I was walking along the road browsing the web on my phone trying not to bump into people. Occasionally I could hear a tut and see a disapproving shake of the head at my seeming internet addiction. Ah, but what did they know? It's the 21st century after all!
The journey home usually took about 30 minutes. I was typing out a message to my wife about ten minutes into my walk when a notification popped up.
Internet is not available.
What? What in the blazes? I must be in a dead spot. I walked on a bit further, hmm, still no internet. This was very odd. There wasn't even a weak signal.
I raised my phone up above my head to see if I could get a better reception.
Nothing.
I waved it about a bit.
Still nothing.
Gaar, what was going on? Was the Internet broken? I looked around for obvious signs. There was nothing too obvious. No aeroplanes falling out of the sky, no burst water mains or traffic pile-ups. That was odd? If the internet really was broken that's what you always saw in the movies. Had I been sold a pup?
I switched my phone off then on. That was always a winner. However, when the phone rebooted it still showed the same symbol in the notifications bar. This was a disaster. I had a sudden and aching need to have access to the internet. What if right now some wildly important message had just been emailed to me, or sent by WhatsApp? What if the sky was falling down? Surely someone would have to go and tell the King?
I saw a library to my left. Phew. I quickly dived in, they were bound to have wifi. I could at least reassure myself that there were no immediate emergencies going on in the world that I would have to deal with. Not that I am some kind of superhero you understand. No no, I am just a normal bloke although I do have a pair of Superman pants. I shall venture no further with that story though.
All was quiet in the library. I ran over to the reception desk.
Do you have the internet?
I asked somewhat frantically.
The lady behind the desk sniggered.
We have wifi if that is what you are asking?
Yes, please. Can I have the password?
Are you a member?
I scoffed. A member of the library? What was this, the eighties? Were people still members of libraries?
Eh no, afraid not. I just need the internets.
She bent over and pulled a big looking application form out from under the desk.
Please return this with evidence of your address and we will process your application.
I kinda need the internet just now, I don't have evidence of my address on me.
The kind lady smirked.
Then no internets for you young man.
We faced each other over the counter. I tried to break her will by the sheer force of my gaze but it didn't seem to work. Dammit!
I skulked away huffily like a cat that has mistakenly eaten some Tofu-rkey.
Eventually, I got home. I was in a high state of anxiety that I had been without the internet for a mammoth 20 odd minutes. Was this how people felt in the 20th century? How did they cope? I mean, you can't sing songs around a piano all the time, can you?
As I entered the house my phone vibrated with the familiar buzz of notifications flooding in. That was a relief, at least the whole internet wasn't broken and it seemed to only be my network provider.
I whipped my phone out and checked the message. Was it my mum? My wife? Someone from the future with dire advice about next week?
It was an email.
Dear Sir, You could be eligible for 600,000 dollars! Don't miss out, CLICK HERE
AAAARRRRRRGH!!
So tell me. How do you cope when your access to the internet goes down? Are you bothered? Are you like me, your stomach aches as if you have eaten a raw otter? Is it like living in black and white?
Let us know in the comments!
All pictures created by me. Yep, even the GIF.
Authored by: @meesterboom
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Thank you!
Well done expression
You must try this adventure with your will ..
Fun recklessness I guess
I loved the chicken little reference on the post! THE SKY IS FALLING!
I'm from Venezuela and i have learned to cope with lack of internet access with sheer willpower, i will suddenly be browsing the internet, steemit or youtube and suddenly puff... The dreaded chrome t-rex appears, sometimes it goes away for a few minutes sometimes for a few hours... sometimes for a few days...
Last December was terrible for me, i had no internet access from December 6th to December 26th, i only had some megabytes thanks to my phone, but it was terrible, my main source of internet was down for 20 days and worse of all, we had to bribe the government workers to fix it... so yeah, its hard down here.
I am so glad you got it, I love that story!
Yeah that sounds rough. I have spoken to people from Venezuela who have said similar things. I feel your pain and hope it improves
Your answer made me really understand how good I have it with internet access. I get furious when I have to walk from the back of my house to the front in order to be closer to the modem so I can watch that funny kitten video. I now feel very spoiled! Thanks so much for the perspective <3
Hola,sorry to here that, hope things are better now
Internet is LIFE
Internet is everything
I feel like that sometimes. I tried not to be a victim of addiction but I guess its already in my genes. I'm hooked up online for many years now. But I try to moderate sometimes by going outside and walk. Its been a struggle and a journey how we get rid of this online addiction. Its hard to maintain the balance in our lives.
