Blog Dis
Communicate or hide
2026-02-05
Back in the early 1980s, CNN was one of the first 24 hour news stations to throw out the term "off-line." This descriptive differentiated when an individual or broadcast service was connected to a live network vs how some view connectivity in the 21st Century, that off-line means being unreachable — not by mobile, and by extension text, email, or via social networks.
Yet, the original concept of the term off-line had actually meant that you didn't have access to the Internet, what I call the Uddernet, or that a network service was out of operation or temporarily down. Off-line can also represent, for some, a silent protest, to express their abhorrence toward engaging with anyone by technical means.
I've worked with professionals who refuse to waste their time watching TV. This haughty attitude would typically make me smile at the irony. These are the same persons who will regularly plunk themselves in front of a computer for eight fecking hours to work online, which is to say they don't watch TV but they'll surely stare at a screen or get caught up on shows vis-a-vis YouTube. There are those too who relish playing video games using a connected console. And frankly, if this is the kind of activity that floats your boat, to engage in video games to decompress from the vicissitudes of life, I say fill your boots. Know, however, that gamers are most assuredly connected on-line the entire time, or rather their game console is connected, even if they are playing direct from a software box. I get it that many gamers collect retail copies in a box.
Then there are those who contend they are off-line because they don't read emails, or even have an email account, yet they're the same with 65" flat-screens to gobble up fourteen hours of sports until their bums resemble a flattened pizza. We either choose to opt into a cable TV service, which can be delivered by digital HDTV antennae or Fiber-optic cable (connected to the Internet) or we enjoy our network stations that deliver content by way of purchasing a subscription, delivered via the Internet, or the newest form using a Firestick connected to the internet via an HDMI port.
Our connectivity appears to be on-going, nor does it appear to be stopping any time soon. We can't do much without having to shell out coin for Internet high speed. We each choose our preferred medium of communication, and in some shape or form or another, we're all faced with the reality of having to succumb to communication, whether you wish to be part of the human race and its culture of chit-chat or not. It simply seems to matter how you choose to communicate, how often, and for how long, and of course with whom.
I've worked with the same technical dude for years and his background is in graphic design, to include computer code. His expertise makes it easy for him to conduct his online activity like an Internet ninja, to ensure he isn't being monitored, so this is potentially one underground form of seeming to be off-line to the public — that you're not actively engaged, being associated with your real name. While, at the same time, technical companies that deliver the services of a Virtual Private Network (VPNs) will contend their service ensures your anonymity, providing you purchase Internet Service in order to enable your VPN connection. VPNs have come under fire in the past by governments, who demand to have access to the VPN's historical records of their clients and their Internet search history, in order that they are able to ensure our ongoing security. 😆
Tread carefully. Whenever a government is adamant about securing your privacy and safety, it generally is a red-flag to mean they need access to every element of your life, just in case they need to use it against you. One VPN service provider won their day in court because they had refused to turn over their client names, citing that they don't keep records of what sites their clients connect to, following an audit by an independent professional services firm. It gave me hope that there's some form of privacy still being protected and fought for, in this world of digital high-jacking called transparency.
So you see, it's a fait accompli . Daily, hourly or by the minute you'll communicate through email, mobile, by batting those bedroom eyes, thru the act of listening, social media platforms, texting, or roaming outside in public to utilize the various forms of public cafes and transportation, most of which offer free WiFi. Seems it's darn near impossible to avoid communication. Even the ideas entering your conscious mind are coming into your sphere of reality whether you're willing to acknowledge them or not. Take a look at your runners or sun glasses, the label tucked behind your shirt collar or on the back of your jeans. Somewhere there's a company logo that is communicating its brand to the public through you, the human billboard. Email, texts, flat-screens and mobile phones are just other forms of delivery systems to communicate a message. Choosing to go off-line has its plusses, to be sure, and despite how some will squeal about the minuses, in not being able to communicate, or to be reached by anyone.
When I traveled into Peru in 2016, I left my mobile phone at home on purpose. I went with a colleague and our goal was to hike Machu Picchu, and we both returned unscathed. My reasoning was why bother taking a mobile phone when atop a mountain with a peak of 15,000 feet above sea level? The IP towers for delivering service wouldn't work regardless. I laughed at some of our tour-mates who were horrified at the thought of not having their mobile phones. I felt free, totally unfettered from the digital leash. I looked at my off-line status as form of digital withdrawal. And it was bloody awesome. When my colleague and I had to return home, we popped into an Internet cafe and paid to use one of their terminals to check-in online with our flights. But other than that, I didn't send one text, check one email, log into one social network account and somehow I had managed to survive. Imagine that!
