When the Grid Goes Down

For a little over the past 12 hours, my home internet has been down. I arrived home from work yesterday, sat on my couch, and attempted to watch TV to decompress. Nothing would load. That’s when I looked over and noted the red light on my router. I pulled up the data from the router and found it hadn’t had a live connection for a few hours at that point.

For the rest of the night, I watched TV on my iPhone. Thankfully, I still had a cellular connection. But what if I didn’t? Public Enemy has a song called “When the Grid Goes Down…”, which talks about the systematic collapse that would be exposed if our networks and power grids were to fail. We rely on technology so much these days. It’s inescapable to a degree.

For the past 12 hours (aside from when I was sleeping), I’ve been self-analyzing, trying to notice my habits and moods during this time. I also made spaghetti dinner, actually taking the time to brown up some ground beef and playing around with seasonings a bit. I also spent some time in thought before going to bed early.

I grew up in a time before the internet was widely available. This meant things like video game consoles didn’t require an internet connection. Now, I might be able to still play a game, but the experience might not be as complete as if I had a connection. I didn’t have a seemingly infinite world of movies or music at my fingertips. Things were certainly different.

So, what the heck did I do before the internet? I went outside more. Then again, I had more energy when I was a kid. Things were definitely still more analog than digital, as the digital side wasn’t able to dominate everything yet. It accompanied life, but didn’t consume it. It’s that consumption in today’s world where I feel many people are longing for analog things again. People want vinyl records and cassette tapes, pen and paper, board games, and so on. People are wanting things that rely on them more than they rely on something outside of them, like electricity or internet connections. I think the technological advances that have occurred during my lifetime are extraordinary. But, too much of it removes our self-sufficiency and distracts us from connecting with ourselves and others on a deeper level. I can get why people unplug on Sundays, as it gives them a chance to focus on the things the internet sometimes pulls us away from.

Currently, I’ve been somewhat forced to unplug. I’m not totally disconnected from the world here. But that experience isn’t as rich as the one I usually have. I can’t watch TV on my actual TV. I can’t browse the web on my laptop. I can’t gain rewards on my video games and in some cases it won’t let me play them at all without a live connection. And those things make me not want to use those devices, or at least use them differently. I’m writing on my laptop now, but I won’t be able to publish this piece until I can get online again. This morning I woke up and didn’t automatically have music playing on my internet-connected speaker. It’s not the end of the world, I’m finding the silence somewhat relaxing this morning. It’s just a different experience.

In some ways, it sucks that we need computers for everything. I live in an apartment complex where I need a smartphone to pay for the washing machine. It’s convenient as heck when you have it, but what if you didn’t? Many concert venues are cashless now, favoring tap-to-pay systems. Not everyone has or even wants this. There are advantages and disadvantages, and I get it either way.

But, I do wonder what we would do if the network were to just go down. I think about places where they block the internet and wonder what that life is like with that limitation. I’m sure people make do, but it certainly wouldn’t be easy for some at first. Then again, do you miss what you never had in the first place? I think for those of us who live in a continuously connected society, there’s a moment where you have to think about what to do next. For me, I started cleaning my apartment, doing laundry, wiping off kitchen counters, cleaning off my dining room table, and so on. I have nothing to distract me, so things are getting done. I also considered the errands I could run and reached out to a friend. I feel like all of these are better than the alternatives of staring at YouTube videos and not getting this stuff done at all. Sometimes, it’s not all that bad to unplug, even if by force.