How many of us can remember a world without the internet? Some of us may if we are old enough. But even though we can remember that world, we have gotten way too used to a world where we speak into a phone and Google’s artificial intelligence answers. We get into a right tizzy with every Twitter or Facebook or Instagram outage! Recently there was a news report about a possible giant geomagnetic storm that could knock out the internet. It got me thinking – what would such a world, without the internet, be like?
Scientists are predicting a giant geomagnetic storm that could induce currents to flow through electrical grids, relays, transformers and sensors. When there was such a weather event in 1859, the telegraph systems had failed all over the world. If there is such a storm now, this would damage digital and power connectors and trigger internet interruptions that could last three to six months!
Most of us are like this if we have to go one single day without the internet – how would we get information, be entertained, and communicate with the people in the next room!
We restart the router, we close and restart apps and devices. We call up service providers – because when the Wi-Fi is down some of us can become quite frantic.
We wonder what to do with ourselves – we need the internet to work, play, chat, learn, get the news, read books, speak to family, peel an orange… well almost. We would certainly wonder what to do with our time and would get stupid ideas like gluing our hands together, perhaps?
And pathetic. It is a little pathetic how reliant we all are on the internet. With COVID, work and education and family get-togethers moved online – is it any wonder that we would be found alone and “palely loitering” if such a thing came to pass?
That guy in the padded cell with the straight jacket? Doesn’t look all that improbable.
People used to meet in person, sit across from each other, talk, laugh, do nothing – not hurl abuse at random strangers on Twitter or block once beloved family members on Facebook. It was just the guys – women didn’t seem to be part of the conversation, but hey! Real life!
What are our options if the internet goes away – if the neighbour’s internet and the Starbucks internet all go away?
We don’t know how to communicate, get the news, read, cook, without help of the internet. Without the internet we feel like we've been relegated to a primitive time or stranded on a desert island.
Nope. We cannot imagine it. Nor do we want to – here’s hoping that the giant geomagnetic storm doesn’t happen anytime soon – or at all.
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