Feeling Cut Off

[DDNatureLover]

I've been going through a rough patch, because my router has been acting up. Since I don't have a cell phone, I am literally cut off from other people when my router goes down. It's not as if I feel I can't live without the internet, but it's more that when my router malfunctions, I have no television, phone, or internet. My mom lives out of state, and is elderly, so I'm always anxious when I have no way to being contacted or contacting others. I can entertain myself quite well with my books and DVDs for a while if need be, but I do worry that something will happen with my mom and I won't know about it.


Thankfully, i was able to contact my provider last week and have them send me a new router, and yesterday I finally got it installed and set up. I woke up this morning with no internet/phone/tv again. I'm a bit anxious now, even though I was able to get the services back by resetting the router. I hate how unstable the service is here.


How do you feel when you lose power/internet/phone service? Do you feel cut off? If so, how do you manage that anxiety?

 

[Alex]

I actually learned to manage okay after I decided to live on a spiritual retreat with no cellphone reception, or public phones. There was wi-fi though, but was limited to certain areas. At first it was hard, but after a week you get used to it and work around it. The annoying thing was you couldn't text people or know if it got through. When you did get reception is was like a miracle and I made the most of chatting to friends, but I coped.


If it's only short term then it's not a problem, and public payphones still exist if you needed to call your mom daily to see how she was. Where I was there were none (it was very remote).

 

[LovelyLiz]

When your router goes down, how long is it off for? If it's only for a few hours at a time, I'd recommend trying to learn to set your anxieties aside as irrational - its unlikely that something terrible is going to happen in the brief window that you're unavailable. If it's longer than that, is there any alternative method of emergency contact you could arrange? Do you have a neighbour with a different phone package who could be contacted in an emergency, for instance?

 

[17emilyhalko]

I go crazy if I don't have my cellphone or computer. It's my only way to contact friends, really, unless I walk to their houses, but not all of them necessarily live nearby me. I need to communicate with others, or else I start feeling really down. I don't necessarily manage the anxiety, but I try to fix the problem, and then if that doesn't work, then I'll be like, "They'll understand" and I know that the problem won't last forever and that the internet will come back, so I don't worry too much.

 

[djordjem87]

Your example is not like others because you worry about your mother and that is just a normal thing to do and to feel. You are quite a normal guy in that way. You should try to find a better and more sere way to contact her though. Maybe a landline would be a good solution but that is only a suggestion. I think router should not have any connections with landline but that is just my assumption. I have been without internet, tv and phone and I felt better. I read a lot and then I read even more.

 

[rz3300a]

It definitely affects me a lot more now than it used to, which is pretty interesting to think about. I really do get a little nervous, and even little things like checking the email start to feel like luxuries. I think that after a while, once you get used to it, it might be kind of nice. Living off the grid for a little bit might help us reconnect with something that we have lost a little bit of, but in that first couple of hours, or days I suppose, would really wreck my nerves. Thanks for sharing.

 

[CeliVega]

I got a different kind of "cut off" in mind. Losing the ability to access the internet means a lot of trouble for me, since I rely on it a lot nowadays. But I feel "cut off" by choosing another road in life. A few years ago I made a big decision to have a big change in lifestyle, because I was convinced that was the better choice in the long run. But by choosing that path, I interacted less with people I knew, and before I knew it I have lost contact with a lot of them, hence the "cut off".


I tried getting in touch with them, by I realized now that we walked a different path, hold different jobs, we have very little in common now. I can't get into their conversation and hobbies because of how expensive they are and can't get into their gossiping of their colleagues because I don't know any of them. And they think I am weird for choosing a different path in life that yield less financial rewards, I feel there's a slight disgust when they talk to me, so after a few gathering we just stop contacting each other.

 

[Ashley0323]

I actually do not have this problem. When something like this happens, I find more motivation to clean my house! Lol However, I know it is off topic to your question, but if your router is messing up, I would call your internet service provider. They will provide you with a new one at no charge.

 

[Panic57]

If you have a laptop, you could get a computer phone. I use Line2 but my mom uses Skype to call and talk to people. Yo could do that and then just got to a place with wifi to check in on your mom. Otherwise, do you have family that lives by your mom in case of an emergency? I sort of feel the same way about my older sister because se live in separate states and I worry about her because of the city she lives in. But then I remember that she has two high school friends who lived there and the rest of the family is only four hours away if she's taken to a hospital. Perhaps you can talk counter measures with you mom about who she'll go to if she can't contact you. If she has a person, that might help ease your anxiety.

