More and more people around the world are allowing the forever-developing World Wide Web to make their lives that little bit easier.
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Business, social networking and communication are being advanced in what can only be described as the technological age that we are currently living in.
What would you do, however, if the internet as we know it was completely switched off via a single switch without any warning?
Fortunately, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has stated that there is no such thing as a single “Off” Switch because the world is decentralised and split up into hundreds of countries, there is no central “Off Switch”.
The only way it could be switched off is if the governments of the world come together and agree to change it from a decentralised system to a centralised one.
But what if everything were to revert to the way it was prior to 1990?
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A number of businesses relying entirely or partially on the internet would be severely damaged.
Also all people who make a living through pod-casting, hyperlocal news and those selling products on the internet would all consequently lose their jobs.
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With nearly one billion users connecting with friends and family nearby or abroad, the death of Facebook would probably result in the majority of people just not trying to stay in touch any more.
If the internet has made people lazy enough to stay at home to communicate with friends rather than meet in person; will people really put in the extra effort?
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Yep, you would probably regain a large portion of your brain capacity to resolve difficult problems; which would previously have been looked up on the internet.
People would have to rely on books again and reading more has frequently been linked with increased intelligence.
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The newspaper industry has been taking a nosedive in sales ever since the introduction of the internet. With no more “instant” news through websites and social media such as Twitter; the flow of information will travel much slower.
Does this mean more people would revert to reading newspapers for information? As well as more traditional methods of news gathering? More than likely.
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Without the internet, corporations and government will find it much more difficult to publish information to the public – therefore encouraging the emergence of more Quangos.
Quangos are not affiliated to the government, yet rely on government funding and have been heavily criticised for a true lack or transparency.
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As opposed to working from home or teleworking. More and more companies have turned to outsourcing, resulting in a lot of money being saved – but without the internet this could prove difficult.
This will result in many people hopping into their cars and driving to work before…
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Although GPS systems would still operate, but this would prove difficult without a constant flow of internet-based updates.
The loss of Google Maps and other map based technology on the internet would result in people being unable to print off a direct list of instructions and ultimately getting lost. And finally…
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And you wouldn’t be reading this post. Nor would you be reading any of my other posts or the posts of thousands of other bloggers across the globe.
Just a concept I know, our lives in many respects would probably benefit socially and personally but at the same time be ridden with economic decline in a world without internet.
Would the world be better without internet?
Daniel Mayes is a recent Journalism graduate with an upper-second. He has experience working at BBC World Service, Sky News Online and has worked on projects in Europe and Africa.
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