What would happen if the internet was "switched off" for a substantial amount of time?

[Yeshuasdaughter]

4.5 megabytes of data on punch cards circa 1955
View attachment 103810
To put it into perspective, that is 62,500 punch cards

Even into the 1980s, my grandmother used to work, processing and reading punch cards. Sometimes she'd give me one to keep.

 

[SusanLR]

The world has become so dependent on the new technology, I agree, if the internet suddenly disappeared, everything would collapse.
It's human nature to survive even cataclysmic world events, but it would be a very
difficult time for the human race in general.
So would another Ice Age or devasting meteor hit as has happened in the past.
But that's the world.

Some of us are talking about personal feelings here.
We knew the time before the internet and were content.
Surviving the world crash would affect us even if we aren't bothered that much personally about technology.
I lived with my grandmother for two years in a very rural area when I was 5 and 6
yrs. old. She had an old farmhouse that did not have electricity or plumbing and running water.
So, there are some who DO remember a time without electricity.
At that age, I was happy regardless.
My own little banner of protest against too much tech is I refuse to own a smartphone.
My cellphone is a consumer cellular flip phone with voice and text only.
I could do without the text.
Someday I will probably have to give in and get a smartphone, but until then...

 

[LadyS]

Along with others who suggested not to take the scenario lightly, I also imagined if the loss of internet happened during the pandemic.. education would have come to a halt if it weren't for remote schooling many wouldn't have been able to continue working either if it wasnt for remote work. Covid testing would have been a nightmare. We like to think we're all isolated islands doing our own thing with little regard to others but really we're all interconnected and the effects of the scenario is far-reaching.

I also recall the panic during the Y2K scare..

 

[Kisa the tea]

So we have been here for many, many, many thousands of years, we have survived two world wars, countless natural disasters like storms and whatnot, plagues, the black death and illness and other things but if the internet goes out now we're all basically dead? We just have to give up and watch everything collapse? I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around that. If this is true, doesn't that mean human beings are the dumbest creatures in the universe? Just really, really stupid? Did we tie our entire existence to the internet and we can't live now if it stops working? Somewhere aliens are laughing at us.

Radical changes can really mess things up. Realistically the internet itself is very stable but for the sake of this thought experiment it would be very bad if it went down. There are plenty of examples of other things that, in the past or currently would have been radical changes. It's just more so with the internet because it has been used for so much.

If we didn't have the internet, things would be extremely difficult. Hospitals would have to keep hundreds of thousands of books on patients. Perhaps millions for bigger hospitals. Talking to long distance friends or relatives would be anywhere from extremely difficult to impossible depending on the situation. Almost all information would be much harder to access because you couldn't just find the answer to a question easily without reading multiple books in the library to try and find it.

So I don't think humans are stupid for relying on the internet. It has made life so much easier, despite the bad parts of it.

 

[LadyS]

This is where we have to disagree, not long ago we didn't have internet. No internet at all, that was normal. And things were not extremely difficult. Everything worked fine, some things just took a little more time. We had hospitals before we had internet. When I was a kid I had to use an encyclopedia if I was looking for info. We had one in the livingroom. Or I went to the library. It worked fine.

I would have to say we are a stupid species if we have tied our existence to the internet and we're now not able to survive without it. That's silly. Smart beings would never do such a thing.

Let's bridge the gap here: yes humans would eventually adapt but not without severe repercussions and I think that's the point that was trying to be made. Not that we would all suddenly collapse and die without it. But that our daily lives are so intertwined in it, we take it for granted.

Major institutions including our government and healthcare and businesses even schools which people rely on for services AND to make money in order to survive, all rely on the internet. We all won't die, but undoubtedly some would indirectly ...which makes it harder to measure the true impacts. Think domino effect.

There are no doubt some positives that would come from it. Definitely. But every major event will also have some collateral damage. It isn't one or the other, it's both. It's complex. I think the point was be careful not to romanticize it.

 

[Princess Viola]

As someone who is part of the LGBT+ community, quite literally everything I know about being LGBT+, LGBT+ friendly businesses and support groups, the friends I've made in the community, etc. have all been done via the internet.

So you know, if the internet were to shut down entirely for an extended period of time I would, and I'm not exaggerating here, basically be screwed entirely - especially considering that I live in Florida and, you know, Florida ain't exactly a great place for LGBT+ folks like myself right now.

 

[Dagan]

Another great depression would definitely happen because hardly anyone uses cash or coins for purchases. You could try to get your money out in cash from the banks...but good luck proving what you had in the bank because I doubt they have as good a paper trail as you'd want them to. Last statements would be reflected on probably, and as I think while typing, I would hope my last statement they'd have to reference would be the one before all of my bills came out for the month...because it'd be more money, haha.

