Today, I experienced my own unintended blank screen day. For the first time in years, I spent 6 full hours without online 
access. Sure, I’ve spent 6 hours away from the Internet, but of my own choosing. Today, silence was thrust upon me by the California desert and a mobile broadband card that can’t connect in this desolate terrain.
Now I know how addicts feel. Other than for prolonged absences from Diet Pepsi, I’ve never experienced withdrawals like I did today. Hello, my name Lisa and I am an Internet addict.
My job as a social media specialist notwithstanding, I use the internet in almost every facet of my life. What do cook for dinner? FoodNetwork.com. How to tie my son’s tie for a school event? YouTube. Visiting east coast colleges with my son? CollegeWeekLive.com. I even solve stupid fights on Google, like a bet my husband had with his friend during the Olympics. (How many Winter Olympics sports are there? Answer: 15). That one actually cost me money.
How did we exist before we had the world at our fingertips? As I ponder this amidst the never-ending desert horizon—not a building or person in sight—it occurs to me that maybe we didn’t need to.
Here I sit in a car with my family, laughing about silly city names, admiring the beautiful native plants in bloom, and listening to rap music that gives me a headache but simultaneously exposes me to my kids’ minds.
My phone isn’t ringing, and Skype isn’t sounding. I’m unplugged from the world wide web, but I’m totally tuned in to the world around me.
I could—and should—get used to this.