Here I’ve finally got my website up and running and I immediately want to go cold-turkey from the internet? Ironic for sure. Though I’m not sure I should start immediately. But really, if I am supposedly on some sort of back-to-nature nostalgia trip, or as some have called it, “Cottagecore,” then I should not pretend to be like I’m Henry David Thoreau back in his offline/off-grid cottage in the woods, all while running a very plugged-in, connected, high-tech online presence.

Let’s be honest, the internet has proven to be one step forward and two steps backward for most of society. I’ve noticed how being online has changed me, my daily habits and routines, and I know I’m suffering for it, i.e., what I’ve gotten out of it lags far behind the negative consequences. And so I want to get off the internet and avoid screens…

…but of course that’s not entirely possible in this day and age—unless we actually do live like an off-grid, offline hermit in the woods. Hence, I want to “mainly” get off, by which I mean I will

• only be online to do absolutely necessary work-related things
• one daily check of only email, phone, or messages
• absolutely no “social media” e.g., Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, etc.
• no online reference or research
• no online entertainment
• only the most absolute bare necessities from online stores, i.e., no browsing shopping.

Of course this may seem draconian, especially the bit about no reference or research online. Why? Because the temptation to keep click and swiping and scrolling is ever-present, that experts say this whole screen-online experience has very real psychological addiction issues. But hey, let’s just slow down!

I plan to dive into my German lit again, which I’ve neglected for so long. I do have plenty of real, hold-in-hands books that have been gathering dust for many years. Now is the time to get out of the internet rat race.

It will be hard. I know because I’ve tried and failed many times before. Internet-screen addiction is a very insidious, and going off this constantly connected state leaves me feeling—detached, adrift, lost, depressed, anxious, without purpose or meaning. But I know that I’m only getting fake fulfillment from being online, that whomever I imagine myself engaging with is complete illusion. Who’s to say we are not at some ChatGPT juncture where some chatbot is pretending to be my advocate, friend, supporter—as in the frightening film Her?

I once thought I’d really do this whole project up, i.e., not just internet detox, but do a sort of “historical reenactment theater” where I would pretend to be a German nobleman (in period costume) come to the American wilds for to gather observations, a la Alexis de Tocqueville. No, just getting offline will be a good beginning.

I also thought that once I got this Wuthering.UK site up I’d launch a total media blitz, anchored by a YouTube channel where I’d do videos after videos and get real famous and rich. But then I thought, Does the world need another braying ass going on about how he knows better than all the other braying asses? No. I’ve come to a very big realization in my life, namely, that I really don’t know anything. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to forgive/ignore those around me who know even less; hence, a detox will help me work on this last hurdle to absolute perfection.