The Immediate Chaos: Emails, Tweets, and TikToks, Oh My!

First would come the panic. How does one go about telling the world that the internet is out … without the internet? Some might resort to sending smoke signals, while others might rediscover a long-lost art of face-to-face communication. But let's be real: Most people probably would stare blankly at their dead Wi-Fi routers, hoping they'd magically turn back on.

Today, emails are the lifeblood of corporate communication. Without it, businesses would come to a screeching halt. This is not to mention an office worker with the phone, or worse, landline on their desk. Instead of compulsively updating the inbox, what if they had to get up from the chair and walk to the other end of the office to deliver a message to their colleague? In person. The horror!

Social media influencers would face an existential crisis. Without Instagram or TikTok, how would they let their followers know about the latest vegan, gluten-free, ethically-sourced, artisanal smoothie bowl? Maybe they'd have to resort to the revolutionary tactic of meeting people in real life and talking to them directly—like cavemen.

Stock Markets to Streaming: The Ripple Effect

One of the first to really get a burning sensation would be the financial markets. Trading would come to a screeching halt. Without the ability to transact all over the Internet, really, what choice would they have? Traders sitting with their thumbs directly attached to algos and real-time data feeds would likely be doing nothing but waiting. Maybe they'd have to resort to the old ways—actually yelling at one another on the trading floor to get some business done. Yes, it would be 1980s redux minus the shoulder pads.

E-commerce would also be dead in the water. Carts for shopping online would just be left there, filled with a bunch of things that remain unpurchased, like abandoned dreams. For some, the worst part wouldn't be the economic collapse—it would be realizing they'll never receive that one-of-a-kind cat sweater they ordered last night.

And what about entertainment? Streaming services would vanish quicker than a plate full of cookies at a toddler's birthday party. People would have to rediscover great dusty DVD collections sitting in the basement. Or even worse, maybe they would actually have to read. Actual books. With pages. Oh, the horror!

The Technological Rewind: Welcome Back to the 90s!

If we lost the internet, we'd be thrust right back into some pre-digital age again. Somehow it feels like that would kind of be similar to hopping in a time machine, but landing not in the Roaring Twenties or the rebellious '60s, but rather in those weird dial-up days of the '90s. Remember when you used to get onto the web and it would make a symphony of screeches and beeps? Well, get ready to do that again, without sweet relief when the darn thing finally connected.

Maps? Say goodbye to Google Maps and say hello again to folded, improbable-to-refold, paper maps. Want to find a new restaurant? Be prepared to call them up and ask for directions—or, heaven forbid, ask a stranger on the street. And if you wanted to find out who starred in that one movie you're thinking about, prepare to actually use your memory—IMDb would be a distant memory itself.

The Social Impact: Isolation in a Hyper-Connected World

Of these, perhaps the greatest impact would be social isolation. In times when our socialization has taken residence in the virtual sphere, it would certainly make a vast majority utterly disappointed to be deprived suddenly of all social media, messaging apps, and video calls. Explain to your grandparents that they can't see the latest vacation photos because the internet doesn't exist. They might just go back to thinking you're a spy or something.

On the other hand, people could again get to know their neighbors, and block parties could become the rage once again. Local communities might find themselves sticking back together in ways that haven't been seen since before the Internet took over. Well, let's just say there is always that one neighbor who will still share their conspiracy theories on how the internet was actually a government mind-control experiment.

Economy in Freefall: A Digital Blackout

Probably a very large part of the world's economy would be dragged down with it. Virtually every economic sector that has been built or made heavily reliant on the Internet—technology, entertainment, finance, and retail—would be the butcher's block for each. Small businesses that are completely e-dependent would just vanish off the map. At the same time, communications and supply chains would break irreparably, affecting even businesses without an online presence.

Next, the job market is another example: millions of people are working today in jobs that completely rely on the internet, which range from computer engineers to those who manage companies' Facebook accounts. Without Internet, all of these jobs would simply blow away—one would cease to exist just like a Snapchat message does after 10 seconds. On one hand, the unemployment rate would rocket past the skies; on the other hand, the world would be plunged into a never-conceived economic crisis ever.

The Upside: Re-'dis'-covery of the Offline World

But it's not all gloom and doom. We can at least expect to return to the offline world without the internet being around. Maybe more 'live' observations, views of nature, and face-to-face interactions would happen for those things that people did in the B.I.—before the Internet—days, which made them believe that endless scrolling had to be humanity's greatest experience.

The books would make a triumphant comeback. Libraries—herryto deserted in preference to Wikipedia—would once again bustle with people in the quest for knowledge. And who knows, maybe letters would again be written—real, handwritten letters—which would revive the lost art of penmanship and patience.

Families could actually sit down to dinner together, and not be on their devices. Children would play outside, learning about the world around them rather than being cooped inside with a tablet. Adults might rediscover hobbies that don't involve a screen —like gardening or woodworking or taking a walk without documenting it on social media.

Conclusion: A World Forever Changed
Suddenly, if by any chance something would happen to the internet, chaos, economic disintegration, and social breakdown could result. But, paradoxically, at the same time, it would make us look at our relationship with technology and the digital world differently. It would remind us of everything we lost in a mad escapade after connectivity—with life's simple disconnected pleasures, the value of face-to-face rapport, and the importance of community.

At the end of it all, the great internet shutdown may just teach us that as powerful a tool as the web is, it isn't the be-all and end-all of human existence. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, we would all be a little better off for it. Most probably, though, we would still be spending our time waiting for the internet to connect, while doing absolutely nothing.