
Disconnect. Offline only - danmeade
https://chris.bolin.co/offline/
======
mck-
Beauty. Almost a piece of art.

I was on a plane yesterday (literally on airplane mode) and I finished a book
I've been working on for a month, and prepped/wrote half of a presentation.
Quite often I produce much of my writing on a plane.

I find myself very productive on a plane. Especially on cheap flights that
don't have in-flight entertainment. Literally no distractions for a preset
amount of time. You're not only offline, you're also physically stuck. Best
way to make the time fly by is by being productive.

~~~
baxtr
Agree 100%. Problem is though that many airline are starting to offer WiFi
connectivity. I just hope that they've built shitty systems that won't work
most of the time... :)

~~~
tzakrajs
Starting? Like ten years ago they started and now it's in nearly every plane.

~~~
maccard
I'm in Europe, and fly 4-5-6 times a year. It's only in the last 5 years that
you're allowed have electronic devices turned on in planes here.

~~~
setzer22
Out of curiosity, why were electronic devices banned in planes on the first
place? Is there any scientifical evidence either for or against it?

~~~
coderholic
Great article here: [http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130604-why-we-turn-
devices...](http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130604-why-we-turn-devices-off-
on-planes)

Also good:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_on_aircraft)

------
beat
For those interested in managing online time and getting ourselves offline
regularly, the book _Deep Work_ , by Cal Newport, has some very useful ideas.
One that I plan to start experimenting with is the idea of scheduled internet
access - allow yourself to get online only at certain times of day. This isn't
just for work. Even if you're, say, standing in line at the grocery store, you
don't get to pull your phone out and check your email.

As the author points out, we've forgotten how to be bored. We need to learn to
engage that part of our brain again.

[https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-
Distracted/...](https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-
Distracted/dp/1455586692/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503497788&sr=8-1&keywords=deep+work)

~~~
avz
> As the author points out, we've forgotten how to be bored. We need to learn
> to engage that part of our brain again.

This sounds like a contradiction. Isn't boredom precisely the state that
results when one fails to engage their brain?

~~~
ehnto
Kind of. But you can see boredom as the desire for novelty, a cue to find
something new so we can get that dopamine hit. Phones, internet and media are
fantastic at giving us that little kick to keep us going, so we don't feel the
need to engage our brain in more useful ways. Without that easy access to the
dopamine treadmill that is your phone, you are encouraged to seek novelty
elsewhere. This might be in wandering thoughts, seeking interaction with
people or things around you, or some other endeavor.

To think a little further forward, doing this tends to increase the time until
the next novelty, so you get practiced in not constantly seeking immediate
gratification. It helps increase your ability to be patient and to
concentrate, which in part is the ability to not switch tasks at the first
hint of boredom.

------
gervase
> your ability to Google something

In my opinion, this actually _is_ something that makes me valuable. It doesn't
matter how well you can synthesize information if you can't find it in the
first place.

Having the ability to take a problem, figure out what you don't know,
reprocess those parts into a format that Googles™ well, filter out the noise
from the results, and only then synthesize the information gathered is
actually not as common as you might think.

~~~
pmlnr
I remember times when I had the PHP manual, the HTML reference, etc. saved
offline to save bandwidth.

~~~
arc_of_descent
Yeah. Now I wish I could save Google offline :)

------
nicklaf
The funny thing is, smartphones are all but useless for many tasks the minute
you go into airplane mode. There are exceptions, but you're basically holding
a client to a distributed operating system which has appropriated many of the
promises of wearable personal computing for corporate profit.

So yes, if you've already ceded your right to not be inturupted by running
apps like Twitter and Facebook in the background, then I can see the appeal of
cord cutting.

Of course there also exists the possibility of at least trying to use these
devices without ceding this autonomy in the first place, but that requires
admitting just how little today's social media offerings will have to do with
this approach.

And no, a smartphone is not the right place to do research anyway. In fact,
neither is the WWW using off-the-shelf browsers, but it's the version of
Hypertext we're stuck with for now.

