Anyone for this challenge... Raise your hand

Yes it's accepted and let's take it forward that almost all of those people who have been accessing internet for various reasons need to have daily access to it. And most of them are there for professional reasons, like they are offering services or some of them are earning money online. The IoT has added to the list like you mentioned, that your lights, thermostat and security system and many other things relay on the Internet. But apart from that, I am surprised to read that you don't use Facebook, Tinder, Instagram or WhatsApp. As for me, I have never opened any account on Tinder. So I don't know what it is like and what it functions like. May I ask you one thing? I am really surprised to know that in spite of living in a place like Florida their has been electricity disturbance and that too for seven days on the trot. I mean Florida is in the US, right?

@abhi_bangal Tinder is a universal dating app. I'm happily married and have been going on eight years now. I don't nor want to hook up or date anyone else. I was raised not to cheet on my husband. And, even then if I hadn't, I have a lot more to lose for a fling. I've talked to other people, sure, but I make it clear I am not interested. Yes, Florida is in the U.S. But eletricity works the same no matter where you live. It works on a series of wires that supply power from a station to homes and businesses. When we have a natural disaster such as a hurricane, thease wires can be disrupted. and it can take time to repair the dmage from the storms. to safely reconnect everything. I do have an account on facebook, but I stopped using it because it just got far to toxic especially during the hight of COVID. It just got to the point where I had to walk away. If I wasn't fighting with someone, I was being trolled by scammers. I needed to get away. same with instagram and I don't like that what'sapp requires me to link my phone number. no thank you.

@kaylachan, This was kind of an important reply for me. So I kept it pending for a couple of days. The most important sentence for me here in your previous reply was that, you were raised not to cheat on your husband. We had some other notions regarding the marriage system in the Western world, like it was a bit rickety and not like even that we have here. But the way you said you were raised that way, shows the strong cultural roots that your family and your parents have. That was so soothing to hear. Well I am aware of how the electricity works and the way you described it. And yes it works the same everywhere. That's not the issue. But the people who manage all this things have or can have different mentalities. I mean I have seen lazy people working in government offices. How an approach to a certain work is that matters. And as far as the US is concerned, what we feel here is that if there is outage, it means there is some big problem and this becomes NEWS for us. I hope you are understanding what I am trying to say. So I said rhetorically that Florida is in the US... Just don't take me wrong I would like to reiterate your final thoughts that the social media apps are really getting toxic day by day. And it is better to use it conveniently.

It's almost the same for me too. I admitted my closeness to WhatsUp in the reply to @Orson_Kart. I once had tried to not open WhatsApp for one entire day. Well, can you imagine - ONE ENTIRE DAY And I was successful as well. But that was long back. I can easily take other challenges head on and even come out victorious

@abhi_bangal one day is a lot;24hours

@abhi_bangal of course.any time,mate

Yes. These days it's not easy to stay away from the internet even for one day. We can understand that it's important to be hooked on for professional reasons. But there are personal reasons as well to use the internet and various social media apps. Yes for me WhatsApp is my main social media connectivity app. I rarely use Facebook and even more rarely Instagram. I am well off even without those two apps. And from what you said I understood one thing from you, that if there are other ways of contacting, they are still welcome!

@abhi_bangal I am happy for friends and family to contact me any way they prefer. It's just that Facebook is the most convenient for the most part.

@pumpkinjam To me, it's the other way round. Most of the members of my family and extended family are both on Facebook and WhatsApp. But I hardly log in to Facebook. I'm quite active on WhatsApp though. That's why our primary mode of communication is WhatsApp. And because other people in the circle now also know that we use less of Facebook, they don't contact us there. They know it's unsure when I'll open their messages there

Yeah that's why I mentioned in my discussion that we need to use various apps for professional reasons. And as you said, most of us do earn money online even if it isn't much. So let accrssing the internet be an exception. But it is definitely possible not to hang on to the other six points. And talking about Facebook, every now and then I have to reset my password because I automatically get logged out, thanks to not logging in for a particular amount of time.

To me, WhatsApp is my main app to keep in touch with all my relatives, friends, and my professional circle. I used to use Facebook earlier. But then it started to be too addictive to me. So I just took a break from it for a while.

Hey, this matches so much. As I said in a couple of responses, I don't use Facebook for much of my communication. And as you said, you only use internet and WhatsApp, that's how I too do. Great that you found a loophole in my list here. But honestly speaking I didn't include that option in the list, because adding that would mean that we would have to go to live in the jungles No mate, I didn't say you have to distance yourself from the people for a month. Not using internet or WhatsApp etc doesn't mean that. You can still go to your neighbourhood and talk to real human beings. It's another thing that you won't be talking with your friends or relatives who are long distance. I just meant that how much time it would be possible for us to be away from that list continuously.

@abhi_bangal "You can still go to your neighbourhood and talk to real human beings." - and what if i live somewhere where there aren't many people? it's not like i'll be going from door to door, knocking and trying to socialize it would be difficult without the things on your list, definitely.

@aureategloom, Hey, do you really live where there aren't many people living around? Yeah, do go, knock on their doors, and run away. In that case, you won't have to go to talk to anyone. They will themselves come running to you... OMG!! I'm really sorry if you are not finding these jokes funny. But I just played along. Yes mate, it can happen where there is lesser civilization and it won't be possible to go and talk to everyone. Also, you are totally right. These days, it's really not possible to live without what we are used to. But we can at least make it a point to cut down on our usage. This is one thing that anyone can do - even you and me. I hope you'll agree on this point

To be honest it is not possible to live without the internet today. Because even for doing an online payment we need to get data access. Or be it checking your important mail or anything for that matter which is really needed. Other than that there are definitely ways to stay away from social media and that vav be done. Talking about me I very rarely excess apps like Facebook and Instagram. But due to my professional circumstances I do need to keep checking my WhatsApp every now and then during the day. And it's surprising to know, Arunima ji, that you already done some of them