The One With The Internet Blackout

It’s true what they say: You only realise how much you need something, when it’s taken from you. Ripped from you, suddenly, without you having had any time to prepare. Only then can you see how that particular something was such a big part of your life, how it practically WAS your life at some point. And you wish you had appreciated it more. Used it more wisely.

After the loss, you find yourself sitting on your bed, empty, staring wholes into the wall and simply not knowing what to do next. What does one do, generally speaking?

Eating breakfast, for example. Full Stop. Not simultaneously getting informed about the weather today, not scrolling through the newest pasta recipes while absent minded sipping on a (way too hot) hot cocoa. Enjoying, instead of multitasking. 

With this in mind I decided to use the at first sight unfortunate event of our Wifi-Router being responsible for a power failure, and the landlord’s advice not to use it anymore (ever!), to my advantage.

No Wifi – no stress. Simple as that, right? And maybe I could also counteract a certain laziness that had taken hold of me lately, mostly caused by internet access and chocolate.

I told myself that I wouldn’t despair. I sure don’t need internet 24/7. I can handle this.

The first stadium was denial. When you have not yet come to terms with the new situation and you are constantly repeating old habits. It’s funny, how your fingers make the cursor automatically click on that tiny symbol with an orange fox circling a blue globe. Click on it, only to close it again after half a second because, no, it still doesn’t work. And you quietly curse yourself for repeatedly opening your MailApp on your tablet, because all you see is the little symbol that indicates that there is no connection. None at all. The Internet has disappeared from here.

After that comes the recognitional phase, also known as the “oh my god, I certainly cannot handle this” stage, where you realise that you cancelled your Spotify Premium Account 10 days ago and the only music you can actually listen to at home is the one U2 album, which they made accessible on iTunes for free.  Not wise, Myriam, not wise at all.

On the other hand, I had also decided not to prolong my free Netflix Trial , which was certainly a lucky shot.  (If I think about it, I might have spent way too much time there anyway. 5 seasons of Friends in three weeks – could I BE any more addicted to that show?)

Next up, the reactionary phase, where you start doing new things that fill up the empty space. I began reading– and read 6 hours straight, until the clock showed 1 AM, my eyes were tiny and Norwegian police officer Harry Hole had solved the whole dark mystery of the creepy killer snowman (need a sleepless night? That’s the book to start with! Or wait until the movie’s out next year.)

Another plus of no internet access: Writing is so much easier. Because all the distraction that is normally there, all the Buzzfeed Quizzes that tell you which Weasley sibling you should be dating (Bill, right?) or where in Britain your accent is from (southern accent, baby!), all the group chats on Facebook which mainly consist of cat-stickers and smileys, the newspaper websites that you could browse for exciting news from home plus the live coverage of the Icehockey World Championship… Oii... Okay, you know what? There’s this Café around the corner that has Wifi.

What? I cannot sit here all day. That would be lazy.