On a previous blog, I talked about my and Jerry’s decision
not to have Internet service at home. On this blog, in a recent post, I said
that we had changed our minds.
Well, we changed them back. I can’t say whether we will
stick to this decision indefinitely, but for the foreseeable future, we will
not have Internet service in our home. The reasons are several and varied.
1. Cost.
Decent Internet connection – and the only kinds
available here are wireless and satellite – costs at least $50 a month. That’s
$600 a year. That’s almost an entire month of groceries for our organic-eating
family.
2. Connection.
If we have Internet service, we will be
YouTube watchers (especially B). Neither wireless nor satellite can be depended
upon in these mountains to maintain a good enough connection for online video
viewing not to be an exercise in frustration.
3. Addiction.
I might set a strict Internet-using schedule
at home, but I’m not even sure I would stick to it. Understand, I’m
not one of those who has to spent the first hour of her day on Facebook, or
check her Twitter account every fifteen minutes, but it’s easy to get lost in a
maze of clicking links and reading blog posts that don’t pertain to anything
I’m doing, or want to do.
Then there’s J, who would spend hours at a time reading
political news articles and forums if I let him. B, of course, could – and
probably would – begin demanding more and more YouTube viewing. Internet in the
home is a great temptation to waste time and engage in unhealthy behavior - namely, spending much more time inside than out.
Keeping our Internet usage to three or so hours a week at
the local library (while B watches an educational DVD) may drive some of our
friends and family crazy. I have one friend who wasn’t happy when I told her
that I don’t do Facebook. (WTH?!)
But guess what? We don’t base our lifestyle decisions on
what our friends and family – and especially the world at large – think. We
base it on what we feel God is calling us to do, and our goals as a family.
