EMERGENCY RISK REDUCTION

For a few weeks, I have left British Columbia and visiting my home state of South Carolina. Along with reconnecting with family, I am checking on two properties in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina that have been in our family for decades: our family’s vacation cabin and my cabin, to which I hope to retire (eventually!)

I am writing this from our family cabin, in front of a blaze in the fireplace and listening to basketball on a trusty small radio. Yes, it is as blissful as it sounds.  Why am I not watching TV? Because we have no cable. Why not cruising the internet? Because the cabin has no internet. Yes, this is a strange sensation in the 21^st century. No wi-fi, no cable…in fact, because my Canadian cellphone costs $8 per day to use while in the US, I also have no cell phone use. (I have a US phone, but waiting for a SIM card that is still in the mail… It will probably arrive the day I leave back to BC!)

Although blissful, this lack of being ‘plugged in’ is a strange sensation. Like many of you, I regularly use the internet, and my phone even more frequently.  Ok, I am not going to say it’s an addiction, although maybe I am in denial. (I regularly mention this to my two teenagers, whose smartphone is a permanent appendage.) But I admit that not having wi-fi or a cellphone is a major inconvenience.

A good experiment is underway — to see if I can unplug. It is weird that no one can be in touch with me from this cabin, nor can I contact anyone else.  It is as living in the Dark Ages — you know…about 25 years ago. It’s amazing how quickly we in developed countries have both been exposed to the ‘wired world’ but have fully embraced it – lock, stock, and barrel. To the point where social media and information send-and-receive from the mediums of cellphones, laptops, tablets, flat-screens, etc. are no longer options for daily life – they are necessities. Without them, withdrawal symptoms are likely.

I am in that phase now, and why I am writing this. But in a few days, as I become more accustomed to being unplugged, I look forward to feeling liberated!  Alas, I am not totally cut off. Tomorrow morning, I will probably drop into the small library in our small NC mountain village and use their internet to send and receive messages. (My liberation goal will be measured!)

This is also an experiment as to the impact in our developed world if suddenly we were all unplugged – and not just for a day or two….but maybe for a month or two. I have written previously about any number of ways in which the electrical and/or electronic grid that we profoundly depend upon might be interrupted.  It is more than a bit scary. More than an emergency, it would likely become a disaster of epic proportions.

I encourage all of us to go on a diet from our electronic gadgets, even for a day or two days. The results should be surprising.  I think we would all learn a bit about ourselves from it. Despite the outcome, it would be a positive experience. An enlightening one. Maybe even a cleansing one.

Thanks for reading.

Monty