Investigative journalist, Stephen Kurczy, embedded himself in the area, to give us a first-hand account of what it’s like to live there. The area has attracted people looking for a digital detox, unplugging to escape from modern life, and for those seeking refuge for a controversial condition called electromagnetic hypersensitivity (think Chuck in Better Call Saul). The residents do have computers but only with sluggish broadband. They use land lines, phone booths, and ham radios, to communicate. Those who live here must depend on the kindness of neighbors when an emergency arises. Families spend more time outdoors appreciating nature, and fostering real-life connections. To protect the sensitive equipment from interference, the federal government in 1958 established the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile area in WV.įor the young people, there are none of the negative consequences of social media. The near radio silence is a requirement for those living in Green Bank, WV, close to the Green Bank Observatory, with the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. Some people would consider this a nightmare while others would consider it an idyllic time warp. Imagine living in a place where wi-fi is not just unavailable, it’s banned, along with cellphone signals. Kurczy Is a less connected life desirable? Is it even possible? The Quiet Zone is a remarkable work of investigative journalism-at once a stirring ode to place, a tautly wound tale of mystery, and a clarion call to reexamine the role technology plays in our lives. Amongst them all are the ordinary citizens seeking a simpler way of living. There is a tech buster patrolling the area for illegal radio waves “electrosensitives” who claim that WiFi is deadly a sheriff’s department with a string of unsolved murder cases dating back decades a camp of neo-Nazis plotting their resurgence from a nearby mountain hollow. In The Quiet Zone, he introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters. He shopped at the town’s general store, attended church services, went target shooting with a seven-year-old, square-danced with the locals, sampled the local moonshine. Stephen Kurczy embedded in Green Bank, making the residents of this small Appalachian village his neighbors. But a community that on the surface seems idyllic is a place of contradictions, where the provincial meets the seemingly supernatural and quiet can serve as a cover for something darker. With a ban on all devices emanating radio frequencies that might interfere with the observatory’s telescopes, Quiet Zone residents live a life free from constant digital connectivity. Green Bank, West Virginia, is a place at once futuristic and It’s home to the Green Bank Observatory, where astronomers search the depths of the universe using the latest technology, while schoolchildren go without WiFi or iPads. “Captures the complex beauty of a disconnected way of life.” - The Nation With a new afterword to the paperback edition Deep in the Appalachian Mountains lies the last truly quiet town in America. In this riveting account of an area of Appalachia known as the Quiet Zone where cell phones and WiFi are banned, journalist Stephen Kurczy explores the pervasive role of technology in our lives and the innate human need for quiet.
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