One month unlimited food no internet – Yes or no?

Today I saw a post on X that sparked an interesting conversation between me and a friend.

Essentially, if you didn’t have to worry about food, could you live in a remote cabin for a month without internet?

Before I dig deeper, there are of course follow-up questions.

For the sake of my answer, let’s add a few assumptions.

First, yes there would be unlimited food as the original question states. Now, how does that food get there? Is it there already and you have to work with what you have? It certainly would be more of a challenge to just work with what you have, rather than some on-demand system like we have every day already.

Second, I am doing this on my own and my family has signed off and they promised to be there waiting when the time is over. This would be a super awkward scenario if you just left and ignored your life for a month. Remember they can’t email or text or send videos. I supposed snail mail would be allowed.

Finally, you didn’t have to worry about a job or keeping the money-making engine going while off the grid for a month. Would you even need cash? I guess not.

Okay, now that we have those assumptions added, could I personally do it? No internet or digital connectivity to the outside world?

I think I could. I would of course miss my family, but it is only a month.

Being unplugged would initially be hard and very challenging but after a few days of pain, I feel like it would be very freeing.

So, on top of unlimited food, what extra things would I need to make the month a positive experience?

• A lot of books (a mix of fiction, nonfiction, and cookbooks)
• Puzzles
• Offline handheld gaming console + games.
• Television, DVD player, and a large box of random DVDs.
• Exercise bike for when it’s raining.

With these items, I think I could get into a solid routine of 100% relaxation. I have never been one to hate being bored. I have always been good at entertaining myself and finding things to do.

Exploring the area around the cabin would be what I would do the most. Hopefully not getting lost. Okay let’s be honest, I would get lost a few times, but always find my way back.

Lots of chopping wood and finding sticks to burn.

It would be a great time to dig into the cookbooks and see what you can learn to make. Again, this depends on the unlimited food situation.

Watching old movies and spending hours on 2000-piece puzzles.

Okay, enough about the details of how I would fill the days. How would I come out of this situation?

I would expect I would feel free of all the things I do that waste time and add little value. Like being free of scrolling on the phone and knowing what everyone thinks about everything. It’s amazing to think how out of it you would feel about world news, sports, and all those things you obsess over on social media.

The one crazy question that came up as I talked it through with a friend over IM was – when you plugged back in, what’s the first thing you do?

Assuming you have already reconnected with your family in person, some of the answers were banking, world news, or email. Those seem like the correct answers. Not X, Instagram, Facebook or WhatsApp.

To me, that would be the point of the whole experience. To come away from it not caring about what everyone else thinks. Not needed to add your opinion to the pile.

Go back to a time before we were all so connected and able to do anything or get anything on demand.

I remember a time when that was true. So it’s not a crazy concept. It would be incredibly hard on the brain to start a month unplugged, but I could get there.

But let’s say our kids had to do this same experience. It would be a shock to their system as they don’t have any reference other than maybe that time you stayed at an Airbnb and the cell service/wifi was really bad.

As I wrap this up, I will admit looking at that photo of the cabin in the mountains, it’s easy for me to romanticize having that experience. But it’s not that realistic to have a month away from everything. We all have responsibilities, we all have our part to play, and of course, we all probably don’t actually want a month to ourselves.

But to simplify to the original questions in the post – One month unlimited food no internet. Yes or no? I would have to say yes.

What about you?