What if one day you wake up and check your phone, but there’s no connection? You check the Wi-Fi signal and service provider, but neither is working.
Movies such as the 2023 mystery thriller “Leave the World Behind” depict the disasters that could ensue after the loss of the internet, with communications, transportation and even defense being halted.
But the possibility of the internet going down isn’t all sci-fi, as solar flares occurring this April could potentially impact technology, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
So, have we as a society become so dependent on technology that the absence of it would cause a societal breakdown?
The last global phenomenon we all faced was the COVID-19 pandemic, and we’re coming up on four years now since the world shut down and the lives of many were changed forever. But even then, we had access to technology, which helped keep people connected and made education and work go remote.
In fact, one could argue the pandemic made us even more dependent on technology by forcing us to find new ways of applying it toward making life easier.
But what would happen in the complete opposite scenario?
What if there was no health epidemic, no extreme weather and no environmental disaster, if only the internet was gone?
Would this lead to social unrest, looting and the breakdown of society? Or would people still get up and go to work or school every day, pay cash for what they buy in the grocery store and socialize in person?
For almost all of human history, people lived without technology. Looking back to only 40 years ago, cell phones weren’t widely available, and social media was unheard of.
So, we know it’s possible. It’s possible to go from one way of life to another overnight, staying at home and working remotely and going back to how things used to be. Society is flexible and can balance and adjust to a new reality.
And it may just be necessary.
Since Monday, March 25, we’ve been under a “moderate geomagnetic storm watch,” according to NOAA.
This type of storm, classified as a G2 by the agency, could potentially impact power systems and damage transformers. Geomagnetic storms are judged on a scale from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme). Despite being labeled as “moderate,” a G2 storm would be the second highest ever recorded by NOAA.
The storm is a result of a coronal mass ejection, which is when plasma and a magnetic field burst from the sun’s corona. The CME that occurred on Saturday, March 23, led to an X-class solar flare, the strongest type of flare.
More of these flares are possible through Wednesday, March 27, according to NOAA forecasters.
What is depicted in the movies could very much become a reality. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Our reaction to crises can have a greater impact than the crisis itself, and we can either turn against our neighbors or unite in solidarity. Internet breakdown or not, the only way to move forward is to show humanity in the face of disaster.
Isabella Albertini is a 23-year-old mass communication junior from Lima, Peru.
