A crashing sensation

For three days last week APA’s access to the Internet ceased to be; apparently (and according to our service supplier) because the evaporation nanoosphere had interlocked with the endosphincter (or something like that). Three days with no link to the outside world and worse none for them to contact us, except for the telephone of course, which isn't quite the same is it, and we were climbing the walls.

However, the big shock to my system came with the realisation that for a period of time during those days I was at a loss for things to do. It was fine while I was working, but between jobs I didn’t have the Internet or emails to distract me. I contracted a type of cyber-withdrawal.

Since the 'arrival' of the phenomenon of the Internet, we have become obsessed with the speed at which it lets us live our lives. We rarely expect to get letters anymore - email is there, ready, waiting and fast. We can visit any virtual shop in the world, buy more than we could physically carry and arrange to have it delivered to our door, and all this in just minutes without even getting out of our chair.

I began to wonder about the vast number of companies whose day-to-day business is conducted online, and what would happen if for some reason the whole Internet suddenly ceased to work. The effects would be mind blowing.  

 
We all have a ‘disaster recovery plan’ (?) to enable our systems to be quickly recovered; as luckily ours was last week. But has anybody actually considered the physical stress it places on our staff and colleagues without web access. If a fast method of stopping an addictive habit is called ‘going cold turkey’ then what we experienced last week was definitely ‘going cold chips’. Something to think about.

Gareth, APA