I've been writing about AI coding tools for months here on Dev.to. Comparisons, benchmarks, tutorials on how to squeeze the most out of Claude Code, Cursor, and the rest. And I do use them. Every single day.

But last week I tried something that surprised even me.

I turned them off completely.

For an entire week, no AI-generated code, no autocomplete suggestions, no "explain this function" prompts. Just me, my editor, and a blinking cursor.

Here's what actually happened.