The thought of going a day or even hours without mobile network reception, Wi-Fi, any kind of data connection is a nightmare for many, in fact at some point we (info-maniacs) would rather go without a meal but with sufficient data connection.
Detox in this era has evolved to involve Instagram detox, Snapchat detox or Wi-fi detox where people delete certain apps to stay off the buzz or cut off home Wi-Fi to get in touch with themselves. Well, not sure most people would subject themselves to such a discipline.
How about living in a town where not only internet but also TV signal is not available? Where your mobile phone is useless and Instagram and Snapchat are stories from the future?
Well, somewhere in America, a town lying west of Virginia a handful of people from this same century we live in have chosen to stay away from the technology buzz, also, it is a government requirement. Green Bank, with a population of 143, looks like it could belong in the 1950s. There is square dancing and a knit and quilt store, pot lucks with jello and marshmallows.
Most people living here say the promise of a life without technology is relishing. The little town sits splat in the middle of the country’s National Radio Quiet Zone, where broadcast transmissions are highly regulated within the area that spans 13,000 sq miles.
Some of those people are those who say they suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, believing they fall ill because they are exposed to waves emitted by cell phone towers and Wi-Fi routers. I guess you have to be a weirdo or 100 per cent in touch with your body to tell that exposure of these much signals could make you sick.
The Green Bank Telescope
Green Bank Telescope hosted in this town is the world’s largest steerable radio telescope. It weighs 17 million pounds, spans two acres wide and is 485 feet tall.
It can listen to sounds that are hundreds of millions of miles away, pick up signals that are ‘about a billionth of a billionth of a millionth of a watt’. (looks life it could pick a signal from your soul)
The Green Bank Telescope and other radio telescopes enable astronomers to detect and study objects in space that give off little visible light but emit naturally occurring radio waves—objects such as pulsars, gas clouds, and distant galaxies.
The government also uses it for many functions that include collecting information for the state’s intelligence
But even the faintest signal can disrupt the telescope, anything from a dog’s wet heating blanket, an electronic doorbell, or someone using the microwave to heat up soup. Usually, if detected, a sound goes off from the telescope, a cue for the residents to unplug their microwaves.
Using a cell phone or Wi-Fi can get you in trouble with the law. The only internet access is via dial-up or an ethernet cable. For what it’s worth, living without technology and all the buzz might be just what we need for a longer life.
