It is apparently good for a person to disconnect from the internet and relearn how to engage with people the old fashioned way, writing letters or maybe sending telegrams.  Is that what people refer to when they suggest an internet break?

Well over the last four months I have been forced to electronically disconnect from the world and I can categorically say it is not good for you and it is definetly one of the most frustrating part of being in Antarctica, the lack of internet, seriously this place is in the dark ages!!  I had no idea how much being connected has become part of every day life and communication.  Just being able to send a txt or whats app to let some-one know that you are thinking of them.  Email a response to some-one while you are waiting for a train or a coffee.  Read the paper or a magazine.  Nearly everything I do in the normal world is organised via my phone, movie ticket purchases, dinner bookings or even picking a restaurant, paying for services, ordering gifts or just shopping.

We are talking and learning from each other down here, but our instinctive reliance on the internet is frequently demonstrated when mid-discussion / arguments the independent adjudicator – Google is called on… but no answer.  Because there is no answer from adjudicator Google the group will never know the answer to such pertinent questions as do echidnas lay eggs?  Do echidnas have pouches?  Why do my feet cramp after running on the treadmill for five minutes?

I am finding it hard to engage with the world without using technology, my world seems smaller and narrower.  The limited bandwidth that we have is reserved for responding to emails, trying to look up articles for my Uni course and occasionally the 3 -4 hour struggle to upload a blog entry… but it is better then nothing!

In my first week down here I found an official code book, it is jam packed full of the original acronyms that the guys back in the late 80’s used to write home in their telegrams!!!  They only had a few characters for each telegram so every-one was precious.  I am sure there was an unofficial codebook as well, surely there was naughty telegramming!!!! Anyway I’ve got a few new txting acronyms to try out when I get home;

• YIHKE – I have grown a beard that is generally admired (how hipster)
• YARAJ – I have met with an accident… (you would sort of be hanging out for the next message if you got this one!)
• YINSO – wish you would communicate more often suggest short messages sent frequently (Oh Oh, warning bell)
• WYTEV – I love you darling
• YOMAS – I was not serious when I referred to… (whoops see misunderstandings occurred in the dark ages as well!!)

I am not suggesting that being glued to your phone / tablet or laptop is healthy but personally I can’t wait to reconnect with the world and read my five papers a morning, txt people to say thinking of you and I miss Facebook!!!  I want to see pictures of people’s dinners and be privy to all the richness of humans interacting!!!