When I was in the third grade, Mrs. Hanson took our class to the library. We went every week and there was no reason why this time would be any different. But it was because out of all those trips I only remember the story we were read from that time.

Mrs. Hanson read us a story that was written and illustrated by a girl that was only a few years older than us. It was part of a national competition and she was one of the finalists. While I don’t remember who the author was or whether she won the competition, I do remember the title of the book; The Day the Computers Went Down.

The story told of a not too distant future where everyone relied on the computers to do everything. They controlled vehicles and appliances stored banking information and were even responsible for delivering groceries. Then one day the computers stopped working. Everyone was in a panic because no longer did they do anything without the aid of the computers do things for themselves. Everyone, that is, except an old lady who never converted to using computers; who always wrote things down instead of storing them on the hard drive, who drove to the store and shopped for her own groceries. She was able to throw a birthday party for her granddaughter because she remained self-sufficient. She saved the day. The old woman was the hero of the story because she refused to move forward along with the rest of the world.

For years I have contemplated whether the old woman really should have been the hero. Yes, she was still able to do her daily tasks but she was also avoiding progress. In the end, it would either end up that she was preventing further progress of the entire world because the world still had to accommodate for her habits or she would be forced to switch to relying on computers for everything because the rest of the world would stop accommodating her. Either situation does not seem very hero like.

It has been some time since I heard this story. Since then I have kept track of the path I have taken in regards to computers. With very little restraint it seems, I have thrown myself completely at them with the hopes of being on top once computers do dominate our lives. Do not get me wrong, I do not mind doing things like driving and shopping for myself. I take great joy in the freedom I have to do these things. However, I like most people, think that has times when they wish they didn’t have to do any of these things; like having to drive during rush hour or shop for last minute items on holidays. I don’t like having to do things when everyone else is doing them.

In the past five years I have let computers control my life. I rely on them for news, work, education and amusement. The list could go on and on. Without computers, my job would not exist; I am in charge of maintaining the large company website. My school work would have been completed in a much different way. I would not be sitting at a computer this instant, typing. I would be sitting at a desk with a piece of paper in front of me and I would be jotting down my thoughts with a pen. My daily routine is centered around a box that is unable to count higher than one and knows of nothing less than zero. In all the years of noting where I stand in relation to the digital realm I never once realized how much I had to lose if I lost this extension of me.

A computer as an extension of me. The thought is silly and quite very true at the same time. When I put my right hand at rest, it automatically forms the shape it would have if it were resting on my mouse. Every now and then my right index finger will start twitching on its own accord; presumably mimicking the clicking motion it does upon the mouse. My left hand rests with the fingers spaced for various shortcut keys on the keyboard. Each hard drive is an extension of the storage capacity of my mind. The link to the internet is just one more way to remember something, be visually and mentally stimulated. I can carry on complex social relations through the computer without ever having to meet these people. I have caught myself looking at the bottom right-hand corner of a mirror in the hopes of finding the time. The computer is my ambassador to the world.

And then one day, this past summer, the part of me that is the computer died. It became sick in one small area and the sickness spread like wildfire throughout all the veins of the computer. One simple website went down. It was a website that many millions of people used. When the site went down, all of those users went to other sites to inform those people that the site was down. The rapid influx of visitors at these other sites caused them to go down. And everyone there went elsewhere to spread their losses. I moved with the crowd of web citizens, arriving at websites moments before they died from the traffic overloads. In a short time, thirty minutes to an hour, the whole thing disappeared and despite unknown people working their hardest to recall what was lost, it seemed like it was gone forever.

At first, I panicked. What was I supposed to do without my computer? I had the computer still, but it had lost its worth. Only the internet went down, but in doing so I realized that everything of importance on my computer relied on the internet to be useful. Without the internet, the box on my desk was little more than a box.

I had no idea what to do with myself. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t communicate with anyone. I could not even watch a movie to kill the time. I wanted to check the weather to see if it was nice outside so I could go out and be safe from hazardous weather but I couldn’t access the website when the internet is down.

Then I had a radical idea; I could go outside and risk any bad weather. I left my room, my apartment and my building. Outside I found that the sun shined without any hindrance of clouds. I walked to the park to lie in the weather. On the way I met a friend and spoke to them to see if they heard about the internet’s death. They hadn’t because they had been out running errands all afternoon. I made it to the park and sprawled out in the grass. It was peaceful and I soon ended up napping the afternoon away.

When I awoke and returned to my room in my apartment I found that the internet and computers had been resurrected; a backup copy on someone’s hard drive perhaps. Instantly I reached for the mouse to bring up a new blog post to write about my day without the internet.