Unplugged

Yesterday there was a problem with our cable, so we had no internet and no land line. Cell phone can replace land line, but no internet access really stirs the memory.

There was a time when we got our news from local newspapers. Little towns had papers with local news and events and great cities had great newspapers that employed reporters to go all over the world and write about what was happening. TV news was full of pictures and a little bit of story. Radio news, depending on the program, could be more insightful because they might take the time to interview and analyze a story. There was a local flavor to both radio stations and newspapers. TV always tended to be more homogenized.

Today, most of us get information from the internet. Not only that, but many of depend on it to send emails, and maybe even post our own blogs and websites.

So when it goes down, we really are stuck outside the loop. Personal and business messages are not received and cannot be responded to. We get news through the computer, but when the cable goes down, all that is left is the radio.

What a strange thought. If the computers that power the internet were to crash, how difficult would our lives be? We are so connected through this technology that we cannot imagine not having it. Or can we?