While we float through our day, smartphone in hand, when often tend to think about what technology can do for us and not so much about what it can’t. For those of us that are connected while we work and play (computer, laptop, tablet) does it ever cross your mind what would happen if the internet went out for a day?
Offline
Alright, alright. Don’t panic and look at the screen as if the world is about to end! Just think about what would happen if you had to live for 24 hours with no internet. You actually might have to have a conversation with someone. OMG. LOL. You won’t BRB.
Being “offline” is a scary thought that would rock most of us to the core. Especially those that grew up with technology surrounding their every move, dictating how they operated throughout life. There was a time when shows were recorded on VHS and computers could not be carried with the help of a dolly. Without the internet, would it be time to dig the rotary phone out of the closet and stock up on canned foods? It just may be.
What to Do
On a basic level, all the work you complete in a day would come to a dead halt. No email, no online research, no company Facebook page and definitely no corporate Twittering going on. How would you know what article your colleague shared or what is trending at the moment? Forget social media, your entire office may not be able to function. VoIP a cloud, a server and everything else you have come to depend on to succeed in your career will vanish. For the day that is.
So, you leave work to deal with this mass chaos on your own, but wait! How do you know if public transportation is running on time or where your friends are headed? Maybe I will just say the words “traffic patterns” and let you figure out how to avoid them. Without an app for that and the internet, it may as well be 1984. Should you really dial a phone number to get a listing for local movie times? Maybe it would just be better to head home. Then again, if you can’t really stream TV, it might be in your best interest to stay out for a while.
Why don’t you go ahead and check your bank account to see if you have money for that lunch. Oh, never mind. Then again you could run to a coffee shop and play a game of Scrabble . . . on an actual game board. Hold on, I got it! You can shop (in a store), read (at a library) and even write (on a piece of paper).
Oh the World Wide Web, how we love you! The internet has changed our world and without it we are a pathetic heartbroken mass crying in the corner. And, let’s face it… if the internet went out for a day you wouldn’t be able to read this and well, that would also be tragic.
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