If you could only choose one thing, which could you absolutely not live without?

Being in poor health and alone a lot I would be very worried if I didn't have a phone. Some of the others I would really like to have but the phone is a must.

Internet - I can use it for a phone, television and radio as well as my main mode of communication (e-mail, news journals and DG) But then there's the whole delivery thing - so maybe it's the postal service (until they figure out how to let us order things online and have them magically appear in our laps :)

Has to be the internet. Who could live without Dave's Garden?Not I.

Being a Mom/Grandmom I would hate to be without a phone...all 3 of my grandkids have medical problems. The only "real"phone(doesn't need elec to work) is in the bedroom so ,God forbid,something should happen at night at least I'll hear the phone.

Since everything on TV (well, almost everything) is worthless and the internet is currently my main form of communication, information and entertainment, the internet wins hands down.

Well, I checked the postal service because I have lived without all the others at one time or another. Go-vols makes a good point about the internet's all encompassing possibilities, but you can do a whole lot with a sheet of paper and a stamp, and I think Trish is going to hunt me down if I don't get those roses to her soon! LOL.

ditto what vols said! Life without daves garden and all my friends-is like having no warm socks in the winter! ;]
shoes rubbing off i thinks!
dori

The internet -- there are ways to talk via the internet, similiar to the phone, TV well we've already heard about the lacking of that one, radio I can play that on the internet, postal service pay bills on line and a travel trip to deliver packages, meet and greet people.

Has to be the telling bone for me too. Many of my friends and family are scattered and I can't write for toffee (no spell checker see and there was a mix up about which hand is the correct hand to write with at school consequently poor handwriting). Rarely anything on the TV to watch, I can't bear most DJ's and I must be getting older cos I don't like the music they play anymore (where's my slippers and cardy young fella me lad?).

Having postal trouble here, half the time they don't seem to deliver anything and the post office are now getting rid of some posties (I hope they get rid of the bad ones who bring the bills). I've lived without the internet before.

Getting rid of any of them is a bit of a wrench really, but I need to talk!!!

Internet...since I can get audio, video and plain ole text for news and much more. Of course, I'd have to have my cable modem to go with it.

I choose the phone. Although I am not on it constantly - that is the only instant access to visit with my mom and others that I really need to talk to. I love tv and radio and internet is great, but when it comes to all or nothing the rest are just a convenience.

I need the postal service in order to receive bills and send out payment for them. The others are all nice, but not as necessary to me:)

All the options are available on the internet. I even talk to my grandchildren on the internet. :-) vic

You said only one and I would have to have phone to have internet so I chose t.v.!! Does that make sense? Plus I need to see OZ, Sex and the City, and the Sapranos. I could not miss flyers game either!!!!!!! Oh yea the disney channel and court t.v. Oh my!!!!!! sue

Oh, heh, heh. Big surprise there. I hardly get anything except bills and junk mail from the postman's stops at our house. I could LIVE without the Internet, but I sure wouldn't like it! It's my window to the world and to friends from around the world! :o)

BTW -- You need the postal service to pay bills? Nahhh, you can pay 'em online. Our bank has billpay and it costs less than the postage we were using to mail our checks to various and sundry places! We tell them how much and to who, they print a check and send it. That way we also have proof that it was sent. It's all courtesy of the Internet. Wooo-hooo!

This message was edited Thursday, Oct 4th 11:37 PM

Internet..because I can communicate with all my family (they are all online)on the internet..send pics and so on. Plus I can get all the info I want on any subject. I don't watch much TV anymore..I pay all my bills on the internet. I've been online for six years..(my I hadn't thought about how long till I wrote that)I would never want to be without it now.

I love the internet but I need the postal service, how else would I get my trades lol.

I've clicked RADIO. But I'm about 5-10 years behind. This has given such a lot of pleasure and information to me that no other media has, in the past. But at the present time, it is no doubt, the INTERNET. With the radio, you can do any job while listening to it. That's its advantage.

Without a doubt, the internet, all the others can be accessed through it. I wonder what the top answer would be if the internet had not been a choice!

Bet it would have been the telephone....that was going to be my second choice.

That was a tough decision. I finally chose the telephone because when you need help RIGHT NOW from friends, family or professionals there is no suitable substitute. The internet was my second choice BTW.

See, I'm still torn. Before there was TV, radio, internet or phone, there was the postal service - it did all the things the internet does now, plus it delivered parcels to folks.

And I'm like Windsurffer, how else am I gonna get my trades if my postman couldn't deliver them? Or my Amazon book order, or my clothes or my mailing labels (all ordered online)?

To be honest, I think that's where our postal system has missed the boat: they should have seen the potential of the internet years ago, and looked at their business through that perspective, instead of clinging to the $.34 postage stamp business. But then again, they're the only ones who can deliver a single piece of mail for such a pittance, in part because of the volume of mail they deliver.

E-mail, electronic bill payment, e-zines and online catalogs can easily (and will someday) replace everything else I get in paper form.

