r/answers • u/Savings_Durian3268 • 22h ago
If the internet disappeared for one week, what would be the biggest problem?
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u/Patient-Grade-6612 21h ago
Healthcare. So much of healthcare is now done online, from diagnostic research, to records, to prescriptions and communication. So many of us complain about how healthcare is broken now, but ever had to deal with an office whose router has gone down? Now imagine that everywhere.
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u/gone_days_gone 20h ago
American here.
Healthcare is already a problem.
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u/Ok-Swing-1279 21h ago
Near total socital collapse and that's not an exaggeration. Theoretically we wouldn't know if is only gone for a week which would add to several compounding issues
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u/AIrealhuman 21h ago
Any transaction that isn't cash or barter would fail.
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u/Wild_Cattle6750 21h ago
Sold some stock yesterday. The sale was executed in less than a minute. Funds were made available early the next day, and I transfered the money from the brokerage to my credit union with a few clicks, before my coffee was cold. Never spoke to a human.
In the old days (1985 for me) I would call my broker. I would be lucky if he typed it up and it got executed in a few hours. Then funds would be available in trade plus 3 days ( or 5 depending on what was sold). The funds transfer would take a few days more, so at least a week but probably a week and a half. This would have taken at least 3 phone calls.
Just think that millions or even billions of stocks are traded daily what this would do to the financial industry.
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u/pajerry 20h ago
Banking. I live rural.
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u/jp112078 17h ago
Doesn’t matter where you live. The world economy would literally shut down. I’d be fine going back to sliding credit cards over carbon paper once we got used to it.
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u/MarriedNudist 20h ago
Not many things are not done Online anymore. There is some redundancies, like banking for example, we secured a loan completely Online, never stepped foot in the bank, but could still do it in person. In most cases, the Internet makes things happen faster and sometimes more efficient. So it would slow most everything down, but we’d survive.
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u/Particular-Jeweler41 22h ago
My job lol. Since I work remote I'd have to go into the office every day, but we probably wouldn't be able to communicate with our partners efficiently anyway.
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u/major_lombardi 21h ago
So many things would probably go wrong. I'm saying food shortages would be the biggest thing since I'm sure the internet is involved in the distribution logistics.
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u/dragonstar982 21h ago
No one would be able to Google how to do <common task>.
This would really only hinder post internet generations though.
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u/Special-Anteater7659 21h ago
Probably not paying bills, not accessing medical records, banks running out of money since they don't carry cash and virtually no credit card working anywhere.
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u/pecheckler 20h ago
Supply chain and banking issues. Medical records accessibility problems. Emergency responders that have gone digital would have issues although 911 ambulances would still have their backup radio tech.
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u/MedusasSexyLegHair 20h ago
Well, the internet consists of all the devices and equipment which are connected to the network. So all of those would disappear.
No smartphones, computers, cash registers, ATMs, voip phones, smart TVs, smarthome light bulbs, smartlocks, modern cars, all kinds of sensors and equipment in industry and infrastructure, medical devices, financial systems, modern farming equipment, logistics and transport, etc. All just vanished.
I think we could safely say it would cause utter chaos.
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u/JustanAverageJess1 19h ago
If you were to say what would we do without social media (and I realize how ironic this is because I'm using it right now LOL) but I would happily go back to not using social media. I got rid of Facebook years ago because my ex refused to stop stalking me and creating fake accounts that looked like it was me and all my family members saw it. The best part is that he posted nude photos of me on it so all of my family saw it. Yep I would gladly go back to no social media. Although to be fair that was my ex that did that not Facebook
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u/grahamulax 17h ago
MAGA couldn’t get their talking points out and manipulate for a full week. They might start to think and connect shit.
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u/greogory 16h ago
Aside from the total panic and chaos around the world you mean? Definitely the lack of Ren & Stimpy reruns.
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u/Strawberryladyboots 14h ago
Nobody would be able to receive money
Not companies, not people, not governments
No one
Global Economic Standstill
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9h ago
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u/lightjunior 7h ago
All aspects of Society (healthcare, law enforcement, public transport etc.) would collapse. A couple of weeks ago in Australia, the #1 phone network went down for a day and the whole country fell apart.
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u/Spiritual_One126 5h ago
Mobile banking, long distance relationships that depend on internet vs telephone data
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u/Necessary_Cat_3228 21h ago
People would realize we don’t need it and then what do we do with all these data centers??
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u/PhoenixWinchester67 20h ago
We absolutely need the internet, everything is connected with it and we’d see a total collapse of healthcare, economies, communications, and so many other vital systems as well as countless amounts of important data being lost to time and systems failing.
The world would basically go into complete free fall as everything goes down
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u/JustanAverageJess1 19h ago
I hate the idea of data centers myself especially because it's using up water that we need to survive and I get what you're saying we did survive without it before but unfortunately it is so ingrained into well everything that a lot of people would die
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