A couple of years ago, I dumped a high-flying career in law to be a small-time country farmer. I haven't regretted the choice for a minute. The simplicity of a scaled-down life in a small, rural community has brought me an unbelievable quality of life.
When you get out here, you realize that a majority of the country (at least geographically) lives very simply in tight-knit communities that have very little enmeshment with the federal government. In fact, they're mostly off the government's radar screen. If shit hit the fan, they would do just fine because people in the country are used to getting by on their own, or by pooling resources with their neighbors.
It probably won't be long before I pull the plug on my internet connection. At this point, it's detracting, rather than adding to, my quality of life. The television cord was cut when TV went digital, and ties to banking were severed several years ago. I keep a cell phone for emergencies, but other than that, it doesn't get used. An AM radio does me just fine, and I don't have to consult an owner's manual to make it work.
Making the leap to voluntary simplicity isn't such a big deal. It runs against the grain in the city, but in the country it's as normal as can be. Minimal stress, crisp clean air, the sound of crickets, the smell of wood stoves burning, real relationships that are as simple as putting on a pair of gloves and helping move a tree off the road, old-time values. I can't recommend the life highly enough.