Over the last month or so I’ve begun spending a lot of time after work and on the weekends in a wifi and cell-free zone. There are countless studies about how valuable this is for us for multiple reasons. For myself and my family it’s awesome. We are campers with a seasonal set up at a local campground, we have many conveniences but phones and internet are not one of them.
Having no cell phone coverage and no internet service doesn’t mean you have to give up some of your guilty pleasures while you’re still enjoying the great outdoors and time with friends and family. Traditional radios often don’t work where we camp because we are located in a bit of a hole so we’ve become very accustomed to utilizing offline playlists and bluetooth speakers around the campfire. One of our favorite little speakers around the camp is our Outdoor Tech Turtle Shell speaker and we’ve recently added a Tivoli speaker to our collection. We’ve begun utilizing our Apple Music account so much that we’ve actually discontinued our satellite radio subscriptions in our cars. If you have the music in your pocket already why pay for it again? Well, that is a personal opinion but we’ve seen no drawbacks as a family downsizing to just one paid music service.
Download and watch later! iTunes has let you download and watch offline movie rentals or purchased content for a while now and so has Amazon Prime. Some might not know that Netflix also made this an option back in November. With both Netflix and Amazon Prime you are limited a bit in the content that is available for download and viewing offline. I have found that about 50% of what I consider downloading to watch when I am out of wifi and cellular service to be an option. Just like with iTunes rentals, there is a time limit with each service for how long you have to watch the content before it’s removed from your device. I have loaded up several shows on my iPad, but admit I haven’t watch any yet. I still pick up a book rather than my device. When it comes to a good binge watching moment it’s nice to know I have options loaded up and ready for a rainy weekend at camp.
What about charging all these devices for offline use? Good question. Many folks reading this might perhaps think my idea of camping is more “glamping” and you’re right! For those who might want to take advantage of a good show while riding out a rain storm in your tent or just want to listen to your favorite podcast while cooking on your camp stove there are countless products to allow you to keep your devices fully charged when you can’t just plug them into an outlet. Goal Zero has a wide variety of products to help keep your devices powered when you’re off the grid. Even though I do have access to power I still often carry a battery pack for my iPhone. You never know when you might end up without an available power source.
While you’re enjoying this long holiday weekend, keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to leave everything behind. While it’s a bit frustrating at times to not have access to the outside world it is nice to feel at least partially unplugged for a while.