Offline 23 hours a day

<p> Last month, I moved into my new home in the woods. There’s no internet and no phone service here. It’s so productive. </p><p> At first I thought I couldn’t move in without internet. But now I prefer it this way. </p><p> <strong> Media silence creates a vacuum, which your own thoughts expand to fill. </strong> </p><p> I notice it most at the start of the day. No news. No texts. I have no idea what’s going on out there, so I develop what’s going on <strong>in here</strong>. My writing, coding, and learning fills the time and space. </p><p> My thoughts feel more independent. I explore my own ideas deeper before looking for other perspectives. </p><p> Problems I used to punt, I now solve on my own. It’s voluntary, like weightlifting. My brain feels stronger because I work through the problem instead of prompting it away. </p><p> Remember the movie “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E">WALL·E</a>”, where people depended on assistance so much that they couldn’t even walk on their own? I want to be able to solve problems without help, and lift heavy thoughts without needing others’ opinions. </p><p> <strong> When I’m yearning to search, I ask myself why. </strong> </p><ul><li> What answer am I hoping to hear? </li><li> What answer would be a surprise? </li><li> What would I do in each case? </li></ul><p> This process feels more useful than a search result. </p><p> Every day or two, I bring my laptop into town to get online for an hour. The time limit keeps me super-focused. I know why I’m there. I know what I need. I download emails and upload code. I <a href="https://datasette.io/tools/llm">post</a> my questions to a bunch of <a href="https://openrouter.ai/">AIs</a>, and save the answers to read later. </p><p> Limiting online time helps me ignore the hype. Media still screams about what I urgently need to see now, but I don’t. A minute later, I’m offline. I text and call friends, then go home to work. </p><p> Not so long ago, this was the norm. You’d go online to get what you need, then <a href="https://sive.rs/dc">disconnect</a>. </p><p> Some day soon they’ll connect the fast fiber here to my home in the woods. So I’m posting this for my future self, to remember how <strong>peaceful and productive</strong> it is to <strong>block the inputs</strong>, and <strong>make a vacuum to expand my output</strong>. </p>