Two sisters and a teenage son moved to a Colorado campsite last July, living off canned food. They had wanted to take a break from a world that distressed them, a local coroner said.
I think running away as a child can be a very different situation than you imagine. "Running away" to the local park or your friend's house after a disagreement with your parents, sure. But a lot of kids run away because their basic needs aren't being met or they are being abused. Kids shouldn't be expected to be able to weigh the consequences of leaving a home with resources to avoid abuse, but adults should absolutely be expected to weigh the consequences of leaving society.
I completely understand your point and will agree that many people take our day to day luxuries for granted, but society is just as capable of constantly beating you down and taking from you as much as it provides.
I can't blame anyone for trying to "disappear", but at least do some extensive planning.
Are you trying to "well, actually" me? There were a myriad of choices made here, all under the guise of "living off the grid." I very specifically used a plural word, not a singular one. Choices. All of them stupid, including the one you protest as not stupid. It is made stupid by way of their sheer incompetence, unpreparedness, lack of education and training in the matter, and their sheer stubbornness to not call it quits when reality descended upon them.
Your reply is coming across as needlessly aggressive, but I'm not sure if I'm just projecting my years of Reddit interaction onto you. I had no ill intentions when I replied to your initial post, only wanted to offer my two cents on a public forum, which in this case was making a distinction as to what is considered stupid in this context. To further clarify, what I posted was not a protest and was an opinion meant to further the discussion.
"Living off the grid" can also be referred to as self-sustainable living and it seems to be growing in popularity as modern society becomes more exclusive, artificial, and unhealthy. Taking the knowledge you've gained and skills you've learned in order to live sustainably by yourself in nature, away from the bullshit of modern life is, personally, not stupid, which was the original point I was trying to make. But, as you mentioned, it is when people decide to just quit everything because they had a bad day, but have no tools or skills to survive that is very ill-informed to say the least.