “The Joy of Not Working.” You’ll soon realize that life is NOT about piling up the bucks or acquiring all the toys. Don’t get sucked into assuming that success is measured by what you HAVE. It isn’t.

I admire (and envy) Sirota, as much for exploring rural China as for breaking the cyber chains, however briefly. I occasionally go cold turkey myself—or as cold as is possible in a twitter-infected society. (No gadgets in hand myself, but surrounded by people whose thumbs and voices and (we asssume) attention are directed somewhere other than their immediate locale.) One minor cavil: After an essay in which the writer notes “my mailboxes tell you that all messages are being deleted,” you suggest we e-mail him. Whom do we believe?