The news that the Web is now twenty years old got me thinking what would happen if the internet suddenly wasn’t there anymore. So instead of a web design-related post I’m going to indulge myself by pondering that very question.
Since the ‘arrival’ of the phenomenon that is known as the internet, we have become obsessed to some extent with the speed in which it lets us live our lives. We rarely expect to get letters from friends, family or businesses – email is there, ready, waiting and extremely fast.
We can visit just about any virtual shop in the world, buy more than we could physically carry and arrange to have it delivered, and all this can be done in just an hour of surfing without even getting out of a chair.
But, what would happen if for some reason the whole Internet suddenly ceased to work? The effects would be extremely far-reaching, for example; a substantial amount of daily business communication is conducted via email, the loss of which would severely disrupt and significantly slow down the companies who rely totally on it to send and receive information where speed is of the essence.
What about the private individuals whose emails possibly compare or even exceed in numbers that of corporate traffic? Business websites; without these virtual showrooms to look at, a customer would have to revert back to the old way of doing things and visit a real one – very hard on the feet!
We are all aware that the rapid advances made in Internet technology over recent years have been nothing short of astonishing. From mobile phones and their ability to send messages and photo images and access the Internet on the move to email and its instant delivery capability.
Both have transformed information exchange and communication beyond our wildest dreams, whilst simultaneously creating a mindset that has us expecting immediate answers to any questions we care to ask.
It’s up to each individual to decide for themselves whether or not the Internet is for the better. I am sure there are a vast number of people in the world that prefer life the way it used to be, and whilst I am sure that although we would undoubtedly cope without the Internet if we had to, the question is – would we want to?
Sure, the simplicity and speed of email would be sorely missed; the comparative ease of online shopping; the click of a mouse to pay the bills; the creature comforts that the Internet provides and what we have quickly grown to accept and expect, would eventually be forgotten or committed to a nostalgic memory, but I sincerely doubt it would be an easy transition and suspect we’d never be quite the same again.
Until next time.
