Life without the internet

Tomorrow the internet will cease to exist. Tomorrow we will be forced to slow down. No more communications at the speed of light. No more constant updates, up to the minute reports, mechanical beeps and buzzes telling us the world around us is moving. Information will not be an express way any longer. Instead, it will spread and grow organically – building instead of flashes of brilliance that blaze out quickly.

We will loose the ability to simply push a button to find what we are searching for. But, in this loss we will be returning to processes that we have begun to forget. There is something special in the journey that takes you to an answer. It is something that cannot be measured or achieved with button pushing.

The internet has made our world smaller. Creating communities of people separated by many miles and oceans. We support each other, encourage each other, and challenge each other. But while the world far away has come close through the internet, we may loose touch with those close at hand – our neighbors, our families. Without the internet the world will grow larger and international community may be impractical, but community will not be lost. We are not isolated (unless maybe you live in a remote research station in the frozen tundra). When we cannot turn to the machine that connects us we can turn to the people that are close. Build our communities, nurture each other, and grow.

Tomorrow the internet will cease to exist. But let us remember the things most important – to build a better world. That can start in our home, with our families, with our local communities. It does not require instantaneous communication or lightening speed answers. It only takes a smile, an outstretched hand, an open heart.

**Mabel's Labels is running a contest - Mabel’s Labels BlogHer ‘10 Contest. The winning prize is a trip to BlogHer and a position blogging for Mabel's Labels - how cool!! They gave the following writing prompt: "Electrical storms are going to wipe out the Internet (perhaps forever). You have one day left to write about your passions: what do you want to say to the blogosphere in 300 words or less?". This post is my response to it.