If you could afford it, could you envision yourself living very simply and basically, with TV but no internet access at all, in a secluded (but safe) rural area, or would you find living like that impossible?

What about normal phone service? If I had normal phone service so that I could still get in touch with people that way, I would be able to do it.

I could see giving up a lot of the stuff you mentioned, but I wouldn’t want to be too rural. I’ve done that and I much prefer the suburbs, neighbors to chat with when I walk my dog, easy access to the cultural resources of a city, etc.

Screw the TV that would spoil EVERYTHING! Books, a hurricane lamp and a 3” thick feather blanket with tons of throw pillows for both of us is all that is needed….well OK…a teeny bit of electricity for the coffee maker…but that is all!!

If you take away the tv, it’s called farm life. Believe me the entertainment of nature can be quite exhilarating. I mean the sun alone has two beautiful shows a day. And if you listen to your surroundings it can be like a symphony without ever turning on the radio. The stars in rural areas are so breathtaking that you can swear you can touch them, and finally nothing like a campfire to waste away an evening.

I think if it were by the ocean I might like that. I would definitely need TV, and a hobby to keep myself occupied…say building clocks or boats or something. I guess I wouldn’t really know till I tried it out. Sounds very relaxing though =D

Not until I’m old and no longer want/need some excitement and fun. I like eating out, seeing shows and the hustle and bustle of the city.

This sounds almost ideal to me. As long as you had normal phone service and were close to a hospital and a grocery store, it would be terrific.

I would need one landline phone (for emergencies). I would be able to be fully content living like that, even without a phone. If I had a family (one that I wanted), I’d need nothing more than my spouse and kids.

HECK YES!!!! That lifestyle wold be ideal.

I’d do it in a heartbeat if I could. I don’t know if it would make me a better person, but it’s not like this current life is, so. XD

Watch horror flicks and get drunk by the ocean whenever I wanted? I’m there, dude. I can have video games too, right?

I really wouldn’t like not having internet access if only because it’s like having my own private library that’s open 24 hours a day. If I want to know something, or how to do something or am just curious about something, I like that the internet is available to me as a resource, whenever I want or need it. I would rather have the internet than TV.

Edit: As to the blossoming of me as a person? I don’t know. I don’t think so. I like to be close to urban areas. Cities have a lot to offer and have a lot of energy, very often a lot of creative energy and urban environment can and do very often lead to, encourage and support personal blossoming too!

No fluther?! Pssh, no way. Haha.

Yes. The only thing that would worry me is having no phone. I’d rather have a phone than a TV.

I thnk I would like it. I don’t have to pluck chickens do I? I would have the most awesome garden.

No way. I would be bored s&%$less. There was a time in my life this situation would have been ideal, it was what I thought I needed in my life. But not now, I would feel I was missing to much.

i could do that but it would get tier some. because i enjoy going backpacking but after a few weeks you would be sick of it. i think every body should do it once i give you time to ponder endlessly.

If I could still see my kids and grandkids whenever I wanted, sure. I would go back to my needlepoint, or quilting and enjoy the leisure. You do mean someone else will prepare all my meals and do the cleaning, right?

I’d be happier doing without the TV but with the internet. I look up so many things (recipes, how to set a humane animal trap, when the ISS is going to be visible, etc), that I just couldn’t do without internet. But TV is a big time-waster. I watch it, but feel like it’s wasted time.

Sounds lonely and isolating to me. I need to be in social centers where there are a lot of people doing a lot of things or else I start eating myself up. Ourobouros.

I do that now on most weekends. Only shut off the TV. By the time I come in from the fields or river, I am too tired to do much more than clean up and go to bed.

It’s not the lack of internet access that would make it impossible for me, it’s the lack of transport. I can’t drive, so I would be effectively imprisoned in the area that I could walk to, so very likely I would not even be able to shop for groceries. I would die of loneliness. That sort of life would actually drive me to suicide.

Ahh! yes. It would remind me of back in the day. I wouldn’t even mind a black and white TV. I am a bit old fashioned that way.

I think that would be great! :D Internet sometimes really wastes my time because i get distracted with things going on there, when i could, need and want to, be doing something else.

I’d rather have internet than TV, frankly, even if the internet was only for incoming communication and not for me to talk to people.

I assume that if I have electricity etc, I also have some sort of access to emergency services (e.g. medical, fire department, police in case of break-ins, etc)?

If so – I wouldn’t have to work, and I’d have food, electricity, books and DVDs, and all my projects and stuff, and my family? Where do I sign up?