I sometimes get irritated immediately when the internet goes bad even in just a second.
I guess we have to try some experiments in ourselves. Offline for a day, then try offline for a week, then for a month and then for a year. And then maybe for life, because someday we will reach that time when we no longer be online, you know what I mean.
Anyways, I love the post pretty much!
Thank you! And more power @meesterboom!
I do know what you mean! I could present a counter argument. If we will all ultimately be offline then why shouldn't we spend as much time online as possible.
. Hehe, don't worry, I don't really believe that. It is all about balance in the end. Although I hope I live to see the day we have chips implanted in it head with access to the internet ;0)
Chip implantation in our heads will happen maybe a century from now lol
I had better start eating more greens ;0)
Yep, eat fruits and vegetables. Don't eat processed or manufactured foods. Lol!
This is a fun story, sometimes the need for Internet is so great that it can cause panic :) I liked the story
Once I had a tense situation at a time when access to the Internet was lost. I was on a difficult exam and accurately photographed the task. I ruled this photo to my friend, who had to solve it and send the decision back to me. For the transfer, I used viber (it may not be familiar to you, but it's popular here, analog WhatsApp ). The exam was intense and so I was worried. Phones were banned, it added complexity to the whole operation :)
After 10 minutes, I began to worry more, because the message from a friend did not come. I took out a phone to check it and found out that I had lost access to the Internet. It surprised me, how ?!
At the right time, the Internet just disappeared. I began to reboot my phone but this did not bring results. Frankly, it was exciting.
The time of the exam expired and decided to break free and solve the problem himself. It turned out "not very good".
But the miracle happened on the last minutes of the exam. The Internet appeared :) and I managed to write everything.
If interested, then I passed the exam perfectly.
Here such there are moments when the Internet can fail you. (but probably not the Internet, but a smartphone or an access point :)
Thank you
I enjoyed your tale and am glad it worked out!
Thanks for reading and commenting!
The pictures fit perfectly in the story. Especially the cat is so cute..really enjoy reading your posts.
please vote https://busy.org/story/@dre87/gayo-custom-clothes-bilingual
Yh
I was at work about a week ago I had just placed a trade on binance and then my cell phone died. Because of my job binance is a no go and I was in a panic non stop for the next hour thinking of the trade I made. Lunch came I ran to the car plugged phone into charger and logged into binance only to see the trade never got filled. At this moment I realized I was addicted. So i have made a point to force myself off the internet daily since then to read a self help book that focus on peace of mind. The internet should be a tool to better our life not rule it. We can do things like hug a loved one share a cup of coffee with a significant other or play ball with the kids. Take time to enjoy life the internet will be there.
It is funny that you say that because I have enforced a file in myself to internet less and read more. It is working quite well. When my internet went off here I was also looking at a trade among other things which is what drove me into a panic. Less time on the internet is good
I made a decision a year ago to go easy with the internet.
Now I have to care for my mum since my brother passed away last Thursday (January 18). It's fun cos I get free meals and go to bed early while staying with her.
But I've urged my sister and #2niece to visit her often.
One of side effects of her mental health is a codependency that leads to her big anxiety attack if I mention I want to get out and do my own shit.
So I'm glad for the internet. My future plan with me mum is to get her watching videos on the tablet one day. I mean, there's only so much television programming as it is, given how cable has gone to pot with the crap they broadcast these days.
My goal is to teach her how to troll on the internet. We'll see how that pans out...
Just make sure you also incorporate time to take breaks and enjoy the good things life has to offer as that will also help with the anxiety. I honestly think teaching her to troll the web while being humorous could also increases that stress. All things can be good in moderation my friend.
Sometimes is as if someone just turn off my light years.
Just to add... here we also have the issue of power supply. So what's worse than no internet is a dead phone.
The people in the 80's did survive because they didn't know about the internet but in this age nothing compares to the desire to stay connected.
That is very true, if you haven't had it then you won't miss it. I am grateful that we don't get power outs here so much!
I feel like this isn’t as much an addiction, but the reality we live in. If everyone was off line, you’d be the weird guy for always being online. But since everyone is always online all the time, you have to be the outcast to be offline and unavailable.
A nice twist on the viewpoint yes, I like it!