As my late father was fond of jokingly pointing out, while looking at twelve very large grapefruits on the kitchen counter, "It wouldn't take very many of those to make a dozen." He'd often askew modernity, to view all of reality from a joker's perspective. Dad would repeat that when it came to computers, garbage in means garbage coming out, and this simple yet succinct philosophy can be applied to the multiplying layers of our ability to communicate ideas, voices, fake identities, videos across multiple platforms.
Trouble is ideas and fake AI being bandied about on the Internet are too often fraudulent in nature and intentionally misleading.
I like to communicate to others, to myself, to my inner child, my friends and relatives, to pets I encounter in the building where I live, and even when I step outside to interact with life, such as when I observe a gathering of chickadees in the small bushes, coping with the frigid cold, and engaged in an excited exchange of chirps with each other. Well, it seems this way when you hear them all chatting at once. If I had the ability to email these little birds, I'd ask them to line up in the morning, ready and waiting for me to pass by with ground flaxseed, before I leave the pile at the base of their favorite cluster of bushes. But I can't communicate with them. I'm not fluent in chickadee, any more than I speak dog or cat. I do speak, however, the language of English, as limited as this makes me to speak just one language. I'm fully educated on the various means to communicate using the Internet as the primary access point. Why just the other evening, I learned of a new device called a Meshtastic, a tool that is built for a failure scenario, when there are no central, viable servers, and no ISPs (Internet Service Providers). These small devices form a peer-to-peer mesh network that passes along messages hop-by-hop, even when everything else collapses.
If the idea of no longer having access to networks, to be able to communicate, gives you heart palpitations, now you know of a new device - Meshtastic. Those who insist on remaining off-line, however, will be less likely to find these, no doubt.
The accepted term to describe persons who avoid people, in their totality, and all forms of electronic communication, are known as living off-the-grid. They have no Internet, heat and hydro services to deliver energy, and they pay nothing to no one. They do, however, utilize solar panels to equip their homes with heat, and to filter and treat their drinking water. But I often wonder if they are in fact the smartest of persons because they avoid getting onto the grid. By not being on the Internet they're able to resist being pulled into a web of obfuscation that is so abundantly apparent when scrolling thru our feeds.
Those who choose to live off-the-grid are clear in their messaging, without having to blast out any form of communication and it is this: when they are damn good and ready they'll reach out to you.
The Internet has altered the English language into a form of shorthand that even I feel annoyed with at times, like the ridiculously easy and convenient three letter acronyms that require no explanation: LOL (laugh out loud); WYD (What you doing?), TMI (too much information), TBD (to be determined) or ETA (estimated time of arrival), and my personal favorite FFS (for f*ck's sake)... to name barely a few. These acronyms make texting more efficient without fully realizing that the original form of communication, spoken words, had evolved into stories being re-told, to communicate wisdom, to share best practices with future generations, and in turn these stories evolved into written text that could be shared and understood, and still to this day this form of communication remains the basis of all languages.
Acronyms are so pervasive now as to be segregated according to their purpose. We have acronyms for business and management, for technology and the Internet, for the Government and other agencies, for common phrases and of course for industry specific terms. All these acronyms point to the direction of the simplification of communication, while the mediums to communicate continue to expand. It makes me wonder at what point in the development of human civilization will all forms of current communication evolve to the level of telekinetic exchange, between brains, without the use of spoken words, or texts or emails. We'll be chipped and able to absorb a shocking amount of information, being fed direct to our brains. 5G service will seem like sticks and stones to 6G.
Back in the 14th Century, the ruling class was aghast when English began to bubble up from the streets, slowly and surely replacing the standard practice of French and Latin. It was inevitable. Progress alters the progress of our future. And, we the people, are merely the delicate spokes in the ever turning wheel of human communication.
I write this post with a dose of irony, too. I used an acronym on the front cover of my seventh novel POM, rather than the full title: Portals of Middle-Vision. 😇I figured it would be easier to remember the acronym, plus it took up less space on my novel's cover, another prime piece of real estate.
