Could you live without the Internet?

How you react to that question I think will depend on your age among other factors such as you job etc.  It's remarkable to think that the Internet is now some 50 years old and that the World Wide Web will turn 22 this year.  Yet in those 22 years the Web has evolved so much and brought about such a great dependence for us upon the Internet.

As I sat today using one of the apps on my phone I stopped and realised what I was doing, and how second-nature it had become.  To think that a few years ago, never mind a decade or two ago, using a phone for the plethora of activities the thousands of apps available provide is remarkable.  Take that away for a moment and consider that as technology moves forward and as we evolve with it, our mindsets changing, stepping back seems nigh impossible - in some circles even akin to heresy.

So ask yourself this, as you sit reading my blog on your PC, Tablet or Phone, or some other device as yet unimagined by me; as you sit with your internet connection which will likely be in the magnitude of megabits, could you imagine stepping back say 10 years and living with Internet via a dial-up connection?  That in itself is almost cringe-worthy to think of but go beyond it to the title of this post, could you live without the Internet?

Try banking, booking a holiday yourself without a travel agent, try writing and finding a media outlet that will let you share your thoughts with the world, try shopping for something you know not a single retailer within a 10 mile radius would sell, all without the aid of the Internet and you begin to realise how much we have become linked to our technology.

The older you are in reading this post the more likely you are to remember or have experienced life without the Internet.  I can remember this, as I was 11 when we first had dial-up Internet and from age 16 to 18 lived without Internet at home, only accessing it while in college.  I had a computer since I was around 5 years old, an Amstrad CPC-464 that had a green monochromatic display.  I have had and used computers without the Internet and think how much easier it makes life, I don't know how I could live without it now.  Don't get me wrong, I won't die if my Internet connection is cut off, what I am trying to say is that if it happened tomorrow that all of the UK was disconnected I think I along with many people would have to re-learn how to live without it.