~~~
etplayer
Although I would prefer to be very strongly critical of the corporate model of
the distributed operating system, (and particularly I'd like to relate it to
Marx's concept of alienation, commodity fetishism and the tighter control of
the 'free market of ideas' which turns out to be a 'free market' dominated by
monopoly of Google in particular as they freqently turn out to be), I'm not
sure what else I would do with a computer.

Say I want to program on a laptop - I can't program without access to the
relevant documentation, access to download the libraries I need, and I'm often
completely lost trying to debug a problem without access to SO or finding what
triggers a particular error. Is this beacuse I have become over-dependent on
the Internet for help, or even because I never learned how to program sans
Internet? Probably, and it's a shame.

I honestly have no idea what I'd do with a phone without an Internet
connection, other than the obvious phone calls and text messages. Take notes?
Add stuff to the calendar? I could do that with pen and paper anyway, and not
have to give that up during takeoff.

Social networking is weird, I feel like I'm supposed to be chasing something,
looking for it, and when I find it then I'll latch onto it. It's like me with
computer games. But I have found myself becoming bored with Mastodon and
Facebook doesn't keep me for more than five minutes. Other peoples' lives, or
at least to the extent displayed on FB, just isn't that interesting to me.

Twitter is a different matter, I always want to track the discussions, create
witty replies, etc. (partly due to my political stance), but I don't think I'm
obsessive yet. And where does it leave me? Less time to pursue my hobbies that
take time to tease out their enjoyment; language learning, getting round to
learning music theory, hobby programming, reading Marx, etc.

I suppose that seeing that this is happening is a good start.

~~~
icc97
I found Zeal to be of some use as you can download a ton of documentation for
offline use.

~~~
edraferi
Thank you so much for this! Often when I'm online, it's only to access
documentation. This might be the way out...

I wonder if someone has written a readthedocs importer for it.

------
norswap
While I sympathize, that would be forgetting all that the net and online-ness
has done for me. I would be a fundamentally different (and, in my current
estimation, worse) person if I didn't have the net. It's been an engine of
personal growth much more than one of distraction.

It might not be the same for everyone, of course. But I still think going
offline is giving up too much.

The pendulum doesn't have to swing all the way to the other direction.
Couldn't we just focus on being more responsible in our net consumption and
promoting the good benefecial stuff instead?

------
paperpunk
I got stuck into a bad habit of browsing the internet idly anytime when I'm at
home and then having to rush to get to work so I've created rules on my router
to disable web access in the mornings before work and late at night before
bed.

It is quite effective and I suddenly do other things but I do worry that it's
a psychological crutch which is just going to make self-control even harder in
the long term.

~~~
brianwawok
If you are an alcoholic, would not having 24 beers in your fridge lower your
willpower? I think it is the reverse, just like this. Not in house = fight
won, so you have more willpower left for when you DO need to fight a fight
(say, friend offers a beer after work).

Self control takes willpower. Willpower is a finite resource (you can find
studies on it. This is why after a hard day of work you are more likely to say
screw it and eat an extra cookie). You just saved having to use a little bit
of willpower each day. Which means you will have MORE willpower to spend on
other things, not less.

~~~
arc_of_descent
I realise that I might be off an a tangent but this is a not a good analogy.
If I were an alcoholic, I would rush off to the nearest drug store and get a
fuckin' beer. I would not even own a fridge. :)

A book that has personally helped me is Kick the Drink....Easily! The idea is
that there is no such thing as will power. The more you fight it, the more the
psychological crutches grow, and then its difficult to jump off.

What the upper thread mentions is very true for porn addicts. They do this all
the time. Program the router to shut off at certain times. Does it work? I
doubt it.

