Why be a hermit?

I got a big surprise this morning.

There I was having a conversation with someone who I know, like and respect, when it came up that he did not have an internet connection. In fact, he did not even have a computer in his home.

Now this is not a poor, disadvantaged person from a third world country. This is a very intelligent person, with a nice home, in a nice neighbourhood, a steady job, a charming wife, and beautiful (and extremely intelligent) children.

I was dumbstruck. Even gobsmacked!

It was as if he'd told me he was a visitor from another planet here on a fact finding mission — but wait, that would assume some technical expertise of some kind wouldn't it?

I resisted the urge to ask why they had shut themselves out from the vast (bigger than vast really), amount of information and services available on the net, let alone email!

But I guess what struck me most was my own assumption that everybody is online these days.

I know it must have been like that when telephones became common — and expected — in homes. I do remember when fax machines came in — all of a sudden it was expected that any business had one. We reach a "tipping point" where a new piece of technology is just expected to be ubiquitous. We went through it with the microwave, and further back, the TV and I guess at one time, the fridge and stove.

But really, am I nuts? Is it possible to even exist these days without a web presence? Without email, Facebook, Google, Linkedin …Twitter? Or is this guy right? Maybe he's spending more quality time with the family or reading a good book. Maybe he's getting more things done around the house or has a few great hobbies?

Naaaa!