Free as a Bird After Cutting Off Broadband

Since cutting off my broadband, my time online has dropped sharply. At first it felt a little odd, but gradually I adapted, and now I very much like this new state.

My generation has been on the Internet since university; we were among the very first Chinese to go online. I still have a five-digit QQ number. While the network has brought us convenience, it has also wasted too much of our time and brought us many negative things.

We are addicted to Internet life, infected by all kinds of group emotions, our minds involuntarily led along by all sorts of information. It is true we have learned some things, but on balance the harm outweighs the benefit. Leaving the Internet and burying myself in books is far more efficient.

I am forty now. Confucius said that at forty one is free of doubts; this age is a turning point in life. For most people the trajectory is: before forty one lives outward; after forty, inward.

Relationship theory holds that when a person feels their time is running out, they stop spending energy on expanding new contacts and prefer to be with those closest to them.

I do not yet feel my time is running out, but after witnessing too many deaths, my mindset has indeed changed. Deeply knowing that pointless socializing and entertainment mean little, I now prefer to stay in an unnoticed corner, day and night, with the few people closest to me.

Since going offline I read far more physical books. No longer always staring at a screen, my eyes are liberated and less tired, and my shoulders feel much better. I also have time to tend carefully to the flowers and plants I keep.

I grow quite a number of green plants; being in my study among them is not much different from being in a deep mountain forest. Trimming them now and then greatly improves my mood. Occasionally playing my instrument to relax my mind is also very pleasant.

My study faces south and gets the warm autumn sun all day. When tired from work or study, I stand by the window in the sun; the warm light on my body warms my whole qi and blood and lifts most of the pressure from my mind.

At such moments I feel as if I have returned to the village, living that old hometown life—leaning on the sofa on the balcony, reading a book, and unknowingly drifting off for a midday nap.

This life is pleasant and a little lazy; perhaps only country folk can taste its flavor. I am a country person, and I love this life.