I'd love to be able to go 48 hours without human contact.

That would be a mini vacation for me.

None of you are my friends. I disdain you all! ALL OF YOU!

I hear those newfangled books of Gutenberg's are the devil's handiwork.

Its going to get worse as this whole internet thing really starts getting popular.

I avoid people like they are zombies

Sometimes I try putting myself in the shoes of people who have to deal with customers day-in and day-out, accompanying each repetitive transaction with fake cheerfulness and smalltalk.

Kinda freaks me out. Think I prefer my machines mechanical and my people personable.

Current Resident: I'd love to be able to go 48 hours without human contact.

That would be a mini vacation for me.

Indeed. I'd like to further dettach myself from human interaction but without spending countless dollars on expensive equipment. Being a techno-hermit couldn't be all that bad, especially if you don't value human contact to begin with.

Only a matter of time..

Current Resident: I'd love to be able to go 48 hours without human contact.

That would be a mini vacation for me.

Seriously. My drive to and from work is the only guaranteed solitude I have. Hell, I'd take 8 hours and be happy.

They would have to be unemployed, surely.

PanicMan: Seriously. My drive to and from work is the only guaranteed solitude I have. Hell, I'd take 8 hours and be happy.

Yeah. I think I'm going to go outside now.

imontheinternet: 48 hours without speaking to another human being

Amateurs. I once went a week without speaking to anyone.

If I didn't have a job that requires me to interact with people, I'd probably have beaten that record soundly by now.

If it weren't for my weekly Meetup dinners my interaction with people would be limited to checkout lines. I only vaguely interact with those people.

I go through hermit like phases. Mostly it's on the weekends where I will just want to be left alone. It's nice if the roomate is out with her latest victim so I can veg out watch what I want,not change out of my jammies. But as of late I have wated to be around some human contact so Ive gone out socialized met people talked to people.

I mean really, WHICH humans am I interacting with/not interacting with? Am I giving up interacting with People of Wal-Mart?

imontheinternet: 48 hours without speaking to another human being

Amateurs. I once went a week without speaking to anyone.

If I didn't have a job that requires me to interact with people, I'd probably have beaten that record soundly by now.

I used to actually be quite social, I was frequently the organizer for my circle of friends for trips/meetups/etc and used to work on a sales floor interacting with customers all day. Now I have a job where I work by myself 99% of the time and live in an area where I don't know anyone. The only human interactions I have now are trips to Costco to load up my freezer, everything else is from Amazon Prime. Hell I didn't even have any cause to leave my apartment this weekend (I played ME2, watched West Wing, read a few books and cooked/cleaned). I chat with some friends online every other day, but that's it.

I'm actually quite happy with the solitude. No social obligations or time commitments, I can read books or play games for hours upon hours without interruption every night - and the stack of what I want read/play/watch/etc... just keeps growing. I'm only two years into this lifestyle and while it could be that in another two years I'll have gone insane and become a serial killer, for right now I'm loving it.

MoronLessOff: PanicMan: Seriously. My drive to and from work is the only guaranteed solitude I have. Hell, I'd take 8 hours and be happy.

That being said, I prefer using only electronic-only communication. Because real life doesn't have a mute button. And time stamps are handy for dealing with jerks.

Ambivalence: Akessamenos: None of you are my friends. I disdain you all! ALL OF YOU!

I am pretty sure disdain is not a verb.

It can be used as a verb or a noun.

But I don't think it was used properly there.

PanicMan: MoronLessOff: PanicMan: Seriously. My drive to and from work is the only guaranteed solitude I have. Hell, I'd take 8 hours and be happy.

That being said, I prefer using only electronic-only communication. Because real life doesn't have a mute button. And time stamps are handy for dealing with jerks.

As well as being able retrieve an exact quote when some douche nozzle is being extra douche nozzlely.

PanicMan: MoronLessOff: PanicMan: Seriously. My drive to and from work is the only guaranteed solitude I have. Hell, I'd take 8 hours and be happy.

That being said, I prefer using only electronic-only communication. Because real life doesn't have a mute button. And time stamps are handy for dealing with jerks.

This. Email is awesome because you don't have to take notes and you have everything documented. A phone call ever now and again is nice to quickly ensure you are on the same page, but email is generally much more efficient.

Society is overrated.

My previous job really got me to the point of HATING interactions with anyone other than the wife. Given the option, I resorted to Amazon, peapod, online ordering for food delivery, and, in extremis, the self-checkout at the grocery store. Anything to avoid talking to other people.

I have, however, gotten somewhat better since. Leaving the soul sucking job helped me recover some energy needed for personal interactions.

Mad_Radhu: PanicMan: MoronLessOff: PanicMan: Seriously. My drive to and from work is the only guaranteed solitude I have. Hell, I'd take 8 hours and be happy.