Distraction is a very real thing. Hell, distraction is recommended as an aid
for anxiety disorder :)

Get distracted, be human. Get back to work.

~~~
brianwawok
I respectfully disagree.

My vice is cookies. Cookies in house, I eat entire bag. Do not buy, I do not
rush out to the grocery store at 11pm to buy. The high is low enough that the
extra work is not worth it. So by setting that barrier high enough, it stops
me from eating cookies, and I lose weight.

------
thinbeige
Super nice idea. I remember when I was very young and the Internet was also
young, maybe just two, three years, I experienced something strange. In this
time we still used US-Robotics 56k modems to connect to the Internet. When I
was offline my computer felt dead. Worthless. Useless. Only when I was online
my computer felt right and I felt good.

You have to imagine that I loved my self-built PCs even before the Internet
came. I spent so much time with them, upgrading them, spent night and day
installing and trying new software, stuff like Sierra and Lucasfilm
Adventures, Clipper/dBase, Turbo Pascal, QuarkXPress, Corel Draw, saving for
hardware such as PostScript laser printers, AdLib later Soundblaster
soundcarfd, SyQuest harddrives, flatbed scanners, all the typical stuff. And
once the Internet came an offline computer felt like a dead computer.

~~~
ah0h
I remember talking to somebody about this ages ago. I said exactly the same
thing, a computer that is offline is of no use to me. Like a big expensive
paperweight. That was also back in dial-up times with a 64k connection... (We
had ISDN back then and i felt like a king when i discovered you could use both
of our Channel Sand double the download speed! I was also pretty young back
then...)

The thing is, we didn't even have internet access at home that long at that
point. The transformation of my computer from a box of wonder without any
connection, which i could spend hours in front of, to a mere gateway to the
net, which seemed useless without connection, was very rapid and basically
hasn't reverted to this day.

Needless to say i'm a pretty heavy internet user and smartphones with mobile
connectivity have definitly taken that to another level. And i can't say that
my attention span has benfited from that... These days I try to use the web
less and get back to offline activities like reading books again.

------
patatino
Well done, I had the urge to google the second most commonly spoken language
while reading the article.

I turned my phone in some kind of a "dumb phone":

\- Deleted all games, news apps, basically all the apps I don't regulary need

\- Turned off email. It's still configured, I turn it on if I need to read an
email

\- No push notifications at all

Next step: Turn off mobile data for browser and only activate it if I need to
read something. I'm just not ready yet!

~~~
grecy
Next step: "dumb" phone.

Next step: no phone.

~~~
alanfranzoni
Sure, the smartphone is a great thing to take with you when something
unpredictable happened and you're forced to wait 1/2/10 hourse, and you didn't
take anything with you (a book, your computer, etc).

But how often does this happen, and how often, instead, does a smartphone
distract from better tasks? How often I choose not to pick a book when
leaving, because I've got the smartphone "just in case" ? Of course I have
ebooks on it, but many times I waste time on facebook/HN/twitter/surfing. It's
TOO EASY to get distracted.

~~~
Karunamon
Serious, non-snarky question: In what way is a book better than a link on
Hacker News or Facebook?

The problem I see (and have yet to get a good answer for) with all of these
extreme productivity tactics like shutting off all internet access is that
carry a value judgment that older > newer, for all values of information
absorption. It reminds me of how some of the financial advice for people in
debt is to eschew all forms of credit and live on cash only. Which is fine
until you need to buy a house...

If the problem is being distracted from the real world, and that's truly a
negative, rather than filling dead time that couldn't really be used for
anything else (waiting in line, etc), being absorbed in a book is functionally
no different from being absorbed in a newsreader app. With that in mind, where
and why is this value judgment coming from?

I see a poster upthread mentioning we've "forgotten how to be bored".

I don't know about people here, but I saw boredom as an awful state of mind
even before the proliferation of smartphones. Could someone help me understand
what the bigger picture here is?