Oh how aggrevatingly true that is. I Almost wish I was still that weird guy who was still unconnected from it all... Almost being the operative word of course XD
Great stuff @adsactly ! Really enjoyed the story! It is amazing to witness how the internet is fully integrated in our lives... Hope we get to a point of decentralisation in any aspect of our lifes where the blockchain is as ubiquitous as the the internet nowdays is . Cheers mate! Greetings from Spain!
Hola amigo! I hope the same, the blockchain is the future!
Definitely @meesterboom ! It is as disruptive to change the world as the internet itself! Greetings from Spain amigo! Un abrazo! Upvoted & followed
My internet is really slow here and at times it's unusable when that happens I want to scream and throw my laptop out the window, as I'm loosing money on steemit! It's even worse when I'm trying to trade, Kraken was such a pain!
Kraken is and can be terrible at loading even when your connection is great. I feel your pain there!
i agree with that.. kraken sometimes is terrible..
Whats up guys. I just voted for @adsactly-witness as a witness. Keep up the great blogs
Excellent, thank you!
This made me laugh so hard, I miss childhood :(
About the internet, even though I get twitchy when I involuntary have no access to the internet (talk about network downtime and deadzones), I feel it a bit handy to pick up a book to read. So the internet thankfully doesn't have that adverse effect on me.
I love reading. Add a result of my panic I am blue making a conscious effort to read more not online.
Hehe, childhood memories rawk!
I was once out of civilisation there no internet in the area for a whole twenty four hours. It was nice seeing people 🙃
Sorry about that
Twenty four hours!? I can only imagine the horror ;0)
Lol😀😀😀
Funny read! When the internet goes down it doesn't really bother me. Only if I have to submit something with a deadline, like taxes. Or if I put the kids in daycare to have some me time, and I can't download my newest game.... Then it is pretty annoying!
I could tell you we getting on a roll there as you see started to list our all the things you used it for ;0)
Yes, I noticed that too!
I would totally freak out just like you
Internet is like our mind working
If it its switched off
There goes a bam
Hehe, yeah, there was a bit of a freakout lol
I connect with this article a lot. We have terrible internet here in Australia as most of you probably know. This is what I'm currently sitting on,
and today is a good day.
My speeds drop to 0.30Mbps whenever it rains and that's so slow doing anything important over the internet impossible, It frustrates me to no end and I end up less productive because I get annoyed with it. Our constant access to the hive mind we call the internet has driven us to addiction!
I am totally surprised by that. I thought that down in Oz you would have stonking fast and reliable internet! Is this the same all over our is it better in cities and poor out with?
They've been in the process of rolling out the "NBN" National Broadband Network. But that's only Fibre to the Node so its not exactly the next big step. I've heard from people in Melbourne that the universities have generally good internet, and if you're in the right area you could have FTTP but it's not too common. Generally yes though in the cities is much better up to a couple hundred Mbps.
love the story and writing.i totally can relate , sometimes if I forget my earpiece or forget to. Charge my phone on 1 and half hour train ride from work to home, o just felt like dying .. hehe
The dread battery thing can be quite the stomach clenching anxiety! I hate that
That Chicken little Reference though, lmao
Wow!! Funny that I bump into this post on my trending. Yesterday and this morning till about 6:15am I didn’t have internet either unless it was with WiFi. I don’t understand how or why because my calls were going thru, except no internet connection and no IMESSAGE! I called T-Mobile right away like “hello what in the world is going on????” It was so weird to me and I noticed when I was at the supermarket yesterday trying to FaceTime my mom. When I got home I had WiFi so I didn’t realize my internet was actually down. Yup totally panicked just like you haha! You’re not alone, that’s what technology has done to us. It is what it is!
It's shocking that it affects us so isn't it!! 21st century living! ;0)
Lol... What a lovely story teller you are..
I think you explain the story of every person on this planet with amazing humor and suspense...
You 110% right about it... I even didn't touch my phone if there is no interenet.. Mobile become useless without net....
Thanks for sharing such a fabulous post... 👍🏻
And thank you for such a fabulous comment :0)
Here in Indonesia, I guess people from most of the places experience that like 6 out of 7. I only feel like it is the end of the world if I left the phone and the charger at home. I'm still living the beginning of 20th century here though. Where you pay expensive for the internet but it's often on and off, on and on and on. Lucky I never had a hand rise dance for signal yet @adsactly. It's funny for me to know that you feel like the sky is falling down just because you lost your internet signal. :lol:
Oh, yeah. Don't get me started on the charger/battery scenario!! That used to be my pet hate above and beyond anything else. The fear as the phone dies!!
