I’m not sure of where life is at, at this moment in time, I’m an avid reader of the news, in all of its forms, paper, online, news bulletins on the TV and if I was that way inclined then I could easily be in despair. But then the old phrase comes to mind, bad news sells, but that is too easy a cliche, something else bothers me along with all of the rest. The world has gone online, this internet thing I have used since the days of a telephone dial-up modem was a connection medium, now broadband is everywhere, well nearly. Shopping is online, so much so it is ruining city centres in the UK where shops close every week nearly. Once thriving centres for commerce, and a meet up for a bite to eat and a drink, are now empty shells where the homeless and drug addicts sleep in their doorways. But I do despair now, and because of the internet, but there again I wouldn’t be writing this without it.
But its the way in which our whole lives are beginning to be centred around of this online thing. It’s not simple any more, some people do just not get how to use but have no choice as that ominous phrase ‘look on the website’ is now part of our vocabulary. For those young, and young at heart, its fine, but there are quite a few people, and yes they tend to be of the older generation who don’t have a chance to understand what is going on, they just don’t get it. Put a record on a record player is simple, stream films and songs is just beyond comprehension to some. I know that you can’t stand still but what I am really getting at is that all of this online thing is reliant on something that is not reliant in this day and age, electricity.
An everyday thing, electricity, but whereas many countries have no problem some do, including, I believe. the UK. We are not generating enough for our needs with our commitment to other concerns. Global Warming and the such, coal fired power stations are, or have, been closed down, and no alternative put in place. There is a nervous feeling about nuclear so we import electric, gas and other basic commodities to continue with our daily lives. And it gets worse, electric cars, the new fad to rid of the internal combustion engine and live up to our Climate Chance credentials. So we are using electricity more than we produce it, and the internet is fuelling that. I just don’t see that all of this internet thing is a good idea, yes it was exciting at the beginning but we are not at the beginning and the internet looks ugly.
For me the whole situation is unstable as the lightbulb in your house, the internet could be deemed totally useless with a flick of a switch, just like the lightbulb, it could go off. All of the big systems today, data farms, cloud computing, and all of the other wonders that have sprung up all rely on that one commodity that is centuries old, electricity. Ever experienced a power cut, a computer system failure at one of the big computer companies, then you will know what I mean. It seems to me that there is an unsaid assumption that nothing will go wrong with the smooth running of the internet, despite computer viruses, that even the likes of Microsoft have suffered. I just think that a step back to more simple times, yes time consuming, not convenient, or whatever. But what if you click on your mobile phone, desktop, laptop, tablet and you want to log onto your bank, you know because the nearest branch has closed because everyone goes online and its not available, for what ever excuse they give, then what.
Likewise your weekly shop at the supermarket, your order from on an online store, not to mention WhatsApp, Facebook, Tick Tok, or what other social media play you inhabit, just not there because the new flavour of the time electric cars need a charge up again. Or e-bikes, or your portable battery gadget, or lorries, or trains, or aircraft, or any electric centric item all fighting for that one commodity that uses the same product as that for your light bulb. Maybe technology will come to the rescue once again and invent a safe, cheap and easy way to produce all of this electricity. But with the world having to change their ways, well some of them, to save the planet as a whole, they have better think of something fast.
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