IAmA technology journalist. I'm leaving the internet for a year at 12:01am

I actually did this, from July 2009-2010. I have to recommend against it.

Started off as a 'FUCK YOU' to AT&T, who screwed up setting up my Internet access, made me wait two weeks, then ended up saying they couldn't give me Internet access at all in my area, THEN SENT ME A BILL FOR IT. Long story on that, but tl;dr, they're evil, and I just said, "hell, why not, I can live without the internet"

• I thought it would be sort of a 'challenge' at first. My god, how could we live without the internet, right?

• It wasn't nearly as challenging as I had expected. I mean, I still had a job and a car, and stuff like buying groceries and walking in the park hadn't changed.

• The minor conveniences really showed through. I had to use a PHONE BOOK to find a locksmith. A PHONE BOOK (really, first time in over 10 years). Booking plane tickets was a pain in the ass. Finding a newspaper or whatever to get movie showtimes. What time does this restaurant close, etc etc. What's going on I'm the city this weekend...

• It became rather dull rather quickly. The movies, TV shows, and games I had saved on my computer became stale rather quickly. When I bought games in the store, they always ran like shit cause my comp wasn't patched. Had to have a friend get updates/drivers onto a CD, bleh (is that cheating?). Everything happened more slowly. You'd be surprised how much interesting stuff you have to talk and learn about of you actually read something that isn't cat pictures. And how boring you seem when you don't.

• Regained some appreciation for 'old' forms of media, but was more often reminded of how much they suck. I fired through a lot of books, which was nice (and easier, when you're not getting bombarded with emails and facebook requests, and crap like that). Other than that, news from a paper or on TV is just insufferable. Ew.

• Life just seemed to pass me by a bit more. I was always behind what games, movoesl and TV shows were hot, what news was interesting, how far battery technology or cell phone trends had developed (heh, I almost completely missed the decline of Blackberry).

Really hope you get to read this and it doesn't get buried. I'd recommend six months rather than a year. It's not nearly as challenging or rewarding as you'd think, it's just boring.

But congrats on the ambition. Hope it works out well for you!

[Edit] Glad enough people dug this up even with 700+ comments. A final thought I'd like to add is that you'd be surprised how many ways you use the internet indirectly. A celebrity or sports figure might make a big announcement on Twitter, someone calls you to tell that so-and-so just posted on facebook that they got engaged. You see a hardcopy of The Onion newspaper. Even mainstream news organizations get a lot of their content virally. You go to a party, and someone has an ipad hooked up to their sound system with Pandora streaming (yeah could do without that last one, I know).

I've always been amazed at how slow the 'dinosaurs' of established businesses are to pick up technology, but it's impressive to see even restaurant chains giving special perks if you "like" them on facebook or follow them on Twitter.

If nothing else, it's definitely obvious how much of life passes you by if you shut out technological changes. I missed out on so much in just a year... I'd feel like a complete moron if I had never bothered to use a computer ...can only imagine, but wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I appreciate the concern! I'm still going ahead with it, but will watch out for the traps you mention. Maybe I'll like being bored? I have a lot of crazy experiments to try out along the way, so that might help me out. Plus I really do want to read a lot of books!

If someone gives you a GIF on a USB drive, can you watch it?

Always. Always and forever.

If you had to guess what your one cracking point would be, what would it be?

Porn.

Why?

So he can blog about it.

What's he going to do for a follow up act? Live strictly on the internet and not leave the house for a year? Ah fuck, I just gave him his next idea...

YES. Man, do you want royalties or just a credit in the liner?

Isn't this similar to saying "I'm going to live without electricity for a year"? You're going to make your life inherently more difficult while attempting to continue your job that requires you to constantly be up to date, all to prove....what? That the internet makes you a different person?

You're not even going to be truly giving up the internet. In order for you to function as a journalist in the tech field, you have to get your information from somewhere. Books and magazines are published too infrequently and don't contain the requisite data. You'll still be using telephones (a basic vocal form of internet), and you'll still have friends that will tell you data from the internet. So perhaps it would be easier to live in the woods somewhere, because otherwise you're just making some aspects of your life harder while maintaining the same addiction to information, if it should be called an addiction at all.

Personally, I find it just as much of a publicity stunt as living without electricity for a year. I wish you good luck, and I hope you find something meaningful, other than realizing that the internet is a useful tool for making your life easier. And, yes, I realize some might say it's an addiction, but the world moves faster than before the internet, and information changes faster every day. I wish you well, and I look forward to reading your journal entries.

I think it would almost be impossible to be alive in the modern world today without feeling the effects of the internet. I think the decisions I'm making will have a serious impact on my daily life, and it's that impact that I'm seeking and interested in.

My addiction to information might still exist, but it will at least be constrained in certain ways.

I know everyone at the Verge is kind of a hipster... but congrats on becoming the Michael Jordan of hipsters.

Working at a tech internet news site and not using the internet essentially because it is 'too main stream'. F***ing genius!

I recommend carrying around a camera that uses film, a pager and if you are going to use a cellphone, make it one of those giant 80s ones.

God's speed sir.

If you're going to be a hipster, you might as well go all the way, right? However, I'm not going freegan or starting a vegetable garden or doing any leatherwork while I'm away.

