If you’re curious about what would happen if the internet went down, let’s see the internet importance in your day-to-day life, try this little experiment… Unplug your internet router and see what happens. How long will it take for there to be noticeable frustration or displeasure in the house – especially from younger members of the family?
Although the internet is created in a way that when one route is broken, it should find another to its destination, we have all heard of cyber-attacks. These attacks can sometimes bring down sections or even the whole internet, causing havoc. It can be interesting to look at downdetector.com which shows real-time problem monitoring and outage alerts for major sites on the internet.
Today, for example, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is going through another set of problems, shortly after service disruptions made internet services dysfunctional. These cloud computing services AWS provides are utilized by government agencies, universities and businesses. In fact, AWS has become quite essential to the MANY online services that function all over the internet every day. Systemic risk refers to the interconnectedness of different parts of a system, where one part going down could lead to disastrous consequences. For example, if a large portion of the internet went offline for an extended period of time, it would have far-reaching effects and not just be an inconvenience.
What Happens When the Internet Goes Down?
Social Media Withdrawal Symptoms
If people were deprived of social media, do you think they could survive without platforms like Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat and Instagram. How long would it take for them to show symptoms of withdrawal? While this may seem humorous, it might not be that far from the truth. I’m not only referring to social media
But other platforms on the Internet as well.
Financial Markets Crashing
When the internet goes down, companies lose access to their trading and financial markets. Just one day of downtime can cause billions of dollars in losses worldwide. What’s more is that when investors can’t trade due to lack of market data, they start selling off their investments, leading to even bigger losses. The economic impact of the internet going down is huge. Expand:
Communication Breakdown
The internet is the backbone for many businesses, and communication between people and companies depends heavily on it. When the internet goes down, so does the ability of businesses to communicate with customers and vendors. This could mean delays in shipping products or receiving payments, which can have a huge impact on any business. What’s more is that if a major telecommunications provider has an outage, thousands of people may be unable to make phone calls or send emails.
Cancellation of Business Operations
Businesses depend on the internet to process their orders, manage inventory, pay employees and communicate with customers. Without it, they can’t operate and will suffer significant financial losses. Even if businesses have backup systems in place, they won’t be able to function optimally and their operations are likely to be disrupted in some way.
Loss of Access to Critical Services
When the internet goes down, people can’t access essential services such as healthcare, banking, and education. This has a devastating effect on those who rely on these services for medical care or other life-saving measures. What’s more is that when any critical service experiences downtime due to lack of internet access, it can cause serious long-term damage.
Overall, it is clear that if the internet were to go down, many people would suffer. From businesses to individuals and even entire economies, the impact of an internet blackout could be catastrophic. It’s important to understand how reliant we are on this technology and how its absence could influence our lives in profound ways. What would happen if the internet went down? We can only imagine – but we don’t want to find out!
Conclusion
It’s clear that if the internet went down for an extended period of time, it would have far-reaching effects throughout society. Businesses would suffer immense financial losses; people wouldn’t be able to access critical services and social media withdrawal symptoms could kick in quickly. What’s more is that the economic impact of a blackout could be catastrophic. All of this serves to emphasize how important it is for us to keep the internet running smoothly and prevent any sort of disruption from occurring. The consequences of not doing so are simply too great. After all let’s not find out what would happen if the internet went down.
