I feel as if I have survived a taste of the apocalypse and made through other side. Of course, I am exaggerating. I’m no Mad Max…no Road Warrior. But I was driving aimlessly along the streets of my town much like the Road Warrior during the past twenty-four hours as I waited impatiently for my internet connection to be restored. But I wasn’t searching for fuel. No, I was seeking out an internet connection in a vast wasteland of lost connections.
It was horrible.
It was like someone had taken one of my senses. I suddenly realized how much we rely on our sense of “connectivity”. I had lost my sight…my awareness of the world around me. My mother’s little town in Tennessee had flooded during my internet black out, but I was completely unaware. My mother is fine, my family is safe, but being disconnected reminded me of how much stock we put in the internet. And how easily the loss can disable us.
I don’t remember the world in a pre-internet setting. I don’t remember how I got my news (or gossip), or how I got mail, or how I shared my thoughts with all of humanity. I don’t have a clue how I did any of those things without a laptop in front of me connected to the World Wide Web. Even keeping in touch with friends was an exercise in impossibility prior to the magic that is the internet. You may think I really need to get out more, but maybe I need to get out less. I am too busy to sit down and relax with a tangible newspaper to read about the world I live in.
I’m falling asleep as I type. I suppose that means I spent too much time with my eyes awake today. So time to sleep, comforted by the fact that my internet will be there in the morning.
Until the next time…I’ll be having sweet dreams!