No question, but I'm looking forward to the followup AMA on May 1, 2013.

or May 2, 2012

This is a good question. Should I come back May 1 2013 or May 2?

Realistically, let's say your friend or significant other or family member is watching a movie on Netflix and invites you to sit down. You protest: "No, I can't do that. Let's go to Blockbuster." Don't you think this will put people off, like a vegetarian who ruins a meal by declining to eat anything or inconveniences the group by insisting on going to a veg-friendly place?

Maybe you should be lax on this one.

Edit: sorry, not "ruin." I like my veg friends and definitely support the movement on environmental (and to a lesser extent ethical) grounds, but sometimes it's a hassle. When so much of our socializing revolves around eating, it's no surprise you're going to see some conflict between people with different diets.

I don't want to be an asshole, but all my friends and fam have been very supportive so far, so I think they'll understand. I recently learned that Jackass 3 was a dry set to Steve-O's addiction recovery. So maybe it will be a little like that.

What if the Paper app adds a new brush that you need to download?

Start crying.

Are you doing this for a story?

What do you think is going to be the most difficult aspect of this experiment?

I will be writing about my experiences a lot, but it's also a personal journey.

The toughest thing is not being able to research stuff I want to write about, and not being able to track down sources.

So you're going to throw floppies at Topolsky's head now?

• "Hey, Topolsky"
• "Hey, Miller"
• "I'm done with this review of Snake '97, publish it, bitch!"

I def had a version of Snake for the Mac on floppy. 8/10 stars.

So, how are you going to write about new technology? Is it going to me more interview and hands-on based reviews?

Yeah, probably. I will get newspapers and magazines, and be able to talk to my colleagues, so I'll be semi-current.

With gadgets that have internet connectivity, will part of your review be about internet speeds and so forth?

Lucky for me I don't do a lot of reviews. Maybe I'll start reviewing 5-year-old MP3 players.

Is the because of your experience with SkyDrive? DAMNIT Microsoft.

What pains me the most is that I'll never know the full joys of using SkyDrive and OneNote.

Are you hoping that by the time you come back Wifi calling and HD voice are widespread?

They'd better be. Otherwise I'll do another year.

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They're paying me! So that says a lot. Nilay said he was really happy and excited for me, and then I almost started crying.

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He's really excited for me too. At first I wasn't even sure if I could do this with a job at The Verge, but he made it happen.

QUICK. Print up every Wikipedia article, just in case.

UGH. Ran out of toner :(

Will you still be on the vergecast?

How will you survive without eSports?

Would it be cheating to go to a live esports event? Obviously a barcraft would be out of the question.

Would it be cheating to go to a live esports event?

I guess not, but a lot of the "non-internet" alternatives to our common pastimes seem to not be free. Have you considered the financial impact of not using the internet?

I think some things will cost a lot more, but other things won't even come up, so I won't know what I'm missing. So more ripoffs, less impulse buys. We shall see!

How will you be writing about tech and leaving the internet for a year? Explain please. I'm confused.

Was there tech before the internet? I hope to find out!

How does your brother, Ross, feel about this?

I plan on using the internet twice as much to restore balance, starting now to add the usual (no relation) tag to this thread.

He's been giving me a lot more noogies lately. But I got the last laugh when he got grounded for not cleaning his room.

How do your parents feel about this?

My mom just called me and wished my luck! She's going to mail me some records I used to listen to growing up.

Cool! Join us in /r/vinyl....oh yeah, shit sorry...

TT

How do your friends feel about this?

I'll probably inconvenience them more than I'll inconvenience myself.

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How do I feel about this?

How does the internet feel about this?

I'm fine with it.

k, thx

Are you including internal networks and home networks in this "ban"? Could you watch a streamed movie from your home computer? Can you receive a file from a coworker via intranet at The Verge?

I could do local networking, but I'm really scared of "accidentally" getting on the internet, just because I have wi-fi on. We'll see if I can clean room it.

remember when you trolled the internet and wrote about how awesome the blackberry storm keyboard was http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/08/blackberry-storm-9500-hands-on/

In all seriousness I wish you the best of luck Paul. The pieces you've written on wifi calling, Robotics and Starcraft have all been superb. I usually wont sit down and read long form content on tech websites but I do for your pieces. I'll continue following your work during your internet blackout.

This is my biggest regret in my career.

Thanks for the support!

Paul, Thanks for doing the AMA. Can you go into more details about your disconnect? (eg, why are you going offline? how will you write about tech while disconnected?)

I'm going offline to see what it's like! Since my whole teenage and adult life has been on the internet, I don't have any perspective on how the internet impacts me personally and creatively (it's obviously been a boon for me professionally).

As for writing about tech, I have to figure out how to do research. A lot of my writing will probably be about my no-internet adventures. I'll submit stories on thumb drives... sneakernet!

Good luck, Paul. I don't know how you'll manage this while working at The Verge, but more power to you if you can.

How are you going to share your Paper drawings without the Internet?

Screencap them on my iPad, sync them to my computer, then print them out at Kinkos, then mail them to people.

Since email will be out of the question, which is your preferred method of long distance communication? Snail mail? Fax? Telegrams? Carrier pigeons?

Snail mail. Although I really want to see if anybody still operates telegraphs.

Other things: CB radio, dead drops, invisible ink to be revealed by lemon juice.