Attention People Of Earth: We Have Destroyed The Internet.
Aliens
As I write this post I am sitting in my favorite local café sipping a “Skinny” Green Tea Latte and typing away on my much appreciated, and free, laptop. So, why am I here? Well, partly because I enjoy coming here to write. The sound of people’s chatter and laughter alongside “hip”, alternative tunes playing over the speakers is sometimes a welcome change from my solitary home office. Other times it is a much needed distraction from my head. But not today!
Nope!
The reason I am here, the reason I had to leave my home and walk in the pouring rain (which I usually enjoy) is because my Internet connection is intermittent at best today. I don’t know why, and neither does my ISP, but my Net access keeps conking out, usually at the most critical of times. Like when I was trying to submit a long comment earlier on someone’s blog! Or when wanting to enjoy an hour with my favorite Internet Marketing Brainstorming Webinar without getting booted off every five minutes! It just got to the point where if I didn’t leave, I was going to have to Hulk up and “smash” something! Now normally I am a much centered and even keeled type of person and it takes a lot to get me riled up. But when something keeps me from my Net I get frazzled and start seeing green. Especially when it’s something I can’t fix, reboot or stomp on!
So here I sit. I’m calm now. The Green Tea seems to be having a nice effect and as I watch the rain pour outside, I’m a happy camper. And the irony is, my laptop doesn’t have a WIFI card so I’m not even online! And that’s ok because it’s my choosing. I find it more productive to have as little distraction as possible when I am in a busy environment like a café or mall.
Well, by now you’re probably wondering what this has to do with the subject line. It goes something like this: how would your life change if all of a sudden alien beings invaded earth and destroyed the Internet and all access to it, then split, leaving us to our own devices? What would you do? How would you survive? Would your livelihood be jeopardized? Could you go back to living a No-Net life that existed, amongst the masses anyway, as late as the early to mid 1990’s? Do you have the skills or necessary requirements to re-enter a work force that we couldn’t wait to get out of in the first place? Would you be calling your friends every few minutes with a new update on what you’re doing or could you wait a week or two? Would your local paper pay you to write about what’s going on in your daily life in the hopes of attracting advertisers? Somehow I doubt it. No offense…:)
Now I realize that this scenario is kinda silly. However, it is a concern of mine at times, especially when I can’t log on to a virtual World that has every thing to do with my own physical Reality! I start to get a wee bit panicky at the thought that if I never had Net access again I would have to go back to a life that seems quite foreign to me now. At 48 years of age I couldn’t just walk into a job expecting to retain my autonomy, identity, salary and freedom that I now enjoy and have for the past 11 years or so. Thankfully I am also a musician so I think I would be ok. But there are others who may not be so fortunate. How would they settle back into a World that for some seemed to be faulty to begin with? Would they have to go back to school to learn a trade to once again work for “The Man”? And what would happen to all those Facebook friends of ours?
More importantly, how would we survive the “communicative loss” of our Internet Marketing friends and Gurus? Would we all resort to Mail Order again with our info-products relegated to the back of tabloid classifieds? Scary thought!
If such a thing ever happened and we were forced to accept life “old school” again, we would of course adapt and survive. Some would go on to do great things because that’s just the type of people they are while others would slump back into obscurity and complacency. Hopefully you would be the former. But if this post makes you wonder about that, then it may be a good idea to think about all your options and how you would be able to live a life where you can retain your independence, autonomy, freedom and life satisfaction if left to your own circumstance.
The Internet provides each and every one of us with unlimited potential and empowering personal and professional opportunities. I think the key though, is to realize our own potential for greatness before logging on. Know who we are and what we are capable of in the real World. Find those opportunities within ourselves first, THEN get on the Net and dominate it. Easier said than done I know, but maybe worth a thought or two.
Well, the rain has let up and I’m going to dart back home. Thankfully, the coffee shop is just on the corner.
Oh…if we ever do lose the Internet to little green men/women, I’m in the book…uhhhmmmm…that’s the phone book, not some e-book…:)
Later all.
ps: My Net connection has been going strong for the past few hours…yay…life is good again…:)
Post photo courtesy of http://sunflow.sourceforge.net/.
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May 8th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Not sure what I would do without the Internet. It’s my life. Great post and glad to hear your Internet connection is going strong.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Hi Angie. I have no doubt that you would do fine…:) And yeah, my Net seems to be back to normal. Yay me!
Lyle
May 8th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Hi Lyle,
All I can is “NOOOOO!” I hate it when my net connection takes a nose dive, I don’t even want to think about it, I have no idea what I would do as I have been out of a job for so many years now.
Hugh
May 9th, 2009 at 9:47 am
I hear ya Hugh. It would be horrible at first, but I truly think we would bounce back. Hopefully we’ll never have to find out. Take care and all the best and thanks for dropping by. It’s good to “see” you…:)
Lyle
August 23rd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Hi Lyle,
Since I make my living on “The Internets” it’s hard to imagine not doing that anymore. But, I am saddened to see people say that “It’s my life.” I know, it feels that way to me, too. But, the things that make us unique and valuable are the things that we take with us sans technology. A person’s ability to connect with people, inspire, and innovate, are all there inside of us, not the computer. Face-to-face connection, stories of inspiration, and new innovations to make life easier, are all things that we can do, and have done, without technology. We may all have to go back to writing and reading books, and visiting each other to just talk! Yikes! I love technology, but only to a point. Thanks, Lyle, for bringing this question up for discussion.
August 23rd, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Hi Patti. I have no problem getting “…back to writing and reading books, and visiting each other to just talk”! But I also want to work at home via the Internet. thankfully we can find the balance in both. Take care and all the best.
Lyle