The Day The World Stopped

Early in the morning, I woke up...

Well, I thought that it was early, but it wasn't.

I'd missed my alarm. Did I forget to set it? I checked my phone to make sure.

Looking at it, I realized that I had no new emails or notifications from any of my favorite social media apps. With a quick glance at the signal meter, I noticed the red X.

"Oh no, the internet is down," I breathed, "I knew this day would come."

I slid into my fuzzy unicorn slippers and shuffled downstairs. Flicking on the TV, I came face to face with a black screen. "I forgot. They use the internet to broadcast television these days," I grunted, throwing the remote to the floor. With a humph, I yanked open the refrigerator door. "NO MILK." I sighed, eyelids low as can possibly be without closing. "Looks like I have to go to the store."

I headed outside to the porch (still in my pajamas, mind you) and drew out my phone to summon an Uber. "Drat!" I screamed, almost throwing my phone onto the concrete-- but I didn't dare do that. My phone is far too valuable (I know, it's proven useless so far, but I might need it soon. You never know.)

So, instead of scheduling a lift from the app, I walked the whole two blocks over to the corner store. I saw several disgruntled people walking out empty-handed, but I pushed past them all and entered the shop. I headed straight to the dairy section and pulled a carton straight out of the cooler. To my surprise, the check-out line was very short. There was only one elderly man in front of me.

"I'm about ready to pull my money out of the stock market," he huffed to the cashier, "My broker told me that eCommerce was the way to go. I warned him that something like this was bound to happen, but NOOOO. No one wants to listen to the old guy."

"I heard that you can't pull any money out, sir," the cashier said back in a worried tone.

"Why not?" the man asked, eyes getting big.

"Well, sir, you see, all the funds and investments were calculated online. There's no longer any way to prove how much money is even in the market or who it even belongs to anymore," the cashier informed him sorrowfully.

"Why that's ridiculous!" the man wheezed, throwing his hands up, "Absolutely absurd!"

The cashier shook his head as the man walked off angrily. "Next!" he called to me. I stepped up and placed my carton of milk on the counter. As he scanned it, I fumbled around in my pockets to find my credit card. "Drat! I left my debit at home... can I use...?" Before I could pull out my phone, the cashier shook his head. "Our card reader is down because it's based on the internet, too," he said in a very rehearsed tone, lowering his eyebrows, "And your Apple pay or Google Wallet will not work either because all the phones are offline." (I could tell that he had probably quoted that dreadful little script about seventy-five times today.)

"GAAAH!" I growled as I exited the store. "Don't even waste your time," I drawled to the oncoming customers. Shoulders hunched, I sulked back home.

I plopped down in my chair and did absolutely nothing. There were no social media pages to gossip on, there were no channels to broadcast the buzzing news on, I couldn't play many apps because most of those required an internet connection. I couldn't even watch any movies, listen to any music, or view any pictures because those things were all uploaded to the CLOUD that had unfortunately disappeared. The world had officially stopped.

Now forced to slow down, I wondered what kinds of things people used to do before the internet. Of course, I would need to use things that I already had at home because I was now officially broke (I had money in the bank, but since everything was run over the net, I couldn't even withdraw anything, let alone check my balance). I looked around my little livingroom, wracking my brain for ideas. I could write or draw (on real paper), play real board games, or card games. I could read physical books. I could go "exploring" outside and actually see for myself what the weather was like instead of asking Alexa. I could dust off the old guitar and make my own music. I could actually go next door and talk to my neighbor face to face instead of messaging her over Facebook...

As I filled my day with good, old-fashioned, non-electronic fun, I fell asleep feeling fulfilled.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early (for real this time) to multiple dings and pings-- most likely 'status updates' from yesterday.

I glanced at my phone--- and powered it off.

I think I'd like to go at least one more day without internet...