That being said, I prefer using only electronic-only communication. Because real life doesn't have a mute button. And time stamps are handy for dealing with jerks.

This. Email is awesome because you don't have to take notes and you have everything documented. A phone call ever now and again is nice to quickly ensure you are on the same page, but email is generally much more efficient.

A quick phone call is a decent way to touch base, but I will always follow it up with an email summary of the call to the other person, just for the documentation. That I felt such base-covering was necessary probably says something about the d-bags I work with

Current Resident: PanicMan: MoronLessOff: PanicMan: Seriously. My drive to and from work is the only guaranteed solitude I have. Hell, I'd take 8 hours and be happy.

That being said, I prefer using only electronic-only communication. Because real life doesn't have a mute button. And time stamps are handy for dealing with jerks.

As well as being able retrieve an exact quote when some douche nozzle is being extra douche nozzlely.

Oh my, yes.

Don't worry, when the zombie apocalypse comes they'll find a samurai sword and a blind sensei, it'll all work out.

DotComGuy tried this 12 years ago. Nobody gave a shiat then, either.

I'm just a lurker.

I think they have a different name for it in real life though.

I usually go into town to do grocery shopping every 3 days. I work at home and almost all communications is via email so I routinely go 72 hours without talking to anyone. And at the store about the only thing I say is paper or plastic and thank you to the checker.

Mad_Radhu: PanicMan: MoronLessOff: PanicMan: Seriously. My drive to and from work is the only guaranteed solitude I have. Hell, I'd take 8 hours and be happy.

That being said, I prefer using only electronic-only communication. Because real life doesn't have a mute button. And time stamps are handy for dealing with jerks.

This. Email is awesome because you don't have to take notes and you have everything documented. A phone call ever now and again is nice to quickly ensure you are on the same page, but email is generally much more efficient.

Not to mention n/m, b/d/e/g/v, and other fun phone misheards that destroy any sort of communication that involves a lot of acronyms or designators of any kind.

/Nightmare mode: do you remember the last time you had physical contact with someone?
//Seriously, it seems infrequent in society these days, save the introductory handshake

One of the most popular longstanding members of my travel community died this weekend. She finally lost her long battle with cancer. Her daughter posted to let us know, and to tell us how much she valued her friendships with the rest of us, and how our community had added so much joy to her final years.

Hundreds of people have posted their condolences so far... many of them as heartfelt, touching and well-worded as actual eulogies.

Almost none of us had met her before, but we all considered her our kind, wise, generous and worldly aunt. I'm feeling a real loss today, as are many others.

Don't tell me online relationships aren't as "real" as IRL ones.

/RIP LoveItaly

Uisce Beatha: A quick phone call is a decent way to touch base, but I will always follow it up with an email summary of the call to the other person, just for the documentation. That I felt such base-covering was necessary probably says something about the d-bags I work with

This. If you call me up and ask me to do something, I'll say "Absolutely... as soon as you send me an email repeating everything you just asked for."

/also, don't go to a meeting that won't send out an agenda

Not quite a technohermit but the last really reenergizing vacation that I have had was a weeks long boathouse trip with my father, my uncles and a couple of cousins. A week of nothing but fishing Lake of the Woods. No phone, no internet, I was fishing with my father and we can go hours in silence without uncomfortablity. When not fishing I was sitting topside reading a book while everyone else was conversing. I cannot wait until this July to do it again.

I wouldnt know anything about this

//shun

I can barely stand myself, what makes you think I have any desire to interact with the rest of you meat bags.

I'm only a couple of steps removed from this. It ain't half bad.

When I was a wee child, B.I. (before internet) I spent most of my time reading, rather than interacting with humans. It wasn't the internet that caused me to be anti-social, but rather that the internet was made for people like me. I was already like that.

I consider a good day for human interaction is when I go to the store and speak to the cashier or something. That's usually quite enough. And you know what? I'm much happier now that all those people who used to make fun of me for being a "hermit" or "anti-social" are gone too. Different strokes for different folks. I don't make fun of YOU for needing constant validation and for being needy.

/not to your face, anyway. Freaks.

In my short 6 months stint of working from home, I only left the house for groceries and church. It changes you. I got used to it and really disliked being around people more and more as time went on. I was forced to be around people again with my new job and realized how much my people skills had deteriorated in that 6 months.

I still would rather work from home 100%. it was much cheaper, no driving, no having to wash your clothes as often. Wearing house slippers and t-shirts all the time. Just gas alone costs me 5-7k per year. But the mgmt types want to make sure I am not slacking off and behaving like a good worker bee.

One day !! (shakes fist at management in general) I will be free from this damned commute to do the same things I could do from home.

I don't really disdain all of you. I just don't think I've ever made the second comment in a thread.