[Note: This is the first time I'm trying out the new X Articles feature, which apparently will allow these posts to be found on my page easier. Let me know what you think of how it looks.]
Yet, the original concept of the term off-line had actually meant that you didn't have access to the Internet, what I call the Uddernet, or that a network service was out of operation or temporarily down. Off-line can also represent, for some, a silent protest, to express their abhorrence toward engaging with anyone by technical means.
I've worked with professionals who refuse to waste their time watching TV. This haughty attitude would typically make me smile at the irony. These are the same persons who will regularly plunk themselves in front of a computer for eight fecking hours to work online, which is to say they don't watch TV but they'll surely stare at a screen or get caught up on shows vis-a-vis YouTube. There are those too who relish playing video games using a connected console. And frankly, if this is the kind of activity that floats your boat, to engage in video games to decompress from the vicissitudes of life, I say fill your boots. Know, however, that gamers are most assuredly connected on-line the entire time, or rather their game console is connected, even if they are playing direct from a software box. I get it that many gamers collect retail copies in a box.
Then there are those who contend they are off-line because they don't read emails, or even have an email account, yet they're the same with 65" flat-screens to gobble up fourteen hours of sports until their bums resemble a flattened pizza. We either choose to opt into a cable TV service, which can be delivered by digital HDTV antennae or Fiber-optic cable (connected to the Internet) or we enjoy our network stations that deliver content by way of purchasing a subscription, delivered via the Internet, or the newest form using a Firestick connected to the internet via an HDMI port.
Our connectivity appears to be on-going, nor does it appear to be stopping any time soon. We can't do much without having to shell out coin for Internet high speed. We each choose our preferred medium of communication, and in some shape or form or another, we're all faced with the reality of having to succumb to communication, whether you wish to be part of the human race and its culture of chit-chat or not. It simply seems to matter how you choose to communicate, how often, and for how long, and of course with whom.
I've worked with the same technical dude for years and his background is in graphic design, to include computer code. His expertise makes it easy for him to conduct his online activity like an Internet ninja, to ensure he isn't being monitored, so this is potentially one underground form of seeming to be off-line to the public — that you're not actively engaged, being associated with your real name. While, at the same time, technical companies that deliver the services of a Virtual Private Network (VPNs) will contend their service ensures your anonymity, providing you purchase Internet Service in order to enable your VPN connection. VPNs have come under fire in the past by governments, who demand to have access to the VPN's historical records of their clients and their Internet search history, in order that they are able to ensure our ongoing security. 😆
Tread carefully. Whenever a government is adamant about securing your privacy and safety, it generally is a red-flag to mean they need access to every element of your life, just in case they need to use it against you. One VPN service provider won their day in court because they had refused to turn over their client names, citing that they don't keep records of what sites their clients connect to, following an audit by an independent professional services firm. It gave me hope that there's some form of privacy still being protected and fought for, in this world of digital high-jacking called transparency.
So you see, it's a fait accompli . Daily, hourly or by the minute you'll communicate through email, mobile, by batting those bedroom eyes, thru the act of listening, social media platforms, texting, or roaming outside in public to utilize the various forms of public cafes and transportation, most of which offer free WiFi. Seems it's darn near impossible to avoid communication. Even the ideas entering your conscious mind are coming into your sphere of reality whether you're willing to acknowledge them or not. Take a look at your runners or sun glasses, the label tucked behind your shirt collar or on the back of your jeans. Somewhere there's a company logo that is communicating its brand to the public through you, the human billboard. Email, texts, flat-screens and mobile phones are just other forms of delivery systems to communicate a message. Choosing to go off-line has its plusses, to be sure, and despite how some will squeal about the minuses, in not being able to communicate, or to be reached by anyone.
When I traveled into Peru in 2016, I left my mobile phone at home on purpose. I went with a colleague and our goal was to hike Machu Picchu, and we both returned unscathed. My reasoning was why bother taking a mobile phone when atop a mountain with a peak of 15,000 feet above sea level? The IP towers for delivering service wouldn't work regardless. I laughed at some of our tour-mates who were horrified at the thought of not having their mobile phones. I felt free, totally unfettered from the digital leash. I looked at my off-line status as form of digital withdrawal. And it was bloody awesome. When my colleague and I had to return home, we popped into an Internet cafe and paid to use one of their terminals to check-in online with our flights. But other than that, I didn't send one text, check one email, log into one social network account and somehow I had managed to survive. Imagine that!
