Life Without the Internet? Say It Aint So.

by Brenda J. Christie

A recent article which appeared in Gizmodo on 8/19/2019 examined some practical and societal implications of what would happen if the internet suddenly stopped working.

The article, "What Would Happen If The Whole Internet Just Shut Down All of A Sudden" mentions some of the panic most of us might feel - no Twitter, email, social platforms - but also alludes to power outages due to the loss of grid connectivity to the internet and the exchange of data over the internet.  This internet-born paralysis would also extend to modes of transportation (flight, train), food delivery and possibly food manufacture, banking and the financial sector, to name a few.  In general, commerce would come to a stand-still.

Think of the vast array of services delivered via the internet which would be interrupted:

• Email marketing
• Online shopping
• Job search
• B-to-B Commerce
• Online Banking
• Property Search
• Electronic Legal Filings

A few areas which would be impacted, but which the article does not include are:

• The impact of an internet outage on medical devices and monitoring which take place in the cloud;
• Smart buildings which connect to the internet to manage building systems such as air conditioning, air quality, lighting, real-time monitoring of critical asset performance.

Some wearable medical devices transmit readings from the heart.  Other wearable medical devices are more for monitoring purposes, for example, adherence to medication intake .  IoT advances also allow for ingestion of medications with sensors which transmit readings back to the patient's medical professional thereby allowing for real-time, 24 hour monitoring.

IoT devices also have a presence in commercial real estate.  To maximize efficiencies and reduce costs, companies are making use of IoT-enabled sensors to control on and off times for lighting, lower or close shades during hot sunny days in order to reduce air conditioning costs.  IoT technology is also used to remotely monitor off-site equipment which further reduces cost as the need to maintain an on-site presence is mitigated by use of IoT devices and computers connected to the internet. 

In summary, given our reliance, and in some cases, addiction to the internet, "What Would Happen If The Whole Internet Just Shut Down All of A Sudden" is a thought provoking article.  Fortunately, it is not a doomsday article as some of the industry experts such as Francesca Musiani, William H. Dutton and Leonard Kleinrock point out in the article.  Indeed, there can be an upside to life without the internet.