This question has been on many people’s lips recently. What would happen if the Internet would suddenly cease to exist?
The first and obvious answer would be: you would not be reading this. For the rest of this post, let’s pretend we’re penpals and you got this in the mail. Since this is about my take on this modern day apocalypse, I’ll go on by saying I’ll also be out of a job. Also, the browser wars.. would be over!!
With the extra amount of time, I’d get back in shape, guitar-wise. Less or no time spent in front of the computer means having all the time in the world to me. I’d also get to having those wet dreams I was talking about earlier this year. I might even get laid! Oh, and I’d start calling snail mail, mail and mail, email again.
I would probably earn my living working as a farmer, which would become the equivalent of today’s coder. Can you picture me with overalls and a checkered shirt on? Straw hat and all? Sexy, I know. I could even look into the possibility of becoming a professional smoker, but I still think the world is not ready for that one yet. I’d start reading in public again, since everyone would be doing it, I suppose.
I’d also remember what it’s like being alone again — and I mean that in a good way — seeing how I can’t keep in touch with people without using the Internet. I’d also start noticing small offline details again. Like people talking to me or girls smiling at me. Or that I have fourteen cats living in my house. I’d definitely play with my dogs more often. I’d spent way more time in the garden, eating fruit right out the tree.
Best part yet? I’d get to finally fix my unhealthy sleeping habits.
Now, this is a tag. Anda was curious to see what a geek would do if the Internet went 404. The fun part about this tag was that I actually got to thinking how much time I actually do spend either online or on my lappy. My findings call for immediate action. So maybe this tag will do Ovi, John Resig and Jon Hicks some good as well.
2 Intelligent Comments
no more internet equals more humanity. we only THINK we get more connected with the people we like and so on, but when one chooses to talk over messenger rather than talk face to face (both being in the same town) or even on the goddamn phone, there’s a problem, and i think you already know the drill about that one.
for sure we`d be better musicians
, we’d get to read WAAAY more, but here’s a catcher: how much TV would you watch?
and i think you could get a good job outside IT, you’d be good at English, you’d be good at maths, and hey, if we didn’t have starcraft and CnC maybe we would have learned all those physics lessons and be good at those too
)
there are many places a technical mind can go, not only PCs, but since we have this computer education, somehow, with all the games and the systems and making them work and so on, we get drawn by this, it’s a place where you can learn a lot from experience (even from scratch), not just by proper study, while in many other domains it’s not that easily applicable, you need books, maybe teachers and so on and so forth.
stormrider, I definitely agree that the Internet does not make people more connected. It makes keeping in touch easier, yes. The commodity it brings about, though, is what keeps relationships limited at a very superficial level.
Why go all the way downtown, when you can meet all your friends online?
As for the TV bit, I got cured of the sucker some years ago, and I want things to stay that way.
As for earning a living, I know I can get into most any technical field, but I think I’d go into something totally different. As long as PC`s and the almighty net are around, though, I’ll stick to what I (think I) like and what I’m (told I am) good at.
But we’d surely jam a lot more often