Jacking Out

At the end of 2019, Aron Lee decided to live 2020 without access to the internet. He would interact with the world in what we have already come to think of as the "old-fashioned" way --- taking calls and texting on a flip phone, paying bills by cheque (and receiving them by snail mail), and writing actual pen-on-paper letters to friends and family, all the while continuing his doctoral work at McGill University. Along the way he discovered a good deal about the internet, about our modern wired (and wireless) world, and about himself.

This is his story.

"A modest experiment, beautifully chronicled." --- Darin Barney, Grierson Chair in Communication Studies, McGill University

"Lee's memoir challenges readers' beliefs about the power of connection (and disconnection), as well as the very nature of what it means to live a life 'online.' " --- Roopika Risam, Director of the Digital Ethnic Futures Consortium, Dartmouth College

"Jacking Out is a queer and quirky account of the queer and difficult year that was 2020." --- Wendy Oberlander, Artist, Educator, Lesbian Mom