The internet is a terrible place. Here's why columnist Marissa MacWhirter is abandoning the burning pile of rubbish we call modern cyberspace in favour of analogue and physical media.

On Wednesday morning, I felt strangely calm as my flight jiggled through mild turbulence above the North Atlantic. A nervous flyer, I typically spend my time at 30,000 feet anxiously rubbing my Saint Christopher while big fat tears roll silently down my cheeks. But this time, the 10 hour journey from Vancouver to Glasgow felt peaceful. It was the longest time I had spent offline since my flight over a few weeks prior.

I used to use the internet to escape reality. Now reality is my escape from the internet. Hence why this year I am hoping to follow in the footsteps of my zillenial (Gen Z/Millenial) peers by (mostly) abandoning the burning pile of rubbish we call modern cyberspace in favour of analogue and physical media. CDs, DVDs, books, and actual newspapers – tangible items that have scents and make sounds when you handle them.

I returned home from the airport and dumped my bags before heading into the office, where I watched the US military seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker unfold in the waters between Iceland and Scotland. That a week's-long chase of the Marinera through the high seas should reach its crescendo beneath the belly of the Boeing 737 I was travelling on hardens my resolve that being unplugged is not a bad thing. If I had learned what was happening in the inky waters below me, I very well may have crapped myself.

Being online used to be fun. As a child of about ten, I would spend hours online whenever I could, escaping the day-to-day slog of my parents’ messy divorce to the colourful worlds of Neopets and Habbo Hotel. In these spaces, friends and I would take pride in creating our avatars, playing games and engaging in conversations with strangers online (some of them were definitely dodgy, but alas).

........

© Herald Scotland