As my late father was fond of jokingly pointing out, while looking at twelve very large grapefruits on the kitchen counter, "It wouldn't take very many of those to make a dozen." He'd often askew modernity, to view all of reality from a joker's perspective. Dad would repeat that when it came to computers, garbage in means garbage coming out, and this simple yet succinct philosophy can be applied to the multiplying layers of our ability to communicate ideas, voices, fake identities, videos across multiple platforms.
Trouble is ideas and fake AI being bandied about on the Internet are too often fraudulent in nature and intentionally misleading.
I like to communicate to others, to myself, to my inner child, my friends and relatives, to pets I encounter in the building where I live, and even when I step outside to interact with life, such as when I observe a gathering of chickadees in the small bushes, coping with the frigid cold, and engaged in an excited exchange of chirps with each other. Well, it seems this way when you hear them all chatting at once. If I had the ability to email these little birds, I'd ask them to line up in the morning, ready and waiting for me to pass by with ground flaxseed, before I leave the pile at the base of their favorite cluster of bushes. But I can't communicate with them. I'm not fluent in chickadee, any more than I speak dog or cat. I do speak, however, the language of English, as limited as this makes me to speak just one language. I'm fully educated on the various means to communicate using the Internet as the primary access point. Why just the other evening, I learned of a new device called a Meshtastic, a tool that is built for a failure scenario, when there are no central, viable servers, and no ISPs (Internet Service Providers). These small devices form a peer-to-peer mesh network that passes along messages hop-by-hop, even when everything else collapses.
If the idea of no longer having access to networks, to be able to communicate, gives you heart palpitations, now you know of a new device - Meshtastic. Those who insist on remaining off-line, however, will be less likely to find these, no doubt.
The accepted term to describe persons who avoid people, in their totality, and all forms of electronic communication, are known as living off-the-grid. They have no Internet, heat and hydro services to deliver energy, and they pay nothing to no one. They do, however, utilize solar panels to equip their homes with heat, and to filter and treat their drinking water. But I often wonder if they are in fact the smartest of persons because they avoid getting onto the grid. By not being on the Internet they're able to resist being pulled into a web of obfuscation that is so abundantly apparent when scrolling thru our feeds.
Those who choose to live off-the-grid are clear in their messaging, without having to blast out any form of communication and it is this: when they are damn good and ready they'll reach out to you.
The Internet has altered the English language into a form of shorthand that even I feel annoyed with at times, like the ridiculously easy and convenient three letter acronyms that require no explanation: LOL (laugh out loud); WYD (What you doing?), TMI (too much information), TBD (to be determined) or ETA (estimated time of arrival), and my personal favorite FFS (for f*ck's sake)... to name barely a few. These acronyms make texting more efficient without fully realizing that the original form of communication, spoken words, had evolved into stories being re-told, to communicate wisdom, to share best practices with future generations, and in turn these stories evolved into written text that could be shared and understood, and still to this day this form of communication remains the basis of all languages.
Acronyms are so pervasive now as to be segregated according to their purpose. We have acronyms for business and management, for technology and the Internet, for the Government and other agencies, for common phrases and of course for industry specific terms. All these acronyms point to the direction of the simplification of communication, while the mediums to communicate continue to expand. It makes me wonder at what point in the development of human civilization will all forms of current communication evolve to the level of telekinetic exchange, between brains, without the use of spoken words, or texts or emails. We'll be chipped and able to absorb a shocking amount of information, being fed direct to our brains. 5G service will seem like sticks and stones to 6G.
Back in the 14th Century, the ruling class was aghast when English began to bubble up from the streets, slowly and surely replacing the standard practice of French and Latin. It was inevitable. Progress alters the progress of our future. And, we the people, are merely the delicate spokes in the ever turning wheel of human communication.
I write this post with a dose of irony, too. I used an acronym on the front cover of my seventh novel POM, rather than the full title: Portals of Middle-Vision. 😇I figured it would be easier to remember the acronym, plus it took up less space on my novel's cover, another prime piece of real estate.
[Note: This is the first time I'm trying out the new X Articles feature, which apparently will allow these posts to be found on my page easier. Let me know what you think of how it looks.]
