Life without the Internet.

It’s quiet. Really quiet. It’s a rainy, June Saturday and it seriously quiet. There’s no music playing in the house (though a good Bach sonata would highlight the beauty of the day), no video games, no movies. Just an occasional growl from the dog and a the chirping of the birds.

3 weeks since school let out and 3 weeks since we turned off the internet. We’re calling it the great experiment. The results so far have been absolutely lovely. The kids are acting like kids again; playing with friends, reading books, having paddle board races, running RC cars and launching rockets.

It’s so good.

Balin and I both have jobs that require the internet but surprisingly you find out what really needs to be done and what can wait. A lot can wait.

There are a couple creamy nuggets that have risen to the top that I think, I hope, will stick.

One of my favorites is the shock people express when they hear we don’t have Internet. It leaves people speechless - they’re not quite sure what to do with it. We’ve never had cable and 15 years ago people were in shock over that, but now with streaming of movies and shows more and more, people are choosing to speed up their internet and kick out the cable. But to not have internet is beyond most people’s conception.

Another nugget is the kicking the “tyranny of time” out the window. So many of us struggle with the feeling of having so many things we want to do but never having the time to do them. I’ve found that without Internet, I’ve been given so much more time. A few months ago when I was exhausted, feeling worn down by the commitments of life, I made a list of things that I would do if I had time. Hiking, biking, gardening, reading for pleasure, playing guitar, paddle boarding and the list goes on. At the time, I was feeling the scarcity of space in my life to do the things that brought me life. Since we’ve taken the “no internet” jump, we’ve still had a full life, but it’s filled with biking, hiking, gardening, wine with friends, playdates, picking strawberries - beautiful, life giving activities.

My favorite effect of turning off the internet has been the change in our children. They have found ways to engage and participate in conversation. The first week Sam took 3 golf balls and started juggling. Perrin has become a puzzle queen, having completed 2, 2000 piece puzzles in the last week and working on the third. We’ve had friends over every day - they play outside or quietly in their rooms. It’s like their imaginations were kick started and are in full operation again.

I have to give the credit to a friend from school who has 3 boys and casually mentioned that they packed up all electronics for the summer and kick the boys outside. I brought the idea home to Balin, who took it up a notch and said we could all use electronic detoxing and perhaps we should turn off the internet.

My first reaction was, “How will Sam survive?” I remember taking it to the Lord in prayer and a quiet voice said, “Have courage - this will change your life”. It has changed our life and I am so thankful.