I just finished watching that episode in South Park where there's no Internet and although the accuracy is rather exaggerated, it brought up a good point.

For most of us it has become a daily routine, I for instance go online everyday to check up on the forum. And while some of us have encountered some downtime, I don't recall the WHOLE Internet being down in the recent years. It would be rather chaotic if such a thing occurred. How long do you thing you'd be able to "survive" with no Internet, by this I'm referring to world wide downtime?

BTW if anyone wants to watch the episode legally, go HERE

Well, with the high winds and storms that kick up around here because of the lakes, the power and internet go out often, sometimes for days at a time.

So I know the feeling. It isn't fun, but people manage.

Yeah, it's actually not that bad when it's only temporary but the thing is that it was only in your particular area. What I was referring to was a world wide thing, or even state wide. Take a state like NY for instance, at least 3 days of pure Internet downtime would cause several problems and not to mention a significant monetary loss for some.

It would also result in most of those MySpace addicts becoming "an hero".

GaMeR Wrote:It would also result in most of those MySpace addicts becoming "an hero".

And nothing of value was lost.

well if the whole internet went down the world would fall apart. all information would not be as up as date and no one is prepared for anything like that. stores would have to shut down because they wouldn't be able to take credit cards or anything like that.

yeah, isnt it sad how the human race cant live without it. omg no internet, how are we going to survive... think back before the 90... we did it just fine... jeez... makes me sad ; ;

We live around the technology so much now, that after a few days you really miss it. I remember going on vacation last year in December for the whole month. Half the time, all I could think about is how badly I wanted to get on and post at forums and say hello to my friends. But if you were away from it for a few months, you would get used to not having. I didn't have a computer when I was kid, now that I do, I don't know how I made it without one in my youth.

firo773 Wrote:stores would have to shut down because they wouldn't be able to take credit cards or anything like that.

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We have this thing, called real money. I think stores still take it, for the time being.

Anyhow, the world would function. You have to understand though, that the internet can't 'come down' like it did on Southpark. People don't understand that the 'main server' of the internet is in fact every single thing hooked up to the internet. If you can hook your computer up to your neighbors computer with a long cable, BOOM, you could call that the internet. All the internet is, is a whole bunch of computers and servers hooked together.

On the other hand, if say, all the satellites and such in Earths orbit came down, that could have a detrimental affect on the internet, as even 'cable' users are just paying for a connection to a larger dish that beams to a satellite.

So the internet can be 'crippled', but it collapsing as a whole would take the disappearance of every computer and server on the planet.

[/captain obvious]

I used to be really big on the internet, as in spend alot of my free time on the net, say about 6 hours a day, Then i kinda just stopped going on as often, because I went and got like a life(well nearly), once you get off the internet it's not that bad of a thing, come to think of, off all the people who go on the internet a day, it's kinda like a drug..don't they have Internet rehabs? I know they have one for gaming.

DeathNoteL Wrote:don't they have Internet rehabs? I know they have one for gaming.

Rehabs like that are a joke. Rehabilitation for drugs and such are legitimate because the chemicals they release in the brain causes a real and dangerous addiction, as opposed to video games and the internet which are just a habit people form. People like that need to learn the difference between addiction and habit.

I think those only exist because people like the food and tennis courses.