Earlier in the evening today, I had an internet outage for about 3 hours.
Due to the Pandemic, most of my colleagues across locations are “working from home.”
We take the availability of stable internet and broadband for granted – using it for all important meetings, reviews, and the usual chores of emails, Linkedin, etc.
Banking transactions, compliances, and pretty all aspects of running a business are online.
We just cannot afford troubles in the connectivity – stability, broadband, no choppy audio or videos – haven’t experienced these issues for a long time.
This means, for the conduct of our business, work, and home management, we are pretty much completely dependent on the internet, including Entertainment, etc.
While I am doing this, my wife is busy ordering everything online, from Groceries to fruits & vegetables – no big deal – BigBasket, and others were there even before the pandemic. We had a big festival recently and I realized that flowers, including flower garlands and all other accessories we needed, were ordered online by my wife. Of course, buying all the consumables, etc.
Pretty much all procurement of running a household can happen online, and all our work and business-related tasks can also happen online.
Thankfully I got my IT team to jump into action and fix it, it was router config gone awry, but until it was all on, I was anxious. The 4G seeds offered by the Dongles are ok for emails, maybe, but does not suffice for heavy-duty usage, more or less conducting your life assuming internet of a certain quality you have got used to, is always available.
While I cannot imagine our lives without the “connected world” of the internet. Especially during the pandemic, when the load on the internet went up exponentially, it is good to see that there were only odd failures. I am pleased.
I worry about our deep dependence on the internet and the related tools and transaction we do on the back of it.
Even if the pandemic goes away, this may become the new norm or a calibrated mix of both.
I know businesses are trying out different models. I believe face-to-face meetings are more efficient. We can see quicker outcomes for the things we may need three online meetings.
Surely a nicely calibrated blended model will arise and may become the new normal.
I cannot imagine life without the internet. With the internet being unstable for just three hours is anxious enough.
