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Mimishu1995's avatar

Can you function without some of your daily necessities? If yes, have you ever encountered such situation before?

Asked by Mimishu1995 (23796points) March 11th, 2014

A broader version of this. Sorry @Symbeline for copyright infringement.

It seems that most jellies can do without the internet according to an earlier thread. So if not only the internet, but also some other necessities (mobile phones, fresh water for washing, the need to take a bath…) were to be removed from your life, could you survive?

I used to be in that situation, in the military camp. A lot of things in my daily life had to be removed then. First of all, the absence of the internet. There was actually one wifi gate, but it was locked and only my teacher knew the password, although surely he wouldn’t tell anyone. I need the internet for my daily life, and now it had gone! To make the matter worse, every night all students had to hand in mobile phones to the teacher (so that they wouldn’t be stolen). That left me without another daily habit: music for better sleep. The fact that we were assigned too much of tasks throughout the day for entertainment alone had removed music out of my life. There’s more: the water there was nowhere near clean, and we need water everyday! That limited the daily activities with water: washing, body cleaning… (I couldn’t even wash my face in the morning). If you wanted to wash your body, there was a place for publish showers near the camp. Washing there would be a marvelous idea if it wasn’t for the high charge, the fact that they were always crowded and the fact that its opening time coincided with only 10 minutes before dinner time (and no one was going to wait for you to come to the meal hall if you were late, remember it was the military camp). And the food at the hall, well, it’s not so good, as far as I can say, and they were always served cold.

What a disaster, isn’t it?

And to my surprise, I did survive! I could still do without music and the internet for weeks (although I could hardly do it now :p) without a complaint. I went without a shower for a month, and my morning clean-up only consisted of brushing my teeth. I changed my clothes only twice a week (because I just couldn’t stand the idea of using the water to wash my clothes). And at night I went to sleep immediately without any funny music stuff.

One very popular thing among my friends’ luggage to the camp was an old, out-of-date (and possibly out-of-order) mobile phone. They handed this kind of mobile phone to the teacher, then cover themselves carefully with blankets and play with their other phone, because they just couldn’t stand losing their phone for one minute! These phones always had 3G or GPRS installed, so that they could surf the internet or text all day, all night. And about the water problems, they didn’t mind having to wait outside the public showers, despite the fact that many of them always late to dinner because of that. They couldn’t go without washing themselves. Some students just couldn’t stand the food, they brought their own food to the dinner hall despite the prohibition against bringing food into the hall. Some even didn’t go to the hall at all. They wandered around for another food store, and had to pay more money.

My friends said I was so dependence (my parents had the tendency to visit me very often), but to tell the truth, I think I had more endurance than them, in some way.

How about you? Have you even been in a situation like that? And how could you survive?

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11 Answers

rojo's avatar

What, do you mean like toilet paper? I think as a society we would be hard pressed if there were a sudden toilet paper rapture.

talljasperman's avatar

I move home with parents. Or I keep calling 911 until they take me seriously.

jerv's avatar

There are times where I’ve been without sleep for 48–70 hours, and some when I’ve gone 3–4 days without food. Just keep me well-stocked with smokes, because without nicotine, I tend to get irritable to the point of potential violence.

Berserker's avatar

Since I can’t pay my electrical bills fast enough, guess I’m about to find out soon. XD

zenvelo's avatar

Electronics can be foregone easily, if one has no choice. Consider what happens in a disaster, people lose power for weeks.

Clean water, though, is necessary, and cleanliness is needed for health but also for self esteem to some extent. You went a month without cleaning yourself? I imagine no one wanted to sit near you.

You’ve mentioned this “military camp” before, but it sounds like some kind of punishment camp.

jerv's avatar

I have to agree, @zenvelo. This “Military camp” is nothing like the military I served in. Okay, maybe the first 8 weeks, but after that, the only reason we didn’t have wifi access or cellphones was that wifi and cellphones just weren’t a thing in the early ‘90s. But many of us had Segas or Playstations, and maybe a VCR.
Of course, most of us spent much of our pay on eating out since Navy chow is rather nasty.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@zenvelo That’s why I never told anyone in the camp that I hadn’t taken a shower. But then again, they are teaching us how to overcome hardship as a soldier, so I had no complain.

And I did not really go a month without cleaning. We were allowed to go home every Saturday afternoon and had to come back on time every Sunday afternoon. That was a break for everyone.

@jerv I only stayed there in a month. And about the eating matter, the food was not good, but not really inedible, to me. Some couldn’t eat it because it was served cold.

jerv's avatar

@Mimishu1995 My last week in NH was rougher. Something about no power in the county (and therefore no heat or running water in my house), empty store shelves (not that there was anyway to cook it; even the fuel for campstoves was gone), waking up to 33F (0C) in my house… I think living in New England would prepare one for hardship better than that camp :p

LornaLove's avatar

The place I moved into ten months ago did not have reliable hot water. It was really tough. I couldn’t make plans in advance (in case I could not shower and blow dry my hair etc.,). I never knew if I would get a evening shower either before bed. Which, I find very important to relax and wind down. Sometimes it would go off for days and sometimes it would work. At times it would work then go ice cold mid-shower. This was not fun for my first winter in Scotland. The no hot water was for about 8 months and was coupled with no heating too.

I realise looking back how depressed it made me. So, no I couldn’t live without hot running water or gas. Although it appears I survived!

Even washing one’s hands was a nightmare. :)

Cruiser's avatar

I have camped my whole life and many times were back country outings where all you have for the week is what you can carry on your back. Also did 4 survivor campouts with the boy scouts where all you were allowed to take into the woods with you had to fit into a coffee can and that meant what was in that can was what you thought you needed for your shelter and your sleeping gear. 2 of the nights we earned the Polar Bear award when the temps dipped below freezing and you learn a lot about survival under those conditions.

Coloma's avatar

When I was 17 I moved to a remote 200 acre lakeside property as a caretaker one summer.
I survived ( this was pre-internet, cell phones, circa 1977 ) in a small cabin with an underground spring for water, a horse as my only source of transportation to the only phone in a campground 10 miles away. I had friends bring supplies every 3 weeks, grew my own garden, and was checked on every evening by a ranger that patrolled the lake at sunset.
I would ride my horse a mile and a half or so from the cabin down to the lake for a drive by wave to signal all was well.

I amused myself by swimming, riding my horse for miles along the lake, hanging out with the 2 dogs and 3 cats and a wild pony named “Pippen.”
I had a portable radio, battery operated radio for music and what little news I cared to hear. haha
. I was brave little pioneer hippie girl and all the boys wanted to come to my little homestead in the middle of nowhere. lol :-)
Best of times, no hardship, only peace and freedom.

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