Thursday, April 9, 2026

What is the longest amount of time you have gone without using the internet?

I take attendance by having the students answer a question. (Previously 2017, 2019, 2024.)

What is the longest amount of time you have gone without using the internet?

  • 5 min
  • week
  • a week
  • maybe a week
  • 10 days
  • 2 weeks
  • since I started, the longest stretch was ~1 month
  • 3 months
  • until ~5 years of my life
  • 6 years
  • first ~6 years of my life
  • until I was 7: 7 years
  • 9 years before I was 9.
  • first 11 years of my life
  • not long enough
"5 min" is worrisome: what about sleep?

I also note that the "first X years of life" answers haven't really changed over about a decade of asking this question, so more recently-born students are not being raised entirely by computer.


This post's theme word is runagate (n), "a person who has run away" or "a wanderer". The runagate's internet availability was limited until they obtained roaming data capablities.

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

What would you like to try, just one time?

 I take attendance by having students answer a question.

What would you like to try, just one time?

Popular answers: skydiving, flying a plane, paragliding, bungee jumping. Also some people want to try hiking or backpacking just once (or climbing Mount Everest).

One driving a train. One getting a tattoo. One dunking a basketball. One simply "humanity courses".

And of course, the eternal favorite, "I don't know."


This post's theme word is pandiculate (v), "to stretch oneself." Shake off your nap, pandiculate, and seize the day!