Imagine there is a bang and the internet is gone. All servers turned off. Hello 1990s and earlier. How would our lives change?
For some older citizens, this might initially cause them to shrug their shoulders:
“So what? In the past, everything worked without the Internet. I can live with that!". But that alone is not enough, because almost the entire economy is dependent on the Internet!
The two pillars: electricity and internet
Project employee Jaro Krieger-Lamina from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) emphasizes to futurezone that the entire social life, economic and private, depends on electricity and information and communication technology. Although people have been dealing with power outages for a long time, what would be the impact of an internet outage?
Drinking water would only be a limited problem, as the control can also be switched to a remote control that is independent of the Internet. But ATMs will then no longer work, nor will traffic lights - everything is controlled online.
So many things in public life are dependent on the Internet - but after a rather chaotic period, these could be switched back to an offline world. But what about our private lives?
Shop “out there”!
How? Do you need a quick USB stick for data backup? Forget it, you can't even quickly go to Amazon and order one! Put on a jacket and shoes (it would also be advisable to wear trousers) and go to the nearest electronics store!
Oh, you live in a village where there is no one? Well, then just take the bus or train or drive your own car. We can only hope that the corona pandemic will be over by then, because the electronics markets are currently closed!
Where am I??
Great… totally lost looking for the electronics market! Okay, then I'll take a quick look at Google Ma... Oh. It does not work. The world is offline. Of course I don't have a road map with me. And it's really fun to open what feels like a 20x20 meter map of the ADAC car atlas when the wind is force 5!
I have to talk!
No matter, then I'll quickly write to WhatsApp... oh no, not either. No messenger works anymore. The cell phone towers also no longer want to transmit. Is there a phone booth somewhere here? No? Have they all been dismantled yet? Do I really need to talk to someone local? SO face to face?
I'm bored!
Found the electronics store after all, trudged back to the train station... ugh, it'll be another hour until the train leaves, then I'll check Faceboo for that time... oh no, not either. No social media, no cat videos, no reading the latest gossip.
What do you do then? How did we do that before? Oh, a kiosk! Maybe I should try printed words on paper? But you can't even comment on the articles in such a printed newspaper! How is the world supposed to know my opinion?!
Everything is so difficult!
I always have to talk to people now. Or write letters that travel for days. I buy an encyclopedia so I can look up words. Or I go to a library. Knowledge at the touch of a button? No way!
Every small purchase now has to be done in stores - there are no longer any impulse purchases on Amazon & Co. After all: it saves money after all! And somehow you're now looking forward to receiving a real letter from someone - otherwise it was just bills.
It will work again!
Nowadays the Internet has become indispensable. But imagine: it was possible without it, and that wasn't that long ago. Life was more complicated than today, but also somehow more fulfilling.
Instead of online computer games, people had fun with board games. Instead of 250 TV programs, there was only ARD, ZDF and regional television. There were no emails, people wrote each other letters. And yet, perhaps because of this, we survived well. In retrospect, many older people's lives even seem more fulfilling back then.
Where else can you live without internet?
If you would like to withdraw from the Internet but cannot do so easily, we recommend the following countries where Internet access is quite difficult or even impossible
- Greenland: There is internet, but at a much higher price. However, according to its own tourism board, Greenland offers a " chance to disconnect from the internet and connect with the wonderful natural surroundings, yourself and your travel companions - and it's probably better to come to Greenland with that mindset. "
- China: China has the largest number of Internet users in the world, but China's Internet censorship is quite extreme. Facebook has been banned since 2009, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and Reddit are on the blacklist, Google's Chinese subsidiary is heavily restricted - the authorities monitor all internet traffic via the "Great Firewall of China".
- Iran: The government likes to throttle the Internet to frustrate users, especially before elections or during political unrest. However, as a wealthy Iranian you can afford a VPN to circumvent internet censorship
- North Korea: You can only access it online with special permission, mainly for government reasons. Only a few elites have global Internet access. It should be clear that Internet access is extremely restricted and closely monitored
- Vietnam: Vietnamese internet access is blocked by the government, particularly for websites critical of the government. Sometimes information about overseas political opposition, religious issues or human rights is also blocked
Conclusion
Life without the Internet is possible, it was before - but you don't really want to strive for it.
Nevertheless, sometimes it feels terribly good to do a “digital detoxification cure” from social media, to simply withdraw from online life and not even notice what kind of pig is being driven through the digital village again.
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Other sources: Telegraph , Pandora FMS , futurezone , The Gadget Flow
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