Poll: If the internet were to disappear

[MaxPC]

What would you do with your time, your source of information, your business/vocation it the internet were to completely disappear this morning and for the next ten years? Please, no argument as this is simply a sharing of personal choices.

[Neto]

It would drastically change my business practices, as ALL of the parts/assemblies I use are purchased from the suppliers' websites. It would in other ways greatly simplify my business, as there would no longer be any concerns about unwanted Microsoft updates, and no more pressures (from clients) to 'bend the rules' (for greater internet access). It would produce a massive shift in how business is conducted by the Amish-owned businesses I serve, and some would very possibly not survive the crisis.

I already read almost entirely printed books, never on-line. (Although I do have a number of books & articles I've downloaded, and read those in PDF form. These are mostly in the area of Dutch anabaptist history, in both cultural and doctrinal contexts.)

Just as when some forums have closed in the past, rendering past conversations unreachable, I would wish that I had saved those. As to my antique auto restoration project, it would put me back "on my own", no longer able to access the vast amount of collective knowledge about this car possessed by the members of the forum where I am also a member. (Some of this information was posted there years ago, by men who are now deceased, so in a sense it would be lost forever.)

I would now longer be able to have any contact with many friends and schoolmates from the past, and family would need to adjust to the "new (old) world".

None of this would be really terrible, however. I have lived through extended times of near total isolation from the outside world (while living in the isolated village in the Amazon), and there are many advantages to that way of life. I have sometimes told people that if I could bring down the internet, I would. I think that it WILL very possibly collapse during the last days, during the Great Tribulation. It would make the Y2K scare look like child's play, because the world has become much more dependent on it in these last two decades.

[steve-in-kville]

I voted "other".

I'd be fine.

But I will tell this story: For the first time in a long while I stopped in at our local gun shop. Whether it is the new age of technology or the after effects of the pandemic, things have changed. They had very few new guns but many used or consigned guns. But they have an updated website where one can order anything they want, pay for it right away with a credit card, and three days later you can pick it up at the shop.

The younger generation now owns the gun shop and I am told that is how the next generation likes to do business.

[Josh]

I voted "other".

I'd be fine.

But I will tell this story: For the first time in a long while I stopped in at our local gun shop. Whether it is the new age of technology or the after effects of the pandemic, things have changed. They had very few new guns but many used or consigned guns. But they have an updated website where one can order anything they want, pay for it right away with a credit card, and three days later you can pick it up at the shop.

The younger generation now owns the gun shop and I am told that is how the next generation likes to do business.

I’m not so young anymore myself, so I think it’s always good to inspect a purchase before buying it. But an associate of mine loves ordering stuff online sight unseen, even though he then has to go to an FFL and complete the paperwork to pick it up.

New guns are in very short supply - they sell out almost instantly. They’re very expensive too.

[steve-in-kville]

New guns are in very short supply - they sell out almost instantly. They’re very expensive too.

Yes and no. My take on the matter... pre-pandemic one could buy a gun for $500. Now that same $500 might get you a used one of the same make/model.

My dealer did tell me that the supply chain for guns and ammo is still pretty janky. He bought a lever action 45/70 and it sold within a week or so. He decided to bring in another. Not a one to be found from any of his distributors.