Off the grid

'He had one question: Have you been in contact with the outside world?' Also 7 other things worth your time.

Almost two months ago—just before the apocalypse—I hung out with a good friend from college. We only see each other once or twice a year now, and he was telling me about a trip he took last summer.

This friend is now a Boy Scout leader (man, we’ve changed since college!), and he led a group of young kids on a canoeing and portaging trip up in Minnesota. (For my non-American readers, there are something like, 10,000 lakes in Minnesota.)

I’m trying to remember how long they were gone: 10 days? Maybe more?

Anyway, it sounded like a lot of fun—the canoeing, sure, but also the idea of truly being unplugged for a few weeks. I can’t remember the last time I went without my phone for more than a day, and I thought about it a lot afterward.

Now, imagine if the trip had been right now — like, suppose you’d been out of contact with everyone else—no texting, no Internet (♫ “no phone, no light, no motor car”♫)— for a few weeks, maybe starting around February 19.

How strange would our brave new world…