Detox from Laptop Addiction

I relish the offline time on the plane (to an extent). I would write programs, clear out my inbox, do presentations, or compose my thoughts into words. The epiphany is that those are transient works. Things really get “done” when I emerge back up to the connected world.

I am a laggard in this tablet revolution. There are two iPads in the household and I use them only to play some games. I am really a laptop person, needing the keyboard and mouse to feel efficiency.

Then I lost my beloved Kindle (dozed off in the train and left it in the seat pocket). Instead of replacing it, I bought an Adroid tablet (ASUS MeMO Pad). Things started to change.

For the first week, I used it exactly as an eReader. I quickly installed the Kindle App and finished the book (Awakened, books 4 to 6). Then, I saw that this tablet is simply the phone with larger screen. I email, text, voice call, map navigate, Yelp check-in, Uber, WeChat, Facebook, keep meeting minutes, remember shopping lists, etc. with my phone. Do I really need my laptop anymore? Hmmm.

I had a day-trip coming and, with trepidation, I left my laptop at home. This was going to be a 48-hour crash detox program. All I had were a smartphone and a 6″ tablet?

I read on the 5-hour flight, played some games, and did email, offline, with the clumsy soft keyboard. When I checked into the hotel room, the tablet sync’ed up everything. I plopped up the pillows on bed and pretty much continued as if I was still on the plane, only more comfortably, connected, and getting better with the software keyboard.

The second day, I did email in-between meetings, with improved soft keyboard skills. I charged the tablet when I was in meetings and unplug it when I use it. I was gleeful watching my fellow travelers taking out their laptops. Hey, I had no such thing.

The experience on the return flight was very similar to the outbound one. I got home near mid-night. Again, the tablet got online, delivered those offline emails, and got itself sync’ed.

In the morning, I flipped on the laptop with a strange feeling of getting re-acquainted with it. I missed the keyboard and the mouse, and the bigger screen.

I am not ridding my laptop, but I can now travel lighter, particularly on short-trips. I survived the detoxing from laptop. Would I survive without Internet? No, not experimenting that.

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