Lol great great story .. Funny too ... You have a pair of superman's pant ..haha.. Well I'm in a country where the Internet reception is not encouraging... so it's always very difficult and frustrating when the Internet goes down and believe me it happens often ... Some might say I should be used to it but common !!! It's not a thing to get used to.. I panic just like you .. Wondering what's going on in the outside world... It just makes me feel disconnected from the rest of the world ... It's not a pleasant experience
Hehe, glad you noticed the superman's pants but!
It's terrible and people hate to admit it but yeah as a society we are terribly addicted to the internet's!
It's really interesting and funny @adsactly. Yup! I am also bothered when there is no access to Internet. I have also same feelings without internet access on my mobile. It's really tough to walk without Internet access.
All the pictures are really amazing that you have created.
Thank for sharing your fun with us.
Well thank you, I enjoyed creating the pictures!
@adsactly
this is exactly the way i love starting my steeming hot day. reading from my buddy @adsactly . i must confess you are even lucky to be sand witched by wifi as such being online is a necessity. what of folks who being a line is luxury. they pay for expensive internet which hardly comes online. or always low service that is what folks in developing world experience coupled with epileptic power supply to charge up the batteries! That is exactly what i wanted to point out for adsactly. upped for witeness
It is a good way to start the day! Sometimes it's easy to forget how lucky we can be having any internet!
Sure. Nice one as always sir
I already knew from the little pictures that it was the funny author.
For me, the Internet is a want not a need. Back when I was younger, I was using dial-up modem which was very slow. Now, I had a 1 Gbps Fiber Broadband. We are seeing a rapid change in technology.
If the Internet was to go down right this moment, I would just read books in the library near my house. Upvoted, funny man!
Haha, Cheers dude! I like the funny man ;0)
I hope you are a member of that library!!
I was lucky enough to be born at a time to have a childhood without internet, teens when it was new, but no social networking yet, and now my adulthood career in the computer world. I have seen it grow and expand into something that we only speculated about when I was young. For me, when the network goes down at work or at home, I dont really get all that anxious. I remember a time without it and the world was just fine. ;) thanks for sharing!
I remember those times too. Ironically my phone's autocorrect changed remember to regret!I will try and remember those times next time it happens
Just recently the internet was down at home. I looked at the laptop not knowing what else you can do with it.
I think it can hold paper down quite well ;0)
Lol... Your story is an interesting one. Well, I don't intend this to be ugly, but here in Nigeria, there are those who are absolutely oblivious to what what internet is.
We subscribe to internet bundles from service providers to have access to the internet. Trust me, here we stay days and months without accessing the internet and no one gets frantic.
The problem is in when we build our life on and around the internet. While it is convenient, it also has its down side too. I think and recommend a reduction on internet dependence.
Things worked and still can work without the internet.
Dont worry, I know these things. I tend to the dramatic when I write :O)
I did feel a momentary panic when I was offline though asI was putting through a trade!
🤣hahahaha. Yep! The internet did break! I for one usually feel cut off from the world! and honestly I don't like that feeling!! Wish I could control it! Like you got home and your notifications did not show any real emergency. we all need to realize that it ain't that hard being without internet for a few minutes!! Can be tough on your total well being though. 😁
That's right, you get that terrible dear that you have missed something important and then you get access back and nothing!! Thanks for your comment!
Its really sad when internet subscription is made for a month and I don't enjoy it at all. Sometimes here in Nigeria. The internet subscription would expire without exhausting it. Sometimes ago, I was told to send a work resume to a company through the email but my internet went off. I started begging people around for who has internet.
Too bad .
I hope you got it sent in the end :0)
yes I did the next day. I wish to have internet always but don't think its possible here .
When the access of internet goes down, I do whatever it takes to get it back. If that does not work, than I am angry and anxious for some time. Maybe it sad or whatever, but I could not imagine life whiteout internet.
I understand completely! It is hard at times to go without it
sometimes ... just sometimes .... we all need a little 'digital detox'
if i get the chance, once a month, i try to switch it ALL off for a few hours!
It's an uplifting thing!
I can not spend my time playing the internet, but global addiction has made me so. But I do not want to blame the times, it's my own fault that has made the internet part of my life.
when intrnet access drops. Immediately a new wi-fi cleaning. If I can not find it, change the place. I will use mobile data if I can not find it again. If you do not have mobile data, you go crazy. Yeah, I'm an internet addict.
