Weeks without wi-fi.

I recently spent a week with family and friends in the Brecon Beacons at the 2018 Green Man festival. It’s a relatively small independently-run music festival that is a bit different to the behemoths like Reading or Glastonbury. We spent the first three days walking, playing tig in the dark and making tie-dye t-shirts. The last four days are generally spent camped out in front of a big stage listening to whomever turns up. Usually it’s people I’ve barely heard of but am usually pleasantly surprised by – Baxter Drury, Anna Calvi and War on Drugs were probably favourites this year.

The kids love it – this is the second year we’ve been and towards the end of it Katie noted that she’s looking forward to going home to the wi-fi, but she hasn’t missed it as much as she thought she would. I think to have this time away from constant access to the online world (I know other people’s fancy mobiles still allow them access, but none of that for me or Katie – at least until she’s older) is crucial. I embrace the possibilities and the promise of the Internet as much as the next person, but to be away from it all is so refreshing. Even if I do enter modern times and eventually get a posh phone I still want to make a point of disconnecting when away on holiday, because there is a positive mental, emotional and physical effect of leaving all that behind, especially at the moment with so much of it being toxic.

Multiple people shared a story on various social media platforms recently about how those making their fortunes in tech that we all consume so avidly strictly limit their own children’s access to that same tech, ensuring their childhoods are spent in the physical world. One of the most sought-after schools in Silicon Valley has a total technology ban for under 11s. I don’t know how much of that is true (after all, how far can you trust something shared over social media?), but it isn’t something that would surprise me.

Unplug. Go to a gig. Get lost up a mountain or in a forest for a day. Spend a week away. The circus of fools will still be here when you get back.

Newish occasional feature: Ending with a song relating to the post:

Animals: We Gotta Get Out of This Place. “There's a better life for me and you.”