Get Paid To Get Off the Internet: Poll + $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Posted on March 26, 2012 by David Cohen

Ask a Baby boomer where they were when they heard JFK was assassinated and they will remember. Ask me where I was when I heard Kurt Cobain died and I will tell you every little detail of that day. It’s part of human nature to never forget the circumstances surrounding events that impact your life.

I distinctly remember my first internet experience. It was mid-February, 1995. I was in Oklahoma City, of all places, taking a business class. I went down to the computer lab late in the evening and the guy that was teaching our Excel class was in the lab, shredding on the keyboard of his IBM laptop.

“What are you doing over there,” I asked.

“Talking to my friend in Seattle,” he said.

“How are you doing that,” I said.

“The internet.”

You probably remember the first time you got online – and whether it was a decade ago or just a month ago, you’re obviously still here because it’s an integral part of your life.

How much would you need to get paid to get off the internet for a year?

As a marketer with a pulse and a conscious, the best thing I can say about the internet is that life makes more sense with it than without it.

So the question for you is – how much would you need to get paid to get off the internet for a year? No Facebook and Twitter. No Pinterest. No Google. And no checking your Klout score every morning (yeah, I never do that either).

Take the Poll. Share it. Get a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card

The reason I'm conducting this poll is for a personal research project, and the results will be published in a future blog post (FYI, if you can't see the form, hit F5 to refresh the page).

On Friday, April 20, 2012, I’ll do a random drawing for the $50 Amazon gift card. If you win, you’ll get an email from me on April 21st with a link to redeem your gift card. Your email address will never be rented or sold, I just need it to contact you if you’re the winner.

If you could share this post on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, that would make you an awesome person. Thanks.

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  • http://twitter.com/WriteAndDream Michael Vuke

    I went with $25000000 because my career path is looking to be very heavily internet based, and the internet changes blazingly fast. The damage not being online could do to my job and my marketability in the future could be drastic, so I would need to make sure I was covered for the future well beyond anything I could possibly have made on my own if I had kept the internet.

    That being said, if this was just getting rid of personal internet use, I would do that for… I don’t know….$12,000 and up a year? ($1000 a month)

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      I didn’t want to bog anybody down with minutiae but the idea here is absolutely, positively zero internet. For me, I wouldn’t get paid to get off the internet because it’s possible to know what the opportunity cost is now and 10, 20, or 50 years from now. 

      • http://twitter.com/WriteAndDream Michael Vuke

        That’s what I thought, and why I chose the answer I did.

  • http://twitter.com/WriteAndDream Michael Vuke

    I went with $25000000 because my career path is looking to be very heavily internet based, and the internet changes blazingly fast. The damage not being online could do to my job and my marketability in the future could be drastic, so I would need to make sure I was covered for the future well beyond anything I could possibly have made on my own if I had kept the internet.

    That being said, if this was just getting rid of personal internet use, I would do that for… I don’t know….$12,000 and up a year? ($1000 a month)

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      I didn’t want to bog anybody down with minutiae but the idea here is absolutely, positively zero internet. For me, I wouldn’t get paid to get off the internet because it’s possible to know what the opportunity cost is now and 10, 20, or 50 years from now. 

      • http://twitter.com/WriteAndDream Michael Vuke

        That’s what I thought, and why I chose the answer I did.

  • http://twitter.com/WriteAndDream Michael Vuke

    I went with $25000000 because my career path is looking to be very heavily internet based, and the internet changes blazingly fast. The damage not being online could do to my job and my marketability in the future could be drastic, so I would need to make sure I was covered for the future well beyond anything I could possibly have made on my own if I had kept the internet.

    That being said, if this was just getting rid of personal internet use, I would do that for… I don’t know….$12,000 and up a year? ($1000 a month)

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      I didn’t want to bog anybody down with minutiae but the idea here is absolutely, positively zero internet. For me, I wouldn’t get paid to get off the internet because it’s possible to know what the opportunity cost is now and 10, 20, or 50 years from now. 

      • http://twitter.com/WriteAndDream Michael Vuke

        That’s what I thought, and why I chose the answer I did.

  • JasonManion

    I’d do it for a million. 

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      Interesting. As I was writing this post I was wondering if any brand would ever offer such a thing. For some brands, it could play to their advantage to have people off the internet and more engaged in real-life relationships and real-life networking opportunities to promote the brand as opposed to doing this through social networks.

      • JasonManion

        That’s really an interesting concept. I would take that year and do a lot of travelling and photography all around the world. A million would enable me to do that, with plenty left over. 

        While my life currently revolves around internet, I view it as a tool to provide for my needs with, etc. And I don’t think a year away from it would jeopardize that, as I feel like I could catch up with whatever happened. A year isn’t really that long. I’m gathering you don’t necessarily agree with that, but that’s my thought process.

  • JasonManion

    I’d do it for a million. 

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      Interesting. As I was writing this post I was wondering if any brand would ever offer such a thing. For some brands, it could play to their advantage to have people off the internet and more engaged in real-life relationships and real-life networking opportunities to promote the brand as opposed to doing this through social networks.

      • JasonManion

        That’s really an interesting concept. I would take that year and do a lot of travelling and photography all around the world. A million would enable me to do that, with plenty left over. 