But plants, seeds and "stuff" need someone to deliver them and I'm glad I have my postal carrier :)

I admit it - I'm an internet junkie. I'm trying to figure out how to aford a T1 (very fast) connection to my house - unfortunately, my employer wouldn't foot the bill ;-) I do have a 25' ethernet cable out to the back yard, though - so you can see I'm really hard-core! I even took my computer on vacation with me... postal service is very close second, as I like to shop on-line, and w/o some sort of postal service, it'd be pretty hard to get things to my door-step... I think go_vols will agree with me - the next version of the internet should include a transporter beam so our merchandise, seed/plant exchanges, etc. just appear when we click "send"!

Take care, everyone!
karla

Got to be the "net", this may seem farfetched, but I think in time they may figure out a way to have "net" delivery LOL. Iv'e only been on it for a year but am amazed every day at all the potential.

i love my mail person! he or she brings me lovely things almost every day. what would i do without my mail? i would be hard pressed to choose between internet and radio. i think internet would be my #2 as you can receive radio and tv over the internet plus you can play cards with charming people in here, not to mention this completely indispensible Dave's Garden! go dave go! i'm going to subscribe to Dave's Garden today, have you?

I voted for the internet but Dave please don't take the phone & postal sevice away from me *VBG* With the internet I could live without the TV & radio.. we watched very little TV until 9/11..My son had to ICQ me to turn TV on so we would know what was happening.. maybe ignorance would have been bliss.
Sugar_fl

Hey what about 'none of the above'??

Absolutely, Karla! It won't be "beam me up, Scotty!", it'll be "beam me some more plants!"

My first thought was to choose 'the internet'... but then I realized if there was NO telephone, and NO television, there probably wouldn't be any postal service or internet either. So, I have to choose 'radio', and here's why:

Lately, I have read some interesting comments about the media, most saying that IF you want the 'real story' to choose public radio, which is not influenced by multinational corporations, nor the bottom line, such as CNN has to consider. Public radio is paid for by US... and NOT subject to many of the vagaries of other means of communication.

I'd HATE to lose my internet service....it provides SO much... but I'd hate to lose contact with the 'outside world' even more... which is what public radio provides for me.

I picked the internet because I didn't want to lose my friends and I can do or get most of the other things from it.But like somebody up above said I couldn't have the internet without a phone .HUMMMM that causes a problem!I will stick with the internet because it offers most of the other services.

I could not live without internet, I jus can't believe what would my life be without it.. and tv of course, and postal service. I don't need radio as much :) telephone is also great but if I would have it I wouldn't need it. ;)

Hey, Darius - this is one case where you really can "eat your cake and have it too". I often listen to the radio via my computer. I doublechecked and NPR (I'm assuming that's what you're referring to) indeed has audio streaming so you can set it up to be on while you're browsing DG :) http://www.npr.org/

We are very dependent on all these things.
I cannot choose - I want them all.
I just typed a big answer and deleted it. So, after much analyzing, I've decided it's a tie between the internet and the postal service. The others I could get along without longer, I think. The internet overlaps sufficiently with the radio, TV, and telephone that I believe I could make it. Just keep that electricity flowing or I'm in big trouble!

Without phone, there is no Internet, and without phone, you can't hear if your child is well, even just by observing his breathing rhythm..

If the internet has brought foreigners together, it has also kept close ones distant. Next time your mother is ill ask her to send you an e-mail..

The radio started as national information cum brain-wash, then gave this role to TV, and became anybody's have-a-go-at whatever the subject, and they both specialise in bla-bla, never listening.. this is no communication - it is just an one-way announcement - e.g. in most western nations a restrictive order about traffic can be put to effect by tv only, and lead those who do not obey next morning to be judged for offense.

The post office is only for "reported" communication - as very well stated, it has excelled itself in bill debiting announcement - all jokes aside, it VERY useful, but I think that choosing a single and only one way of communication, one should always choose the most direct...

Dimitri

i chose the telephone for one main reason. if you have ever sat waiting to find out if someone is ok, then you thank god for the telephone. not everyone has a computer or have the use of one at any given time. my folks were out of state on vacation, in san francisco at the time of the earthquake. i sat by the phone, knowing that they would call or someone would to let me know if they were ok or not. they were. i'm sure we can all think of times like these when we've waited like this.
debi z

At first I was going to choose the internet bu then I chose postal service. Couldn't stand it if I weren't able to receive new seeds in the mail!LOL

Hola- For a few years I was confined to a wheel chair due to an accident; and if I have not had the telephone in each room of my house, I would not have been able to manage. Anyway, without the telephone I could not get the
"Internet" and "Dave's Garden"! Luis

I chose the telephone because checking e-mail for messages dosen't always get looked at, sometimes for days, where when you telephone if they're home it'll get answered right away. If I had a second choice though it'd be the internet, because you have a wider audiance to communicate with.

Internet assumes (in this part of Britain anyway) a telephone line, where are you, broadband and cable??? But internet offers more open doors for me than 'just' the 'phone. So that's why I clicked Internet! I agree with Dinu, by the way, about radio. We don't have TV in this house (gasp) and it's not often I go into cold turkey without it. So many channels and so little to see. The radio, however, is nearly always on, but that's one-way communication...