What Could You Give Up?

This morning there was a piece on one of the network morning national news shows. I’m not sure which one since I tend to click around. The series is about taking things away from people and seeing if they can survive. Like taking away your car and seeing if you can cope without a car for a week. Today they showed a guy – the editor for Forbes magazine – who agreed to give up his cell phone, blackberry and email for one week. This was a guy who was totally wired for both business and personal connections. Like my daughter, he doesn’t even wear a watch because he always has the phone to tell him the time.

Within forty-eight hours, he was literally crying on camera, begging for his blackberry. I kid you not. This high-powered exec was crying. He couldn’t do it.

I think I could. I would miss it. I blog every day. I do the newsletter every week. I check email several times a day (I’m not sure, I probably have 7 to 10 e-boxes). But I could do it. I think.

I’m old enough to remember life before the Internet and cell phones. But they are now such an integral part of my life that it would be very difficult to be without them. The cell phone and email are so convenient, but the Internet has become essential. I use it constantly for researching things I need in every day life and information I need for writing. I would not want to go back to looking things up in the phone book or trekking to the library. No way.

The Internet has become a lifeline for writers. Take that away, and most of us would be asking the Forbes editor to pass the Kleenex.