Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

Well, first of all, I would be unemployed! Or maybe not unemployed necessarily, but I’d certainly not doing the job I do now, which I love.

My life today relies on the internet and access to modern technology, as a content writer for websites, so it seems difficult to imagine.

Living without a computer (and by extension the internet and smartphones) would not only remove my job opportunities, but also a lot of convenience from my life. The internet has done a lot of good and bad in the world since becoming accessible to anyone with some kind of screen, and while we can get caught up in the ‘good old days’, were they truly any better?

A Blast From The Past

Being totally without a computer may seem out of the question nowadays, but I am old enough to remember a time when this was the norm.

As a 90s baby, computers may have been around my entire life but I have not always had access to them.

Having a personal computer, let alone one with internet access, was not common in my childhood, unless you were rich. Before I reached my teen years, things had changed drastically and I did end up getting my own laptop through a scheme at my secondary school. However, this was not the way it was for the majority of my life growing up, and looking back computers are not the first thing I think about.

The first person in my life to get a computer was my grandparents, as my grandad loved stuff like that. It was a huge chunky thing, with Windows 95, that they set up in the spare bedroom on a corner computer desk. Yes, one of those with the CD racks and a chair with wheels.

My brother and I would play CD computer games and eventually online flash game on it, but we were rarely alone.

I have seem this sentiment online a few times and it’s true – back then the internet used to be a ‘place’, you had to go to it. Whether you had a big, posh house with a dedicated computer room, or a monitor in the living room, the internet wasn’t always accessible and in our pockets like it is today; you had to seek it out.

Of course, as time moved on and technology became accessible, I spent a lot of time online. I look back and cringe at the time wasted at my grandparents house watching endless YouTube videos on their tablet (again, one of the first people I knew to get such a device because of my grandad’s interest) when I could be spending it with them or plugging in headphones on long car drives with my dad to our out-of-town orthodontists when I could be talking to him. This was the early stages of the technology we see today, so I wonder how deep the regret will go for poor iPad babies and family vloggers…

All of that to say, I remember a time before everyone was glued to a screen, however short that may have been. And while there are some things about it that were better, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses.

What Would We Be Doing Instead?

It is easy to get carry away with a utopian idea of what our lives would be without computers, but as someone who lived through it I need to say that things were not that different.

Perhaps this is due to my working class, English background, but people were not necessarily more sociable without a computer in their pocket.

Sure, a lot of things have changed since the nineties and early noughts that has influences our social behaviour, especially in working class circles, but having computers is not necessarily one of them.

We have other forms of distractions then that kept us separate from people and preventing talking. The classic British sitcom, The Royle Family, is the perfect example for this (and amazing nostalgia bait for those around at that time). Without computers, we spent more time watching the telly.

While we may have all physically been together, as again at that time having your own TV with channels was rare and a rich person thing, it did not necessarily make us closer.

Yes, a childhood with computers meant a lot of time doing classic childhood things – playing in the back garden, reading constantly and visiting libraries, family trips out to museums, parks, and beaches. But I don’t necessarily think these activities were present due to the lack of technology.

I had a great childhood because I have good parents.

While we did not have a lot of money, my mother, in particular, made sure we didn’t know this. She would take us out to so many different places, using our free public transport access (due to my dad’s job as a bus driver) and ensure our school holidays were full of fun, activity and learning.

Of course, not everyday was like that because how could it be? Both my parents worked, and like I said we did not have a lot of money.

Sure, indoor activities looked more creative in the time before computers, with reading, baking, painting, crafts, and playing with toys being our main ways to pass the time. But that is also due to being young and needed cared for, I think, as opposed to computers and technology in general.

While some things certainly were better and more ‘wholesome’ back then, I don’t think technology is the sole blame. My childhood feels rosy and different because it’s been and gone. I’ve spoken about nostalgia a lot on this blog, and that’s the whole point of it. It’s a mind’s trick, as Taylor Swift sang.

The Benefits Of Living Without Technology

I do have to say there are two significant changes that have come with computers, and two ways that my life might look better today without them; boredom and reading.

Again, this is clearly a common childhood thing and something computers have not eradicated, but I remember being bored without technology. Properly bored, I mean.

I remember feeling like I was genuinely going mad or felt like I was going to combust with boredom during long summer holidays or weekends, and I don’t think this is as common now.

Sure, we all still feel bored a lot of the time, and apathetic the rest, but technology has given us access to instant gratification, instant entertainment, and instant distractions; they’re all there in our pockets or hands. As a kid, we were frequently told to ‘go find something to do’ or ‘use your imagination’, if we expressed that we were bored – two sentiments which I feel like could benefit me today if I allowed them.

Another way my life has changed over the years, and probably would benefit from the erasure of computers, is reading.

Reading became my main hobby at around 9 years old, although it had always been present in my life in some way (as it should in all healthy, balanced childhoods, I think).

I became obsessed with books and read so much during that pre-teen stage. There are plenty of excuses I could make for why I don’t read as much these days, despite my love not dying, but the main thing is it’s just easier to scroll or stick on a YouTube video.

Without computers, I would have more time to come up with ideas, be creative, and read amazing stories. But that’s not to say that I cannot do or have those things with computers.

Technology is never going away (unless the world ends in some catastrophic sci-fi way, in which case I won’t be here to see it), so we need to learn how to balance our lives with it. If we are unhappy with our tech use, then it is up to us to change that.

I’ve spoken a bit about agency and control before, and I think that applies here. If you think your life would benefit without computers, or without as much computers, then you can just opt out. You’re allowed to make the changes you think are right for you, and perhaps looking back to the past is a good way to gauge this.

Whatever you decide, I hope you find the right balance for you. I on the other hand, will still be here with my touch typing, spellcheck and constant YouTube background noise, while my book sits on the side table, making me feel guilty.

Speak soon,

Rachael.

Photo by Jack Guo on Unsplash