Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

Prior to acquiring some tools for my most recent technological stretch, I had a cheap phone and a 10+ year old desktop I rarely used for several years around 2008-2010 give or take on either side.

I was doing different things during that period. Not much interesting sometimes—factory work, late shift. I'd sleep most of the day, go to work over night, get in around 4 AM, have a beer and taught myself mandolin and played guitar.

After a stretch of that I moved back to the city and worked in a warehouse in Film/TV and started a band with one of my old friends.

I was never completely without one, but my access was heavily limited. Other things will just fill up your time. For me: reading, music, writing, ...drinking, socializing.

What's funny is when I climbed up a few steps in my Film/TV job I was given a company iPhone which I ended up relying on solely for all of my contact information, etc. One day they decided to unilaterally rescind it because they suspected I would be leaving the company and I never retrieved my contact info for many old friends—especially after having left Facebook and all that. Won't be making that mistake again.

And then of course, growing up in rural Southwestern Ontario in the 90's saw limited access to most things computer. We just went outside a lot. I enjoy what I do, but I really miss that last part...

Yes, for approximately three years. They were some of the happiest, cleanest, and most productive years of my life. I felt happy in the same way I think people felt happy before the technology existed. I eventually came back, because I was worried that I would miss a critical email. I often think about throwing it all away again, but now I'm a programmer so it's not as easy. I was working as a filing clerk when I tried the experiment. It was mostly to save money as I paid back my first degree.

My PC broke 6 months ago. It's forced me to stop gaming and focus on work (as that is all my laptop can handle.)

I've seen an improvement in physical health and productivity, as well as a noticeable increase in "pleasure" from doing work.

This shift has led me to believe that videogames, atleast for me, were a net negative. I will still hop on Steam to chat with friends, but I don't feel the addictive pull to play that i did in the first few months.

Even during most of the 90s, you had computers but not always with real connectivity on either laptops or phones. Thus, while I definitely was around and used computers in the 90s, they weren't omnipresent and connectivity was pretty much of the tethered sort.

Thus I did unplug during that period for several month-long trips to Asia but the baseline level of connectivity/online information/ubiquity/social media/etc. was much less than in the 2000s (especially the latter part of the decade).

Henry Rollins in Johnny Mnemonic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOovtZXYqj4