My Offline WeekendsteemCreated with Sketch.

in #life5 years ago (edited)

I am back from 45 offline hours on the weekend.

Two 35 mm films have been sent off to the development studio and I am anxiously waiting for the prints and scans to come back. I truly enjoyed the analog photography which included figuring out some of the equipment (picture, real pictures follow when I get them).

In order to get the full experience, I didn't just go into flight mode but left the phone at home altogether. The car GPS pointed to a rather remote location and I reached the house at 8:30 pm on Friday. The road had turned into a tiny path covered by snow and ice and I had to switch the car to extended ground clearance. When I arrived at the destination (at 6000 ft alt) the house was dark and empty. Without a phone, the choices were to either wait and trust the instructions or drive back. That reminded me of some dates in pre-phone times ;-).

The weekend was fantastic. We played music, went for a snowshoe walk, got to know each other better, cooked, chilled. All of us were fully present with zero virtual interruptions. I was grateful to have shared the weekend with offliners.

I did not really miss the phone or the internet. I attribute this partially to the fact that my life is currently free from any sort of crisis.

One of my friends said that the missing phone felt like a phantom limb. He would reach out for it just realizing once more that there was nothing. And there is this amazing experience shared by Aurelie: I was expecting it to be so hard, but... it was so easy! The time flew by.

I will continue to follow the movement on reddit.

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I have imagined the experience and it sounds relaxing, I should take it as an example and have free day away from my phone and laptop especially with the great advantage that I have possible destinations very close to home. I hadn't thought about it until I read this, thank you so much for sharing <3

The awesome thing about "analog photography" is the "delayed gratification" that you get as you wait for the films to be developed. I have a different attitude in shooting when using analog compared to a digital camera. I guess it could be used as a metaphor to your 45-hour offline weekend experience.

When in analog photography, we tend to slow down and immerse ourselves into the subject. Like your experience, you had more time to get to know the other offliners and had a great time. Contrary to digital photography, we tend to fast track the activity, burst the shots and never really appreciate the subject & the time we spent on it.

You sharing your experience is wonderful as I never thought that something like this is possible. Thank you :)

P.S.
Can't wait to see the results :)

I have a friend who is a mechanical engineer, he has worked all his career in the oil field. He is brilliant, a genius ... literally.

He is the most intelligent person I have ever met. To give you an idea, once I saw him explaining by telephone to his university daughter how to solve a mathematical equation of integrals, functions and limits to infinity. He solved the equation mentally, without using a pen or paper.

He is also a person addicted to technology. Your phone has become an extension of your body.

Once, his wife surprised him with a weekend trip together to some cabins in the mountains. But she did not say anything to him: in that place there is no telephone coverage, nor television, nor internet.

The despair was such that they had to interrupt the stay. He could not stand it.

I am a supporter of making spiritual retreats eventually. This connects us with ourselves and with God.

Wow - this is quite a story. I am sure your friend has his reasons, perhaps he was right in the middle of some important communication processes and could not properly prepare for being offline. Its definitely easier when announced and prepared.

Greetings friend @mariusfebruary.
That trip was his wife's idea. She thought that he could disconnect for a couple of days and relax. But the technological dependence was more powerful.

I particularly love those opportunities. I have gone hiking in the mountains and I have been able to appreciate the "total silence". The first time I was silent it was disturbing, I could not commune with this. Then I managed to assimilate that peace. Playing my guitar there is a sublime experience.

Currently where I live in the city, there is a sonic pollution that is reaching levels that threaten health. For example, when I'm going to create my music, I have to do it in the early hours when there is less vehicular traffic.

In summary, it will always be beneficial to be in contact with nature away from so much electronic device. It's like going back to the roots.

A hug for you.

You went 45 hours offline... This is unheard of! Haha! Glad it was good to disconnect but like this kid... Some scepticism 🤣

Just kidding. I will hopefully be disconnecting for a while out in NZ later next month! Be good to recharge

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Congratulations on achieving this feat!
I think most of us would really embrace such an opportunity to go off grid for a few days and get back to nature and the simple things in life.
I especially like the part when you say...

"I did not really miss the phone or the internet. I attribute this partially to the fact that my life is currently free from any sort of crisis."

It's weird, but true, we sometimes create our own crisis and stresses whilst blogging, networking and hustling (as a musician) and cannot live without the technology that we have at our fingertips!
I'm sure my music friends @d-vine @nickyhavey @onemedia would concur with this too.

Anyway @mariusfebruary I'd like to speak for us collectively in the music community, and thank you kindly for your ongoing support for us all.
It's very much appreciated in this current bear climate.
Have a great weekend whatever you may be doing.
DC 🎼

Thank you, Darren.

Completely agree with every thing you said here @darrenclaxton!

We all need to hit system reset from time to time and I am sure our followers would even understand that.

I'd also like to echo your sentiment of gratitude to Marius for the generous delegations to the music community on steem. Thanks big man!

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@mariusfebruary
Hello dear sir how are you?I hope you are well and healthy together your family. Have wonderful day dear.
First of all I have missed you.You are busy man I know. But your post I always looks.so I will try to make best relationship with you. I am so little from you like your son.I am 18 years old.I am student and I want to build up on steemit.Steemit is a great place for my continue studying.It is my dream and I spend my playing time so that I am continuing study rightly.
And At last recently you have leave this post discretion really fantastic.Your journey ,walk ,music, analog photography,and reached at home everything writing so beautiful and unique.You are a great bloger

Saying that you will be "Offline" for some time to "connect" and dedicate your attention completely to someone else is a romantic idea that I have of this fact. Apply to family and friends, to loved ones, and as Juan mentioned in his commentary, to connect with God, everything is possible when you decide to have some "Offline" days, right? Greetings, many blessings.

135 mm films and weekend with no cellphone is like and "adventure in the past"... 🤣

Ab und zu ist das aber nötig!

EDIT.

I hope to see you soon playing guitar again.

Hi, @mariusfebruary. How are you?

First of all... Nice post! Your experience seems to have been great! :)

So, I've saw you like photography and I just wrote a post about a great book that explains a little of this world.

Here it is (if it interests you to read it): https://steemit.com/biblioteca/@wiseagent/biblioteca-read-this-if-you-want-to-take-great-photographs-or-leia-isto-se-quiser-tirar-fotos-incriveis-2014.

It was written in Portuguese, but you can translate (if you don't understand the language... 'Cause I'm Brazilian).

Great Idea, technology is like a drug.... so it's good to take a break sometimes :-D

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