This is what happens when we’ve no Internet for a day

Last Updated on 2016-05-30 , 9:36 am

We are too dependent on the Internet.

Whether you’re a working adult or a student, I want you to imagine one day without the Internet. You may go to the office and realize that without Internet, you can’t check your email. You down your coffee and wait for the server to be back. No, not back. You take your second breakfast. Not back yet. You chat with your colleagues about the latest Jay Chou concert. No, still not back. You take your lunch. No. You knock off.

At home, you want to watch the latest YouTube video. No Internet, so you watch TV…and realize your TV has not been working for months. You take a Low Kay Hwa novel, read for thirty minutes then log in to the Internet to search for a word you don’t understand. No, not back.

You go to sleep. The day has not just been fruitless—it is EMPTY.

Before you go, “Wah, Internet IS our life,” think of this: Fifteen years ago, we survive without the Internet. We don’t email when we need something—we call. We don’t Google “define ‘word'” when we need the dictionary. Life still went on. But now, it’s like…impossible. Almost, at least.

Have we become so dependent on the Internet that life is empty without it?

Go to any office and some employees would cheer when the Internet is down, for that means no work. Some employees would cry, for that means OT. Go to any school and the teachers would have the same reaction. Maybe you don’t know this, but I’ve got IT friends who go back to their office in the wee hours when a server is down.

Let’s put things into context—Internet, though it is not tangible, is still a machine. Machine breaks down. When MRT breaks down, people suffer. So, it is inevitable that Internet “breaks down”, too. If we use this correlation, can you imagine a day when the Internet is down for…two days? How much money would be lost? For all you know, some of us could even lose our identity; for we might have saved everything in a cloud-based server…which is, technically, still the Internet!

Do you think this is healthy? If you ask me, I don’t know. I am still very dependent on the Internet, and I’ll pull my hair if it’s down for more than five hours. I’ll lose a lot of money. I’ll lose a bit of my identify. And I’ll also lose many opportunities.

Since this is so closely connected to our lives…shouldn’t we have some sort of “Internet-free Day” for us to prepare for a day when we have no Internet? Just like how an e-learning week works—preparing for a week when we can’t go to school. At least, at least we’ll know what to do if that day ever comes.

But, then again, I hope that day will never exist.