It’s the 21st century and we are all becoming more and more reliant on the internet. More than that, we’re actually being encouraged onto the net, some would say, forced! We now can; shop, bank, tax, insure, and communicate on the net – some would say we have to, offline services are being wound down in favour of the online ones! Snag is the internet is a thin line which connects us to the outside world. What happens when that thin line snaps? How long is it acceptable for a connection to down for? Should we be compensated? Should there be clinics we can go to recover from the withdrawal symptoms we might experience when we find we can’t get to our food, bank accounts and friends as our world crumbles around us!
It’s that time of year once more where we rush out and buy presents for our loved ones. How many of these gifts rely on the internet? All your DSi’s, PS3’s, Wii’s, iPad and iphones, Kindles and Netbooks. Imagine a Christmas without the internet! No iplayer, no YouTube, no web-cam chats with family on the other side of the world! What would we do?
Is this thin line up to it? Is the thin line too vulnerable? When will we get our first ‘internet hijack?’ Will we become so reliant on the net that terrorists will simply have to dig up a cable down our street and get the wire cutters out to completely bring us to a halt?
No internet would affect all our lives. My brother has recently gone through a whole week of having no internet. He would normally work online, bank, shop, send loads of emails, research, read, network and relax via it. His house was thrown into complete turmoil!
Can this be acceptable? Can it be acceptable; 1 that a family be thrown into turmoil by not having the net for a week, and 2; is it acceptable to be denied the net for a week? Some would say that sounds sad, a household being thrown into turmoil simply by not having the internet for a week! I say; have we gone too far down the internet road to come back? Are we now relying on this thing too much, and is this thing up to it? Is this thing that we rely on so much going to be able to live up to our requirements and expectations? How bomb proof is it and when will it crash for good?
It’s not just speed and availability; that’s a different debate. It’s more about how strong can we make this thin line, how much future-proofing can we add now or are we always going to be playing catch-up, be putting up with broken connections and generally paying for a service that never quite delivers?