Some people have become so dependent upon having Internet access that they have taken measures to ensure that they are never without it. This does not mean that all people are Internet-dependent because of choice. It means that all sorts of work, education, shopping, business and play now involves some form of internet access. This creates a real need for Internet access at least on a daily basis or during business hours.

We all have to deal with service outages, power outages and unexpected hardware and software breakdowns from time to time. When these happen, having a “Plan B” that involves handwriting, reading real books and magazines, and doing our necessary data entry work by hand for later input is something that keeps the manual skills in good shape.

Doing things manually can be just as satisfying as working on the computer. The work should be practiced and the supplies actually used so that an emergency transition to manual work is not a difficult one.

Using real books and printed reference material is a way to get off of the Internet and to retain our skills in the traditional library arts. The act of finding a source and reading it to get information can be very satisfying. It can also be very satisfying to read, study, take handwritten notes and then tuck them away for the next Internet session.

When we skim over Internet content, retaining a printed list of topics or some printed out reading material will give more in-depth content to read when the Internet is not available.

For our manual recordkeeping skills, we can develop a set of printed forms that we can use to record information by hand. For our handwriting skills, we can practice writing our blogs and articles by hand, then inputting them later.

We tend to interweave our activities in the real world and on line. We get up to vacuum the floor or to start the dinner, then return to the computer. We leave to shop, work, and to interact with others, then come back to the Internet.

To survive a day without the internet, it is easy to expand some of the other things that we usually do until they take up most, if not all of the day. Major Spring cleaning, exploring an unfamiliar “old town” or shopping center, starting an art project can all become activities that make the time fly! 

When voluntarily expanding to a greater number of days offline, it is best to notify the more critical of the e-mail and social networking friends or the larger audiences who are used to something every day. This way, others can know not to expect immediate replies to their mails or to expect daily content. Then, there will not be such a nagging feeling of missing something or of disappointing someone.

In summary, there is little that we do that does not involve the Internet these days. Even a shopping expedition can become a disappointment when a store’s inter- or intranet computer system is down. Very few workers, even those who work outdoors, are able to go all day without being dependent on something that involves accessing the web.

The best way that we can prepare ourselves for an extended period of no computer or no Internet is by maintaining our skills in the wonderful arts of getting information, processing the information and writing or recording information without a keyboard and mouse involved.