Why rejecting the modern world is a privileged fantasy

Mark Boyle argues that a primitive life away from the modern world is healthier, but the evidence strongly suggests that this is a privileged fantasy

Romanticising the past is a common human compulsion, and may well have psychological benefits. But some people take it rather far, embracing millennia-old practices and lifestyles, like "paleo diets", or alternative medicines based on "ancient wisdom", and so on.

Some even eschew as many of the trappings of modern life as possible. One such person is Mark Boyle, a man who rejects things like money, technology, electricity, etc, and is a much better person for it. Better than us, at any rate, judging by his books and regular Guardian columns. You might argue adopting an extreme back-to-nature lifestyle then crowing about it via a major website is slightly massively-hypocritical? You wouldn't be alone.