Living Without Internet – Part 2

In the end, we were only disconnected for about a week, but even that’s quite enough nowadays, especially since so many daily interactions are processed online. For example, my wife, being an accountant, is currently bogged down with clients’ tax returns, all of which are done online. Fortunately, she was able to carry on working using a 4G hotspot, albeit a tad more slowly. I was also able to write Living Without Internet – Part 1 over 4G, so it wasn’t all doom and gloom.

Also, since we cut the TV cable years ago, all our entertainment is through Netflix, YouTube, and others, so 4G was completely out of the question for that kind of streaming. Fortunately, I have a collection of films on pen drives for those dark evenings and it’s always fun to watch The Day Of The Jackal for the tenth time, even when you know the ending.

Shortly before the Internet was reconnected, several trucks arrived, men stood around scratching their heads, then left. A few hours later, another truckload of men arrived, one climbed up the bendy electricity pole, which was then replaced with a new wooden one. But the damage had been done due to the constant lies from the ISP and we found a better deal with 300Mbps at a much lower price.

Having said all this, although the Internet is a wonderful thing, it’s as invasive as you want it to be, but really should be used as a tool. Do you really need all those notifications from Instagram, Facebook, and X? Turn them off and your life will be so much richer.

What did I miss about not having the Internet?

More than anything, we missed our evening entertainment. Gone are the days when we would huddle around a transistor radio next to a roaring fire, charming and romantic as that image may portray. There are more films and shows to stream today than we can possibly hope for and deciding what to watch is a challenge in itself, especially when I like zombies and she doesn’t!

My gaming wasn’t affected at all, apart from those games that insist on being online, even for single-player shooters, which is bizarre.

Anyway, I don’t expect this will be the last time our Internet is disconnected, especially since the mess of cables seems to be a natural feature of Buenos Aires, but at least we are prepared.

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