Pre internet

I agree NanaMacGeek - our reliance on the internet has made our civilisation very vulnerable in ways we do not see. Unless you are already living "off the grid" it would soon cause chaos. I don't think Gransnet or any social site would be a priority in that situation. If we were to go back to pre internet days safely it would have to be done gradually. However, I live in hope that our obsession will run its course and our youngsters will rediscover personal contact. Of course they will then claim that they invented it!

For interest, read a very short story by the prophetic H.G.Wells called "When the Machine stops". Food for thought.

Being disabled, I'd be stuffed. Although I still do write letters to people, I really need the Internet for shopping, banking etc. I live in the countryside without a car and the bus service is abysmal.

Going back to 1970 when I married our first house didn't have a phone and neither did our friends so we wrote letters.
We didn't have a car so we rode trams and buses or walked.
We used the library to do research.
We used referenced books for information.
I used manual typewriters.
We didn't have credit or debit cards just used cash.
Disn't have ATM machine so visited the bank.
No online shopping so visited the local shops.
It goes on and on.
Having said that I would miss my laptop especially for research and miss my friends and family who are on the phone and my washing machine etc.
I only bought an I Phone last year and it is wonderful.
BUT there was a life before technology and the human race would survive if we no longer had it.

The internet isn't just about sharing photos of our meals, Instagram or getting a huge YouTube following. It routinely underpins running government (such as it is), defence, utilities, essential services, news, telecoms, transport, libraries, stocks and shares, banking etc. Without the services supplied via the internet, these would stop (not always for obvious reasons) and chaos would follow while armies of technicians tried to get them online again. Does anyone remember the damage caused by ransomware in the NHS? We might get around losing one or two of these services temporarily, there will have been contingency planning, but not all of them at once. How can anyone think we can just go back to the old ways?

And what is the point of connecting 2 computers by cable except to back one up to the other? If your power goes off, the batteries won't last long anyway. What can you do with a standalone computer without any external connection (if you think a modem would still send messages without the internet, you're going to be disappointed). A typewriter, a photo album and a pack of playing cards or scrabble tiles would probably serve you better.

Don't buy a smart phone if you don't want one (although it still uses smart systems). If you don't like social media, you don't have to use it either. We must all enjoy GN though, or we wouldn't be posting.

My first thought when I read this post was that I couldn't pay any of my bills, which I do online.

I would have to apply for more hours home-care so my carer could take me to the supermarket and identify everything I needed on the shelves, things I can no longer see. Currently I can do that online.

I wouldn't be able to keep in touch with family and friends other than by writing but if they wrote back, I would not be able to see it as it's a long time since I was able to read.

I had a computer in the pre-Internet days when one had to program the machine to tell your modem to dial and then FTP if you wanted to upload or download, and more programming if you wanted to look on Bulletin Boards (often called the poor man's Internet).

There was no browser and putting up your own webpage meant hours of laboriously writing HTML where just one dot misplaced could ruin the whole lot.

I miss those days, it was great fun but I could not live independently at home now if it were not for the Internet.

"How would it impact a site such as Gransnet?" Well, the impact on Gransnet itself would be, of course, that no-one at all could use it or edit it, so it would die.

The people who have met through Gransnet and become real-life friends would continue to be friends and to exchange news and meet. They know one another's real names and phone numbers.

Finding information can still be done the old way. Letters, publications, books, and libraries all still exist. So do word of mouth and talking to other people.

If public utilities that use the net have any sense, they have contingency plans for continuing to operate without internet access. I assume that the original poster does mean if just the internet crashed, not individual computers? Computers do work perfectly well in isolation or when connected to one another by a cable, you know.

I love the ease of the internet for looking for recipes, crochet patterns and information in general. I wouldn't worry if it suddenly disappeared as long as there is still the library and book shops. I wouldn't miss social media as Gransnet is the only such thing I subscribe to. I could never understand the appeal of Facebook, Instagram etc.

EllanVannin I gave up on mobile phones for ages, but Mr P bought me one for Christmas, after a car related incident (flat tyre, no proper spare) and I must admit that living in a rural areas with very few phone boxes, I think it makes sense to have one.

I expect we'd cope if we were forced into it. We 'oldies' had to learn many things the hard way (such as typing titles on the centre of a page by counting the letters, etc) and some jobs were quite laborious.
We'd have to use our initiative more which in itself isn't a bad thing.

I believe that many people do not realise that such organisations as the National Grid now entirely run and rely on the internet. With remote switching of large sub-stations etc life would soon be at a very dark stop if all that suddenly went down.

Even the good old fashioned radio would not be available to listen to what's going on in the crisis. That's why the European Union are launching thirteen new communication satellites to try and ensure better security.

I have been on the internet since 1993. Well before 'social media' there were many other forums, at least one of which is still going. I need it to keep in touch with family, friends and the world in general

As long as my computer was working in standalone mode, it wouldn't bother me, we would all, individuals, government, industry, be in the same boat. We would have television and radio as well as being able to make phone calls so we could keep up with what is happening in dealing with the crisis by listening to the radio and still ring friends and family.

Human beings are very adaptable and I am sure we would soon find ways of coping. Those of us who have lived without the internet in our youth would have a head start in managing, but I rather like the idea of going back to libraries to do research information or looking through books.

Those we owe money to would soon restart sending paper bills. Banks would have to rush to re-open branches or have travelling banks going round shopping centres paying out cash against cheques.

I think everyone would adapt quite quickly.

As it is I'm just about coping with a very old laptop which keeps shutting off but I'm learning to live with it while the new one is being repaired.
I don't possess a mobile phone------from choice so what you don't have you don't miss. Why would I want/need the bother of one when I have a land-line ?
I don't do Facebook and I'm not signed in to Twitter----only this site.

Twitter can be lovely! In fact, my twitter always is.

I understand what you are saying and agree Grandad1943 . On a personal level though I feel much the same as Septimia books, letters phone etc. Sometimes I think it would be good to wipe out FB, Twitter etc and start again with better models.

We simply would not survive without the internet. Virtually all companies use cloud storage for data; email has completely replaced the post, smartphones are even replacing desktop computers.

So without the internet, you could not even draw cash from a bank. Life has moved on just in the same way that the car replaced the horse for transport.

I could manage very easily and would quite welcome it.Driving my 12 year old grandchildren to school last week,we passed several bus stops where every child was on a mobile phone.I said that it would be nicer if they just talked to each other whereupon my grandson said we call people who say that "Vintage."Well I am quite happy to be vintage ! I do enjoy Gransnet though.?

I did manage without GN for two years. It was ok. I went over to Twitter. I wouldn't want to be without any online connection to the outside world.

I would hate to be without Google Messenger. And Google itself.

It has become an integral part of our lives. The obvious answers are: phone, letters and reference books. I would miss it, though.....