~~~
alethiophile
One of the major underlying issues people are calling out with the indictments
of "smartphone culture", and trying to fix by going offline, is a sort of
progressive shrinkage of the attention span. It involves progressively less
continual attention paid to progressively more individual topics or items; the
(current) apotheosis of this paradigm might be Twitter, where you read a
constant feed of conceptually disconnected 140-character messages, and any
longer-form thought needs unnatural gyrations of the underlying technology to
express. Web surfing, or news reading, encourages this style of interaction,
with the surfeit of links away to tangentially-related content that is usually
not of a form to encourage deep immersion in a single piece.

Books, meanwhile, are of a form to encourage deeper immersion in a single
input. Generally speaking, the obvious mode of interaction is to read a single
book from start to finish, taking at least hours during which you remain
focused on that topic. This kind of long-term focus is required to actually
accomplish anything; therefore, a mode of information absorption that trains
long-term focus is more effective of personal cultivation than one which
encourages mayfly attention-hopping.

Nothing about this necessarily disparages the Internet; it's quite possible to
focus on long-form pieces that are Internet-published, or to hop from topic to
topic using offline media. But because friction costs encourage longer-term
focus when offline, going offline is one effective way to incentivize it.

------
numbers
I love this line:

"Do your research online, but create offline."

A lot of times, I'm working on something and in the zone and then all of a
sudden I see an iMessage notification and forget my thoughts almost instantly.

------
ptspts
How is this page implemented for Chrome? It looks like it is using service
workers. Is there a tutorial?

EDIT: Tutorial for Chrome here:
[https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/getting-
start...](https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/getting-
started/codelabs/offline/)

~~~
japhyr
I have a question after skimming that tutorial. When I knew there was some
content on a web page in the past, and it was being obscured by some css/js
code, I would often just view source and search for some of the content I knew
was there. I'm finding this harder to do sometimes.

So if I go to this page (Disconnect. Offline only) and view source, I see a
link to a js file. No matter where I go with this, I can't find the content of
the article. But it's somewhere on my system, isn't it?

Is there a way to use dev tools to see this content?

~~~
Arnavion
I'm not sure what you're asking. "View source" will only show you the "source"
text of the HTML page as the server sent it to you. Since this page is built
with React without server-side rendering, said source just contains an empty
div where the content would go (the one with id="root").

If you mean you want to see the DOM tree that has been generated with JS after
you've loaded the page, you can see it in the corresponding tab in your
browser's devtools. Eg in Chrome that's the "Elements" tab.

If you mean you want to know how the page works when you're offline, the
information is again in the JS. You can use your browser's devtools to
prettify it (both Chrome and FF have this feature) and search for "Do you want
to be productive?" to see the code.

The Service Worker is only involved in that it returns the page and JS from
its cache. It's the JS that detects whether it's offline or online and renders
different content on the page accordingly. [1]

[1]: [https://github.com/chrisbolin/react-detect-
offline](https://github.com/chrisbolin/react-detect-offline)

~~~
japhyr
That's really helpful, thank you. I have no real understanding of how React
works, and your explanation helps me know what to look for.

------
groundCode
Somewhat brilliant in that by forcing me offline I was distraction free in
reading the piece. Basically it fostered an environment in which I was more
likely to read to the end of the article

------
chrisbolin
y'all have been very kind. the productivity tips are very helpful. here's my
system:

\- sit down at my desk with laptop and phone

\- disable wifi on my laptop

\- turn my phone face-down on the desk, muted, with wifi/data still on

This lets me check if I have any new messages via my phone, but it is a
polling system vs an interrupt system. I have to opt in to check. And I am
very aware that using my phone looks and feels less productive, so I try to
avoid using it too long.

I've been able to be pretty productive (as an software engineer) with this
system. I find that I have to reconnect on my laptop about every 30 minutes to
do something or another. Of course, every day varies.

~~~
nicklaf
This is a very interesting idea. I do like the strategy of separating
connectivity along the boundary of phone and workstation, and with the phone
face down / muted to create space for yourself.