It's a big club that we are in!
Absolutley
And a good one :0)
hahah :)))
I can't imagine life now without internet! It's been so very helpful to mankind. It also resolves ignorance. Hahaha
Internet is second blood no one can live without that .....Well good one
Nice story. Thanks for sharing.
thanks, your post! have a nice day.
Great post i really like it a lot, i can relate because I went to Kenya for a month and i didn't have access to internet or anything related to technology. I think it's very important to disconnect from everything for a while and just live in moment! I really like your post so please keep on posting! I hope you have a great day!
A whole month! Wow, the is a part of me that yearns for such a thing
Life without internet uncomplete. Good work. Wish you avery happy and bright future. I resteem your post.
when internet is broke, sky will fall on your head.
I once woke up to a world without internets. No new emails, no texts, no calls even; suspicious.
I guess I'm the first one up! I brushed my teeth, nothing. Took a shower, nothing! Had I lost my job and no one told me? Am I in a Truman-show-type reality and today is the day I find out? I need to find a boat, I thought. I'm distracted.
I drove to my office, the radio worked. The topic of discussion? An accident and an anti-fracking protest at the capital. What? Certainly someone was going to address this internet thing. Somebody out there was going to empathize with me. Not a word about it. I arrived at work.
The receptionist greeted me "good morning" - this was a good sign. I made my way upstairs, my things were still in my office. An even better sign. I hadn't lost my job! I thought I was going crazy, but everything is the same, just quieter. That day was just a slow-start, non-emergent, nothing pressing kind of Monday morning, wow - what a relief!
"There you are!" my boss exclaimed as he appeared in the doorway of my office.
"Hey! Good morning, man!" I replied, "wow, what I quiet morning! I was freaking out on the way to work, no calls, no emails, I thought the internet was broken!" I laughed, "You know," I continued, "...it's days like today that I really appreciate my job. No hassles, no stress, no emergencies. Don't get me wrong... I enjoy the tough times too, but every once-in-a-while" I laughed again "...it's nice to come in to the office with a clear, calm mind, and..."
"I'm going to stop you right there" he sharply replied. "Not only have I been trying to get a hold of you all morning, but so has everyone else, shit has hit the fan with your accounts, no one received orders and they all claim to have sent them directly to you last night! We are seriously f*cked here - - why you weren't getting back to us is literally all anyone has been talking about this morning!"
"My phone!" I started "has no connection!" I threw it to him, panicked. "I have not received a single call, no texts, I have been looking..."
He tossed it back "It was on airplane mode", he said, "you have some calls to make."
It began lighting up with notifications like nothing I had ever seen. The individual "dings" resembled a long, off putting ringtone reminiscent of ones I created on the Nokia 3310 as a kid. Wide-eyed, I watched more than 40 messages come through, one after another.
I set it on my desk and looked at my boss.
"I have some calls to make..."
This is a nightmare
Great story. Thank you for sharing. I completely agree with you.
I love the 80'sreference on the post.!
The music and rock of the concert. 
The 80's was the best decade ever, That leads us to the future now. The reasons why the 80's was the best comprised the hair accessory that Just won't Quit( Scrunchie ) which was invented that period.
The awesome movies of the 80's was most interesting than nowadays,the thriller,action,suspense and lesson..the breakfast club and the flashdance taught us to chase our dreams ,no matter the odd. The game ( pac man) was the interesting .Oh and we can't forget the blue eyes, which has now advance to the style of woman world.
We are the future now and together we can build the world to greatness.
Wow the internet is so helpful
I remember my anxiety back in 2012 when the world was gonna end, also I remember my anxiety in 2013 when NASA was shooting up shit with the chance of creating black holes. Now I am dead from inside, 0 feelings left. I'm damaged lol.
I've experienced this before When I joined steemit newly..
it was not a nice experience though.. I was travelling back home from school and was on steemit trying to learn new things.. At the peak of it, I got no response... Argg! What was happening? "my data again? " I said to myself as I checked my balance..
I flipped up and realized it was network.. I turn on the flight mode and turn it off again(the normal remedy) but nothing changed.. You could imagine how I felt now as a newbie.. After a long ride, I saw a weak signal and I was happy at least.. Minutes later, everything got back well And I continued.. I must say the experience was frustrating
When the internet is out, I get to be resourceful. I'd be a technician or an IT professional just for it to be back again. Lol