Overall, the lack of instant information would be a major issue. I have always contended that world war three has just been this ongoing thing since the 80's. We called it the cold war and then kind of acted like it ended, but it really just got way, way more intense. The cold war was absolutely about / over information (codes, passwords, military stats for every country, nukes, energy resources, etc.) - and well, what do they call the age we live in..? The information age. So, yeah, I really think that it being something the entire world takes part in and competes, then the cold war never ended...it got bigger...it got worse.

I mentioned this before somewhere, but I grew up not having all of this tech and internet and just constant bombardment of knowing everything, from everywhere and at every single second...and the feeling of being gaslit to worry and care about countless things that I can't even do anything about. I contend that we were actually way better off in that regard. I mean this in a very Einstein way of "what's actually relevant" to each person, but I do also mean it in a way that just minding our own business in localized amounts is better for people. I don't want people to become tribal in regression and then it cause issues, but I think it's debatable that the internet does that, too...and it's worse being on such a grand scale.

Sorry, I rambled. Interesting topic that I have obviously thought about before.

 

[Forest Cat]

Let's bridge the gap here: yes humans would eventually adapt but not without severe repercussions and I think that's the point that was trying to be made. Not that we would all suddenly collapse and die without it. But that our daily lives are so intertwined in it, we take it for granted.

Major institutions including our government and healthcare and businesses even schools which people rely on for services AND to make money in order to survive, all rely on the internet. We all won't die, but undoubtedly some would indirectly ...which makes it harder to measure the true impacts. Think domino effect.

There are no doubt some positives that would come from it. Definitely. But every major event will also have some collateral damage. It isn't one or the other, it's both. It's complex. I think the point was be careful not to romanticize it.

I just think it's astonishing that we did such a thing. Made ourselves so dependent on the internet that it's now a huge deal if we turn it off. Hard to believe a species can do that and not have a backup plan.

 

[Magna]

If that happened, the only way at least some humans would survive would be by re-forming their communities. In the Western world there are no longer communities, there are individuals who live in proximity to each other; that's not the same thing as a community at all.

There would be no phone communication and the old "land-line" infrastructure is probably so neglected in some areas that I wonder if it could even be resurrected.

We'd be thrown back in many ways as if it were a hundred years ago.

 

[LadyS]

I just think it's astonishing that we did such a thing. Made ourselves so dependent on the internet that it's now a huge deal if we turn it off. Hard to believe a species can do that and not have a backup plan.

Is it astonishing though? Who said humans are intelligent (at least in the grand scheme sense)? Like you said before, in the past we've done some pretty dumb stuff like killing each other. We can't even live together peacefully and sustainably on the only planet we have. It's more about profit than people. Science pushes forward but not without some negative impacts.

Still dividing ourselves with invisible borders and saying "you guys do YOU and we'll do us over here" and to hell with everyone else who doesn't think like me. Sounds to me more infantile and still in need of improvement. So doesn't sound like a stretch to me.

 

[Forest Cat]

Is it astonishing though? Who said humans are intelligent (at least in the grand scheme sense)? Like you said before, in the past we've done some pretty dumb stuff like killing each other. We can't even live together peacefully and sustainably on the only planet we have. Still dividing ourselves with invisible borders and saying "you guys do YOU and we'll do us over here" and to hell with everyone else who doesn't think like me. Sounds to me more infantile and still need of improvement.

Yeah we have done silly things before but I think this internet-thing takes 1st prize. Because we did it so fast, it affects everyone and it's so silly. We put all our eggs in the internet-basket and now the world is screwed if we drop that basket. No backup plan.

And now we are implementing A.I into everything without really knowing for sure what will happen! We better hold on to something and pray, this ride could get bumpy.

 

[LadyS]

Yeah we have done silly things before but I think this internet thing takes 1st prize. Because we did it so fast, it affects everyone and it's so silly. We put all our eggs in the internet-basket and now the world is screwed if we drop that basket.

Pretty much. I believe we've now entered the philosophical discussion of "Is technology moving TOO fast that we're not taking the time to understand the repercussions of it?" Which I think relates to the news of a recent scientist who quit over the advancement of AI and the associated dangers.

 

[Magna]

I'm guessing there is a "back-up plan" of sorts; a military grade dark web kind of thing where the existing planetary power structure (global governance, global corporate and global elites) can and would continue to communicate via the internet but the rest of the world's population would be plunged into a dark age.

 

[SusanLR]

especially considering that I live in Florida and, you know, Florida ain't exactly a great place for LGBT+ folks like myself right now.

I live in Florida too.
We know why this is the state of the state. 'Nuff said.