Has the Internet overtaken our lives?

Over the years, technological advances have revolutionized our lives and none more so than the Internet. Nowadays, it's so easy to access the Internet, type whatever information we need into a search engine, and presto! We are connected to the world wide web, and in a matter of seconds we find what we are looking for. It's such a normal thing to do that we've even gone so far as to turn the name of a search engine into a verb: any time we want to find an answer to anything, we simply "google it".

This is what we've come to expect now that we are deeper into the 21st Century: instant global communication and instant gratification. There's no avoiding the fact that the Internet has certainly made my work easier and I'm sure everyone else's, which is why we depend on it so much and why, over time, we've come to take it for granted. It's only when we don't have it that we realize what a huge role it plays in our lives.

Well, today I am not taking the Internet for granted. In fact, I've been trying to log on all day but the service is intermittent at best. That means 30 seconds of Internet and a frustrating 20 minutes or more of waiting for it to come back. Why? Because it's raining, and when it rains here in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, it pours. And when it pours, flooding occurs and then certain things stop working altogether, like traffic lights and yes, you've guessed it, the Internet.

Luckily, the electricity didn't conk out on me. I still have my phone service, cable TV and my computer, so I'm by no means isolated from the world, although it seems that way without the Internet. It feels weird not to be able to go and check my social networks or log in to SFI and send my weekly newsletter to my team which, by the way, I was about to do before this happened. It's like a big chunk of my daily life has suddenly been reduced to a fraction of what I usually do.

I was also about to finish a translation I'm working on when it happened, so I am literally left 'at a loss for words'. Without the Internet I am unable to consult any online dictionaries, and can't find what I need in my trusty old printed dictionary because it is totally obsolete. Yes, I still have it, but it will have to go back to its place on the bookshelf, and I'll have to finish my translation later. It's not as if I can send it anyway. No email!

Not having much else to do, I started walking aimlessly around my apartment. At some point, my mind started to wander and then I began to wonder: When did my whole life start revolving around the Internet? When did surfing the Internet become more entertaining than curling up with a good book? How did I go from playing cards with friends to online solitaire? How did I become so dependent on the Internet? What would I do without it? Not a pretty thought, I assure you, since at the moment my livelihood depends on it.

Now, as I sit at my desk finishing this blog post and watching the tropical rain beat against my window, my question is this: have we become so dependent on the Internet that our lives come to a grinding halt whenever it is taken away from us? In my case, you bet! At least for today. What about you? Let me know how you cope when your internet service dies on you, and what you would do if there were no more Internet… perish the thought!

Have a great week!

PS If you are reading this, it means my internet came back… well, duh! I bet you've already figured that out, lol!