        While my life currently revolves around internet, I view it as a tool to provide for my needs with, etc. And I don’t think a year away from it would jeopardize that, as I feel like I could catch up with whatever happened. A year isn’t really that long. I’m gathering you don’t necessarily agree with that, but that’s my thought process.

  • JasonManion

    I’d do it for a million. 

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      Interesting. As I was writing this post I was wondering if any brand would ever offer such a thing. For some brands, it could play to their advantage to have people off the internet and more engaged in real-life relationships and real-life networking opportunities to promote the brand as opposed to doing this through social networks.

      • JasonManion

        That’s really an interesting concept. I would take that year and do a lot of travelling and photography all around the world. A million would enable me to do that, with plenty left over. 

        While my life currently revolves around internet, I view it as a tool to provide for my needs with, etc. And I don’t think a year away from it would jeopardize that, as I feel like I could catch up with whatever happened. A year isn’t really that long. I’m gathering you don’t necessarily agree with that, but that’s my thought process.

  • Matt Flex

    Dave-As I’ve been considering my answer from a few different angles, a question has arisen in my mind that I’d like to clarify with you before I answer. 

    Do you see a significant difference between “How Much Would You Need to Get Paid to Get Off the Internet for a Year?” and “How Much Would You Pay to have Internet for a Year?” (I think you’d have to assume that as a part of 2nd question’s scenario, you’d have comparable amounts of money[.5-25million] at your disposal in order to be fair) 

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      I knew somebody was going to ask a deeply thought-provoking question… nice job, Matt. The reason access to the internet is cheap, and even free in some cases, is because it’s valuable cannot be quantified. 

      I’ve never seen anybody ‘value’ the internet like has been done with a company such as Apple, and I’ve never seen anybody run a cost benefit analysis on the internet. For me, having the internet helps me make more sense about life and it helps me understand people better, but what exactly is that worth?

      So my answer: maybe the ‘internet’ should be paying us to use it and not the other way around.

  • Matt Flex

    Dave-As I’ve been considering my answer from a few different angles, a question has arisen in my mind that I’d like to clarify with you before I answer. 

    Do you see a significant difference between “How Much Would You Need to Get Paid to Get Off the Internet for a Year?” and “How Much Would You Pay to have Internet for a Year?” (I think you’d have to assume that as a part of 2nd question’s scenario, you’d have comparable amounts of money[.5-25million] at your disposal in order to be fair) 

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      I knew somebody was going to ask a deeply thought-provoking question… nice job, Matt. The reason access to the internet is cheap, and even free in some cases, is because it’s valuable cannot be quantified. 

      I’ve never seen anybody ‘value’ the internet like has been done with a company such as Apple, and I’ve never seen anybody run a cost benefit analysis on the internet. For me, having the internet helps me make more sense about life and it helps me understand people better, but what exactly is that worth?

      So my answer: maybe the ‘internet’ should be paying us to use it and not the other way around.

  • Matt Flex

    Dave-As I’ve been considering my answer from a few different angles, a question has arisen in my mind that I’d like to clarify with you before I answer. 

    Do you see a significant difference between “How Much Would You Need to Get Paid to Get Off the Internet for a Year?” and “How Much Would You Pay to have Internet for a Year?” (I think you’d have to assume that as a part of 2nd question’s scenario, you’d have comparable amounts of money[.5-25million] at your disposal in order to be fair) 

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      I knew somebody was going to ask a deeply thought-provoking question… nice job, Matt. The reason access to the internet is cheap, and even free in some cases, is because it’s valuable cannot be quantified. 

      I’ve never seen anybody ‘value’ the internet like has been done with a company such as Apple, and I’ve never seen anybody run a cost benefit analysis on the internet. For me, having the internet helps me make more sense about life and it helps me understand people better, but what exactly is that worth?

      So my answer: maybe the ‘internet’ should be paying us to use it and not the other way around.

  • Rachel F.

    Definitely 25 million for me.  And it’s not because my income depends on it (although my college degree does), but because I cannot imagine living without it for a whole year!  The internet is how I keep up this people and learn new things.  Although I could probably find ways to do them without the internet, those ways would be far more time consuming.

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      Good point, Rachel about how the internet helps us keep up with people and facilitates learning. For $25M, you could probably build your own personal, branded social network to keep up with your important relationships, and then you could ditch Facebook.

  • Rachel F.

    Definitely 25 million for me.  And it’s not because my income depends on it (although my college degree does), but because I cannot imagine living without it for a whole year!  The internet is how I keep up this people and learn new things.  Although I could probably find ways to do them without the internet, those ways would be far more time consuming.

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      Good point, Rachel about how the internet helps us keep up with people and facilitates learning. For $25M, you could probably build your own personal, branded social network to keep up with your important relationships, and then you could ditch Facebook.

  • Rachel F.

    Definitely 25 million for me.  And it’s not because my income depends on it (although my college degree does), but because I cannot imagine living without it for a whole year!  The internet is how I keep up this people and learn new things.  Although I could probably find ways to do them without the internet, those ways would be far more time consuming.

    • http://www.davidmcohen.com/ David Cohen

      Good point, Rachel about how the internet helps us keep up with people and facilitates learning. For $25M, you could probably build your own personal, branded social network to keep up with your important relationships, and then you could ditch Facebook.