To make a long story short: It’s possible in theory, but I would have to make some serious changes.
As we progress further into the 21st century, the sort of technologies that were unheard of 30 years ago have become ubiquitous. Mobile phones are by far the best example of this phenomenon; there are very few people in developed countries that are still without one. In Australia, there are 20 million mobile phone users (Statistica, 2019) out of a total of only 24 million people. These phones are not just something we enjoy – they are becoming a more and more important part of modern life.
Image: Phones by Jane Krauss licensed under CC BY 2.0
While the phones in the image I’ve placed above could only make calls and send SMS messages, modern devices have more functionality than even the most kitted-out Swiss army knife. To use my own old iPhone 4S as an example, it can function as a web browser, notepad, phone book, calendar, alarm clock, music player, podcast player, GPS, ebook reader, camera, calculator, even a compass and torch! I could go on well past the word limit for this post listing its functionalities, and the phone I am referring to was released eight years ago now.
Of course mobile phones are not the only digital communication technology (DCT) that we now rely on. Regular old PCs are still as relevant as ever. In my university course, all assignments must be submitted online. This is not unusual, however it would making living my current life without any DCT impossible. I would need to choose a very different future career to be able to live without DCT.
My lifestyle would also need to change significantly. A few personal things that I use DCT for include programming in Python for fun, learning German online, finding sheet music, and of course playing online games.
Living without DCT would be possible, but it would require some big changes that I really don’t want to make.
References
Statistica, 2019. Number of mobile phone users in Australia from 2011 to 2019 (in millions). Retrieved from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/274677/forecast-of-mobile-phone-users-inaustralia/
Perspectives on Modern ICT 