'Heaven or hell' if one day the Internet stops working?

For many people, life without the Internet for a few hours is unimaginable. So what if one day the Internet stops working? Its implications are things that you never want to know.

Experience try to leave the Internet

Jeff Hancock is a lecturer specializing in online social and psychological processes at Stanford University (USA). He was always excited to hand over big assignments on weekends to students so they could experience and discuss a problem on their own. Before 2008, Hancock challenged his students to not use the Internet for two days and then discussed the impact of it on themselves. The students simultaneously accepted the challenge.

But by 2009, everything was different."When I made the same request as in previous years, a wave of protest appeared in the class. My students flatly protested and argued that my assignment was irrational, unfair," Hancock said. share.

Do you dare to try not to use the Internet for a certain period of time?(Artwork: Getty).

They argue that not using the Internet for 2 days, even that time is a holiday, that they cannot complete the exercises of other classes and courses, ruining social life and making loved ones , their friends or family must worry.

Finally, the lecturer at Stanford had to give in and cancel the assignment. And since then, Hancock no longer thinks about handing over such exercises."That is the time of 2009. Now, with the current rapid growth, I don't know how students will react if I give that assignment. Not sure, they will report to Hancock said, the school board is about me because of this .

Internet is not "inviolable"

In theory, the Internet could be cut off or stopped all over the world for a certain period of time for many reasons. Network attack is one of them. Hackers can cause the Internet to stop working by launching software aimed at routers and devices that determine Internet traffic.

Turning off a domain name server can also cause a major Internet disruption , making it impossible for websites to load data. In addition, the damage to undersea cables also greatly affects the global network connection between this region and other regions. These underground cables are not easily destroyed, but sometimes unintended incidents still occur. In 2008, people in the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia were miserable when underground cables were broken or damaged three times. The governments of some countries also have dead nodes - when the button is pressed, the entire Internet in the country will stop working. The Egyptian government once did this during the period of the Arab Spring movement (2011) - to prevent protesters from communicating with each other.

Egypt used to use the "dead button" to turn off the entire Internet nationwide in the Arab Spring movement (2011).(Artwork: Getty).

The universe also has hidden dangers to the Internet. A big solar storm can destroy our satellites, electricity networks and computer systems."Solar sparks can do things that terrorists and bombs can't do," said David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Stanford University in the US.

No Internet: "Heaven or hell"

According to calculations, the impact of Internet shutdown on the economy is not too serious. In 2008, the US Department of Homeland Security asked Scott Borg, a scientist working at the US Network for Consequences of Disaster Recovery, to calculate what would happen if the Internet stopped working. Borg and his colleagues analyzed the effects on the US economy in the period from 2000 onwards. The results show that the effects are not as big as expected, at least from the time of losing a life of not more than 4 days.

In some cases, the loss of the Internet for a short time also increases productivity. Another study by Borg and colleagues analyzed what happened to a company when they lost their lives about 4 hours or more. Instead of sitting down with a computer, the company's employees do paperwork. The result is a boost for the job.

Short-term loss of life may also not affect travel and travel too much. Aircraft can still fly without the Internet, trains and buses are similar. However, long-term loss of life will have another impact. It makes it difficult for us to run our business.

When the telephone network stops working, people feel alone and uncomfortable.(Artwork: Getty).

However, psychological effects such as feeling isolated and anxious, will happen when the Internet is lost. "The global network is designed to be one purpose: Help people communicate with each other. We are connecting with people, anywhere or anytime. But what if we don't? Can you do that? The feeling of inadequacy, isolation will definitely come , " Hancock said.

A past incident has partly proved this. In 1975, the fire at New York Telephone Company paralyzed the entire Manhattan telephone network for 23 days. A survey conducted with 190 people after the telephone network was restored showed that 4 out of 5 people said they missed the telephone network, especially its ability to help them connect with families, friend. About two-thirds said they felt "alone" and "uncomfortable" and almost three-quarters said they felt more secure when the telephone network was restored.