As for having to connect your workstation now and then, I can't help but think
we all ought to be running parallel, sandboxed VMs, and then importing
resources like internet connectivity from the connected VM, but with limited
scope. (Who would have thought that something like Plan 9 could have also
implemented these kind of productivity hacks, along with all of its other
superior approaches to things....)

------
Unbeliever69
I am probably one of the few techies in the world that does not own/use a
smartphone. Since 2011 I have used a cheap Verizon flip phone for exactly this
reason; I want more control over my life. NOTHING is that important that I
need to be plugged in 24/7\. My wife has a smart phone which is great for when
we travel (maps, Yelp, Fandango, Uber, etc.) Don't get me wrong, I was
standing in a long line outside the Apple store the day the first iPhone came
out. However, over the years I came to realize that in order to have the
amount/type of work/life balance I desired, technology would have to take a
back seat to my relationships and interests outside of my career.

I haven't looked back.

~~~
lolsal
This seems a bit disingenuous - you definitely still use a smartphone, you
just claim to not directly own one. You essentially said this:

> My wife has a smart phone which is great for when [I want to use a
> smartphone].

If you don't want to carry a smartphone around that's totally fine, but you
definitely still use one. I carry a smartphone myself and only use internet-
aware 'smartphone' features like maps, yelp and uber when I need to. I don't
use social networks.

~~~
khedoros1
> This seems a bit disingenuous - you definitely still use a smartphone, you
> just claim to not directly own one.

I think you're misreading the comment (or at least not acknowledging the
degrees of use that the author seemed to intend to convey).

There's "using a smartphone", in the sense of using one to respond to messages
quickly, having an entertainment device on hand for idle moments, and
generally "[being] plugged in 24/7".

Then there's "using a smartphone", in the sense of being able to borrow one
for a specific use, then giving it back to the owner. The difference in usage
patterns us the distinction that was being made.

~~~
lolsal
To say "I don't use a smartphone" in order to qualify how disconnected you
choose to be is dishonest if what you really mean is, "I don't use a
smartphone for [some really specific context]." or perhaps "I don't use a
smartphone because I lack discipline regarding notifications/social apps/etc."

Using maps/yelp/fandango/uber covers a majority of the functionality that a
smartphone provides.

~~~
khedoros1
> Using maps/yelp/fandango/uber covers a majority of the functionality that a
> smartphone provides.

What? That's a minority of my use.

Saying that the comment is dishonest or disingenuous implies that you think
there was an intent to deceive, and I don't think there was any such
intention. I'd say that you're taking an unusually and unnecessarily rigid
interpretation of what was said and possibly ascribing deception where none
exists.

Humans are imprecise. Natural language is imprecise. What ever happened to
allowing some leeway for imprecision and even inaccuracy in a casually-written
piece of text?

~~~
lolsal
> What? That's a minority of my use.

I said functionality, not usage.

If we're having a discussion and not caring about being imprecise or
inaccurate then we should all just stop wasting our time on this discussion.

Cheers

------
5_minutes
On old Nokia phones you could create profiles, like "work" and "weekend" and
configure it's possible functions and also distractions.

I figure there's something like that for android but on iOS you can only put
on: do not disturb. It works though.

------
Multicomp
Using a WP7 device has really forced me to come to terms with all the online
cruft and clutter I look at all day. When I only have email, calls and text, I
really do seem to see a lot more in life.

------
Nekobai
This article seems to discuss similar stuff to The Shallows
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shallows-internet-changing-think-
re...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shallows-internet-changing-think-
remember/dp/1848872275)

------
binaryapparatus
Doesn't work on FreeBSD/firefox? First I put interface down, so no network
access, second try I physically pulled cable out. Nothing happens.

