The Painful Realities Of An Internet-less Life

Ciao, bellas!

Missed me yet? In case you hadn't guessed, I experienced a quite painful internet shortage. I moved apartments in Firenze, and the new place has no wireless. Although the landlord promised an internet key, it didn't work on my computer, and without school internet (school was closed for the holiday Thursday and Friday, although I still had to go to class, let's not talk about my feelings on that) and without a phone, there was no way to contact the landlord.

Enter Monday. I stole another student's log-in at school -- because on top of everything else my own log-in wouldn't work -- and managed to reassure the world that I was alive. Apparently certain Twitterers, not to mention co-writers, were a bit concerned. Still, I had no time to really check Villa news before running off to Italian.

Thank goodness, the landlady stopped by yesterday with a brand-new, unlimited wireless key, and I can breathe once again. The reason I write all this on here? Because I find it fascinating just how much we've come to need the internet. Here in Italy I can watch calcio news, but unless Carlo Ancelotti is appointed as Villa manager, nothing will come through about the club. So there I was, over three days without internet, as the Villa search for a manager, find a home for Brad Friedel, and negotiate enough money in return for Ashley Young.

I tried to tell myself it was a good cleansing -- a moment of relief from the incessant smartphone checking, the need to always be thinking in 140 characters. But lying to myself didn't work. I was itchy. Anything could be happening. We could have sold Barry Bannan, for goodness sake. And I wouldn't know. Does anything actually happen with our club unless we know about it? I submit that it does not. We want the news as it happens, even if that means what we read and write might be wrong -- see Mark Hughes, for example. We're a society, and especially a generation, that feeds off immediate knowledge. To be disconnected is to be rendered stupid.

How would you handle it? Do you force yourself to go without internet at times? Not pay attention to Villa, especially during the summer? Or do you always need to know?