Have you thought about living off the network grid?

[Anonymous Old User Who Has Left 599]

Has anyone here ever thought about living off the network grid?

"Off the network grid" means with little to no dependency on modern means of communication. No social media, no web service accounts.

If you wanted to go the whole nine yards you could even remove your email and just send by post... or learn how to keep homing pigeons.

I recently decided enough was enough after watching some videos on hackers and the Snowden incident, and deleted my Twitter account.

Honestly if possible I want to erase any content here by deleting my MLPForums account also.

All that should be left is my email tbh. And maybe delete my FIMFiction - those stories will be hard to delete though... I love 'em... 

Bottom line is the less info about you is on the net, the better. Especially for me as a Muslim in this day and age I am an easy easy EASY target. Think for a minute - how easy is it for an Islamophobe to make up a fake story about me if he can't find my FB or twitter or forum profile and the data on it?

Edited March 15, 2018 by Shabb3r

[The Recherche 29,968]

Yeah, I agree with the idea of keeping your identity and personal life as private as possible, but I don't think social media (and to a greater extent, the internet) is all bad. It can help us communicate with people worldwide to discuss things together, play video games, or what have you. Heck, it's why we're speaking right now, is it not? 

Either way, if you do decide to fall off the grid and lay low for the time being, than I hope everything goes well for you! 

[碇 シンジン 27,431]

well to completely drop out of everything and cut all relations to everyone could drive one out of their mind as I think humans are kinda social creatures and part of our well being is to be able to communicate with someone somehow.

 

though i understand kinda cutting some communications since these days they are kinda in front of your face all times.

[Tacodidra 61,212]

I guess I'm off the grid in a way. There are a few forums I use (such as this one), but I don't have an account on Facebook, Twitter or anything like that. I don't like using my real name online and I just haven't seen the appeal of those sites. I couldn't stop using forums (at least MLP Forums), though. I don't have any other place to talk about MLP with someone who likes it (my nephews do watch it at times but that's not quite the same), and I love the community here.

[Anonymous Old User Who Has Left 599]

58 minutes ago, Y'ffre the Singer said:

well to completely drop out of everything and cut all relations to everyone could drive one out of their mind as I think humans are kinda social creatures and part of our well being is to be able to communicate with someone somehow.

 

though i understand kinda cutting some communications since these days they are kinda in front of your face all times.

If I want someone to talk to, I got family. Even when I'm out and about I hardly talk to anybody - even asking basic questions I get a little nervous.

If a stranger inquires about me I try to give just a short response and/or make an excuse to get away from 'em. These days there's no way you can tell a genuinely polite and friendly dude from an undercover agent who's trying to leak stuff out of you because the CIA suspected you after reading some data from your social media posts or even your emails.

At this rate I might as well be posting in a hacker/conspiracy theorist forum lol but you get the idea

[Ganondorf8 11,321]

Back when I was growing up in the 80s, we didn't have the modern conveniences that exist today. While there were computers, they weren't readily available for consumers and were only for companies that needed them. So I technically lived off the grid for the first eighteen years or so of my life before technology improved itself. These days, all I have is an email address, my presence here, FimFiction, Equestria Daily, eBay for my hobby with benefits, another site similar to it, and that's pretty much it. I don't use Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and the like as I don't see the need for having them.

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

These days you simply can't. Even if you don't use the internet directly, you will leave a... call it a 'shadow'. An image shared by a friend, a document that is in the public domain, using a shop's loyalty card ... I can think of at numerous instances where I can be found online despite not having put the information there myself. And obviously there's things like your medical records, bank accounts and so on.

It's not a question of being off the grid, but you can be a bit harder to find - not sharing too much about yourself on social media, that sort of thing. It won't stop determined investigation, but it will rebuff casual inspection - the hope being that those looking for identity fraud targets (and other such criminals) will look for easier targets. If you're worried about government snooping, then that's something that should be dealt with through politics - hoping to put off the NSA by hiding your identity is a bit like having a gun in your house to keep the US army at bay; there's no point even trying.

Still, there was a BBC article a little while ago that might be of interest to you; it's about a man who's trying to keep his face off the internet. One idea that I found intriguing was his 'Spartacus hack'*.

 

*as I recall, President Macron's team used a similar idea to deflect the Russian hackers during the French election - putting so much enticing yet fake information on their systems that was leaked by the hackers and then proven to be fabricated. 

[OG CHUCK 64]

yest would like to live off the grid but i can not live without this amazing fandom

[King of Canterlot 9,603]

No I could never live off the grid, considering how horrible it's been for me the last couple days with spotty internet that keeps crashing, I could never imagine living not only without internet, but also running water, electricity, and creature comforts in general  

[LunarWave 106]

Nope, and never. I am in the web  development industry so that would require me to quit my job and change literally 99% of what I do. Doubt it would even be me after that.

Also, your info is already out there, and it's not going to be easy to drop off. Even just by being on this forum, you're feeding some of your info to Google and by extension, forum owners. It's claimed to be unidentifiable, but some info is still recorded. It is going to take a lot of effort to truly drop off, and then then, what's the real point? You lose out on a lot nowadays, and potentially put yourself in more risk by not getting critical information in time.

 

[Lucky Bolt 35,064]

I've always thought it would be interesting, although....I don't know if I'd actually ever want to do it. 

[StormBlaze 992]

i do so every year for a week.

My family has always done a a week in the summer in the English Lake Distrcit on a self catering type holiday. But this one is more like we have a house in a village in the middle of nowhere. The house has no phone line, no TV and no internet. If you wnat to call someone you either have to stand on the roof and hope you can get a signal or go to the pub up the road and use their old pay phone.

We've been doing this trip annually for the last 25 years (im 27) and its bloody wonderful.

We have made exceptions in recent years - DVD players and laptops have been allowed for Film viewings when the weather is bad (it can be monsoons all week some years), leeching off lcola wifi has been used for personal family contact - ie an elderly member is ill at home and we need constant updates and of course hand held games have bene allowed, because 16 of the group out of 20 is normally the "kids". (us "kids" are all over 21 now though, but its been the "kids" group so long we still call it that)

The lack of technology means we sit by the river, talk, play board games and table tennis, fish, go on long walks and just appreciate the simple life. The only downsides is the increase in tourists each year. More people seem to come to the Lakes more and more each year and its starting to become hard to find a quiet spot when out on walks.

I would so recomend doing these kind of breaks, even if its just camping near home for a night or 2. If anything I feel sorry for all those modern day kids who grew up with internet 24/7.

[Here No Longer 5,276]

I don't really think of doing it in particular, but I have. I've had to live off the grid for a whole month one time because my dad couldn't pay for the internet.

[Narcissus 355]

It wouldn't bother me to live off the grid. I'm not a social animal and I'd have no trouble abandoning social networking since I partake in so little of it as it is. There's too much reliance on technology and I'd be very comfortable in a less technological world. 

I could even live without utilities and go with solar power and pump my own water, but typically it's so expensive to get set up with the equipment needed, it makes the whole idea pointless. Yay, progress. 

[EpicEnergy 23,220]

I wouldn't do it, I would rather keep my social media accounts and my access to the internet.

[Pastel Heart 6,466]

I pretty much am right now, so yeah. No social media, basic internet stuff.