~~~
gberger
As a workaround, run this: window.dispatchEvent(new Event('offline'))

~~~
binaryapparatus
That worked, thanks.

------
lypextin
to me, using cron to disconnect my internet every half an hour just to remind
me to break the loop has been immensely helpful. And annoying. But mostly
helpful.

My brain switched to offline mode has about three times better focus.

Similarly to this, I'm using my browser in full-screen mode most of the time
to eliminate distractions. It was very surprising to me, how big an effect it
has, to not see the tabs.

~~~
chrisbolin
a cron job to disconnect - love it! do you use the break to get up and
stretch, too?

~~~
lypextin
Most of the time, yes. But if you wanted a break from PC instead of internet,
I can recommend workrave, it's built exactly for this purpose.

Cron job mostly serves to remind me to use internet as a tool, not as
something that is constantly on. Building this awareness of how I am using it
is immensely helpful.

------
csomar
If you are, like me, interested in reading the post but do not want to get
offline:

> window.dispatchEvent( new Event( "offline" ) );

~~~
emilfihlman
The real mvp is always in the comments

------
tenkabuto
The point about chasing links in articles is interesting to me. One of my
favorite activities is loading articles up in Pocket for all-but-offline
reading and Pocket's Listen feature, which uses Android's text-to-speech (?),
to listen to articles.

The point about articles being written differently according to whether the
author expects that the article will be read offline or not interests me,
though, especially if a decent amount of background/context provision is
outsourced via providing a link to documents that cover such material.

------
kuschku
In Firefox, just use Alt-F to open the File menu, and check "work offline" to
view this page.

------
bryananderson
I use an iOS app called Freedom to disconnect. I can block the entire Internet
(excluding iMessage and FaceTime) or a list of sites (social media, news, etc)
for a period of time. This way I can still contact people, but cannot browse
idly.

Is it a crutch? Sure, but crutches work. If you were dealing with alcoholism,
the best thing you could do would be to remove your ability to easily access
alcohol.

------
cableshaft
My phone bricked a week and a half ago and I've been using a phone I walked
into a lake on accident two years ago that still completely works except for
cell service, so it only updates when I'm connected to Wifi now. I also have
google voice number, so my texting works from that phone as well, but again
only where there's Wifi.

I'm going to make a claim, pay a deductible, and get a new proper phone at
some point, but I've been a bit lazy and delaying it a bit because it hasn't
been too bad going without.

Although I did have one bad experience since it happened (almost immediately
after). My car's battery died and it required me walking for almost an hour
next to a dangerous street to get to some place that had Wifi and sort out
getting my car towed and being able to open Uber to have someone pick me up.

------
ohthehugemanate
It really does require a lot of discipline to stay focused nowadays. In my
personal life I'm terrible at it. I wish I read more, like I did before the
Internet are my life.

But at work, I HAVE to be disciplined. I start my day with 1 hour of
communications catch-up, including stand-ups and slack. Then I turn off slack,
and get to work. My phone is set to do not disturb automatically starting at
10am. I check messages when I'm on a break, going to the bathroom, on lunch,
etc... But the messages are never allowed to interrupt me.

Works for me, at least.

------
myf01d
in your console put

> window.dispatchEvent(new Event("offline"))

~~~
st0le
This worked for me

------
hondish
I just created a new location on my MacBook's network settings, called it
'getitdoneland', and removed all the network services from it. Now my laptop
has an 'airplane mode'. Thankfully, it takes just enough seconds for
connectivity to return when I switch back to my regular location that I think
I'll be dissuaded from distraction. Friction is good sometimes. Back to
work...

------
wenham
For those that don't want to, and 'miss the point'. View source and go to the
.JS file

The text of the off-line site is about a third of the way down.

~~~
SparkyMcUnicorn
Or chrome dev tools -> toggle device toolbar on -> switch "Online" to
"Offline".

Or run in your console: window.dispatchEvent(new Event('offline'))

~~~
Insanity
Yup exactly what I did :D

------
viach
Console -> Network -> Offline [x] also works.

------
schnevets
Totally agree. Unfortunately, 90% of my work is development in a SaaS
platform, so getting anything done will require my device to remain online.

Does anyone know of a Chrome Plugin/hack that might block all but a few web
pages? Then I can enjoy the silence of working without distractions while
still plugging into the application that I'm working with.

