Tech issues. We’ve all been there. Something stops working and suddenly it’s a nuclear meltdown. My most recent tour of duty in the seventh circle of hell is tech issues? No email for almost a week and my website went down. Seems my domain expired without prior notice. When I finally got hold of my email provider, who’s also the domain host, after hours of being on hold then waiting for a callback, they had no record of being my domain host for mysterious reasons. Fortunately, I have proof, thanks to my amazing Web manager Deborah who documented everything from an earlier transaction and sent me copies, or it would have been a case of being gaslighted on top of tortured by hold hell and head-scratching.
It was a stark and somewhat disturbing reminder of how reliant I’ve become on technology. And I know I’m not alone there. Our society has become far too reliant on technology. The Internet goes out and it’s like someone died. No email is like being in Isolation in prison. I hate to think how I’d react in a total tech blackout of any duration.
Which is weird because I grew up in a pre-digital world. When I was younger there was no Internet. No email. No smartphones. Apps? That was what was served in restaurants before the entrée. We communicated via landlines and old-fashioned letter-writing. In school, we passed notes instead of exchanging texts. And you know what? I was totally fine. Life was good. Better in some ways than in the digital world I live in today, where I’m at the mercy of forces beyond my control.
Right now I’m thinking about the Stephen King novel “The Stand.” First comes the pandemic that wipes out the majority of the world’s population, then the survivors are left to figure out how to get around and communicate with one another. They do it the old-fashioned way, on foot and by messenger (or magic in some cases—this is Stephen King, after all.) Eventually, the good guys are tasked with saving the world, or what’s left of it, from total destruction without the aid of technology. They must rely only on their wits and the tools available to them.
While I like to think I could survive in a situation where there was no technology or even a power source, I wonder. Could I slaughter a chicken? Hunt for deer? Master cooking on a woodstove? Probably yes to the woodstove, and if I got hungry enough, I imagine I could slaughter a chicken. Not sure about hunting; first I’d have to learn how to shoot. The big question is would I be happier? Probably, if only because there’s a sense of peace that comes from being self-sufficient.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I finally have email, praise the Lord.