 

[Pijuy]

It's natural for anyone to panic in this kind of situation. We live in times that being without communication is almost unthinkable and we've become very dependent on it. I become frustrated when this happens and I don't even have a good excuse for it (like your mom). I think a lot of people have made good suggestions. And I'm not sure why you've chosen to not have a cellphone, nor is it any business of mine. But perhaps it may be a good time to try to figure out if you can at least get a very cheap prepaid plan or something similar with a simple non-smart-phone that you can use and pay only when needed. Mostly to have in case your mother ever needs to get in touch with you? I hope you sort out your situation and that your mother continues to be safe/healthy.

 

[SirJoe]

I haven't gone through one of those in a very long time, I would even adventure to say years. I'm lucky the service that I use is very stable and rarely goes down, but I do remember going through something similar to what you are going through some years back. It is very frustrating feeling cut off from the world.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

How do I feel when I don't have internet connection? Oh,not really bad. Just a bit like being lost in space, floating aimlessly in the endless void of emptiness. The main thing is that I live mainly in cyberspace. Without an internet connection, I am disconnected from the world I am familiar with. I don't go about much in the real world. I don't know many people in the real world either. I don't do much work, too, in the real world. So, when my internet connection shuts down, I basically shut down as well.

 

[misszerable]

I would feel that way, too, if I had to be constantly in touch with someone important to me. Fortunately at this point, there are a lot of offline things that are begging for my time and I can appreciate some forced time off from the internet. So most probably, when I get disconnected from cyberspace, I would use it as a good opportunity to update other aspects of my life. I have to admit, though, that I am more relaxed about this matter because I have a prepaid internet connection that I can use when my cable line fails. 

 

[pwarbi]

I have to admit that I also spend a lot of my time interacting with people online more than what I do face to face and so rely on the internet a lot. That's just not on the PC but on the smartphone as well and any time I have no internet then I also feel cut off. While conversing with people face to face is obviously better, for a lot of people they will use the internet instead and especially social media sites and that's a trend that's happening more and more.

 

[John Snort]

How do you feel when you lose power/internet/phone service? Do you feel cut off? If so, how do you manage that anxiety?

Being off the net or losing power doesn't make me anxious. That's probably because I've in the past tried to live off the grid and actually enjoyed it. Anyone who gets anxious about being cut off should try living off the grid or go camping one or two weekends and it would cure your anxiety.

 

[hades_leae]

For me, I don't consider it a negative thing, it's like panicking because you can't go to sleep. It's not a big deal, and it will come back, even if it doesn't you don't need to panic because you are still living, I don't care if I'm cut off from the rest of the public because the public has never personally known me and are of no relevance to my personal life so it's whatever for me.

 

[sidney]

I'm actually lucky that I have never gotten to experience that kind of anxiety yet. I don't mind being cut off at all to other people, maybe because I'm used to not having people around me. I'm not the kind of person that gets sad or lonely when I don't have anyone to talk to. 

 

[Fae]

Circumstances like this are exactly why my mom refuses to put in the phone service with the internet and cable. It's less about feeling cut off in that case and more a legitimate safety concern.


I don't like traveling to places without wifi myself. I can do without the internet for awhile, but there are enough legitimate tasks (other than social media and games) to need to come back to it every few days at least. Tis the trouble with a society that likes using technology for everything. what I find more bothersome is when my phone is down, as I use it to talk to someone very important to me. The lack of interaction with him would be a downer.


But seriously, triple service bundles are bad. Pester them to give you a double deal and get the third from someplace else

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

It's the being cut off now and then which feels bad. Like my fiber optic connection. For some strange reason, a couple of times a day, I will be connected to the service but there is no connection to the Web. It's really weird. I have to reset the router to get things online again. It's times like these when I feel a bit frustrated because I would most likely be in the middle of doing something on the Web. Like, I may be studying. To be cut off half-way disrupts my routine. However, if I am cut off for long periods of time, it's not so bad. I would adjust my life accordingly. There was a time, a few years back, when I went without an internet connection for a whole year. Life went on. Just a different pace and a different way, that's all.

 

[joshposh]

This is a problem with people of this generation that can't live without their gadgets and wifi.  Back in the day we actually had to get out of the house and actually talk to people.  No of this virtual stuff.  Get out of the house and interact with living beings.  It is a time tested method that is not a big secret but for some reason it needs to be talked about constantly.