Speculating on life without the Internet is something which largely fills me with trepidation and with dread. In the past few years, the Internet has become the medium through which I conduct so many different aspects of my life that were it suddenly to be deprived me, my whole life would be turned upon its head.
The Internet, first and foremost, is the means by which I operate and conduct my business. Although I do have several different business interests, they have slowly developed to the stage where each and every one of them is conducted exclusively online. Without Internet access, I would be unable to administer my business interests, develop them or indeed earn the money which forms my daily bread. In the absence of the Internet, I would have to do what has been sometimes subtly and sometimes not so subtly suggested to me in recent years: get a “proper” job!
Life without the Internet would also cut me off from so many people with whom I communicate, not only for business purposes but for personal reasons as well. I have become so accustomed to e-mailing business associates or friends around the world on a regular basis that not being able to do so would to a very large extent leave me feeling cut-off and isolated. The world would in this respect become a much lonelier place.
Information is something which I would also largely be denied in a life without the Internet. Google searches, favourite Websites and the likes have become so important to me for research purposes and for staying abreast of what is happening in the world that I would be forced to start buying daily newspapers again and visiting the reference section of my local library on an extremely frequent basis.
It has to be acknowledged, however, that every coin is a two-sided one and perhaps life without the Internet would put me in touch once again with certain aspects of humanity from which I have slowly but inexorably become detached. Although I am by no means an Internet junkie, cut off from all social contact by the virtual world in which I spend most of my time, I do on occasion miss the interaction with “real-life” work colleagues and customers which used to form such a large part of my day.
Speculating on life without the Internet is therefore akin to contemplating a whole renewal and revision of my life circumstances and patterns and not a subject I care to dwell upon too long at this point in my existence. Hopefully, the speculation in this respect will therefore not become reality.