~~~
graeme
This is what you're looking for. Blocks everything except whitelisted sites:

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/whitelist-
manager/...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/whitelist-
manager/pocjkchlmhkjafdpmkklknmjhokobgmh?hl=en)

------
fizixer
I would love to work offline. But my work involves constant use of a
commercial software that won't run without a license check connection to its
central license server.

edit: just occurred to me. I should try to script my connectivity, so the
connection is established just before the software is used, and terminated
soon after. Looking into it.

~~~
khedoros1
> But my work involves constant use of a commercial software that won't run
> without a license check to its central license server.

Through your own choice, or something imposed on you by an employer or
circumstance?

~~~
fizixer
Circumstance. I'm under a bit of a deadline, and the software is complex
enough that creating an open source version of it would take me a couple
years, or more, of domain learning and s/w design and implementation (and of
course I would need to be funded during that time).

------
KirinDave
Doesn't work at all for me on Linux Chrome, Linux Firefox, Windows Firefox, or
Windows Chrome.

Is it a joke? Or just poor tradecraft?

~~~
khedoros1
Doesn't work for me because my work internet blocked some Javascript that's
necessary to fetch the post. I end up with a blank white screen. Apparently,
other people are able to read it though.

~~~
khedoros1
Also: When used on a mobile device, it does something to detect whether the
device is in airplane mode. It refuses to display the text of the article
until it is.

~~~
KirinDave
I got it working on mobile, too. I don't get why he choose such a nom-standard
way of doing it.

------
mistniim
Personally just knowing that wasn't of much help, so I made a simple
application to help me stay disconnected [https://github.com/mistnim/coin-op-
web](https://github.com/mistnim/coin-op-web)

------
hozae
What is the bounce rate on your page?

------
iapurv
The irony was that I was unable to upvote this well written post since I was
in airplane mode.

------
webXL
Au contraire, mon ami: javascript:window.dispatchEvent(new Event('offline'))

------
hatsunearu
Would be great if the website worked. Went offline and nothing happened.

~~~
neoeldex
(for chrome) open devtools, network tab, tick the offline mode box :)

------
ck3g
The page is not working in Safari for me. I was struggling for a bit to
understand that.

------
jancsika
With Firefox reader view do event listeners still work?

If so it'd be nice to have an extension or option that goes into offline mode
when reader view is triggered.

------
afshinmeh
Thanks for that `window.dispatchEvent(new Event('offline'))` option though.

I had to be online and read the article at the same time :P

------
amelius
Hmm, in Chromium developer tools, in the Network tab, I set throttling to
"Offline", but nothing happened in the page.

~~~
ckuijjer
It listens to the online and offline events (using
[https://github.com/chrisbolin/react-detect-
offline](https://github.com/chrisbolin/react-detect-offline) which is really
cool). You really have to turn off your network connection.

Or fire the event yourself using window.dispatchEvent(new Event('offline'))

------
ericfrederich
Ctrl+Shift+I on Chrome opens developer tools. There is an "offline" checkbox
you can click.

~~~
fullstackhuman
or simply, in your browser's console, enter `window.dispatchEvent(new
Event('offline'))`

------
justinmoh
This is too good. We should really re-think how life should be.

------
willhackett
dispatchEvent(new Event('offline'))

------
nnd
Don't blame the internet, numerous sources of distractions existed long
before. If you are easily distracted, the real cause lies elsewhere.

------
r0fl
The article won't load for me.

~~~
emidln
Same for me. Chrome (stable) on Fedora Linux. I flipped the wired connection
switch in NetworkManager and nothing happened. Maybe Chrome on Linux doesn't
fire "offline"?

------
saikatsg
Very cool

