Regular readers know that for several years I’ve been endeavoring to live a “digital life”. What that means—more or less—is eschewing pencil and paper, paper bills, checks, dead tree books, physical credit cards, and even things like keys when I can. My goal is to be able to manage my life from my computer and to be able to leave the house with nothing but my phone. I’ve pretty much met those goals except for my car keys and driver’s license.
It’s no surprise that all this depends critically on two things:
- Electricity to charge device batteries
- A reliable Internet connection
As Milton recently made clear, that infrastructure can be fragile. The bunker lost power for 3 days and with it, any semblance of living a digital life. My devices were all charged up, of course, but that doesn’t last long when you’re trying to get things done and they can’t be recharged. I have a backup battery that kept our two phones charged but we did have to cut way back on usage.
WiFi was down—and therefore our “Smart Home” as well but cell phone service was still on so we had broadband service when we absolutely needed to get on the Internet or text someone. As I said, there’s nothing like wondering how you’re going to charge your phone to make you positively stingy about its use.
Fortunately, the bunker is overflowing with dead tree books acquired before I started down the digital life path so we were able to keep ourselves amused. Seven years ago, I bought a four pack of these Etekcity Lanterns, which provided light for reading and other things when it got dark. I don’t use them very often but they’re wonderfully useful when you need them. They’re bright and the batteries (AA) last for a long time (up to 50 hours according to Etekcity). I changed out the original batteries for the first time during the latest outage. If you—even sometimes—lose power you really should invest. They’re cheap and reliable and can help ease you through a power outage.
In any case, Irreal’s adventure in roughing it is over and we’re glad to be back living a digital life.