Wait, Did You Say No Internet?: An Exploratory Study of the Perceived Impact of Internet Outage

Use of the Internet is widespread both in social and work contexts. In this research we explore people's perceptions of their reliance on Internet technologies and response to a scenario of Internet outage. Data from a survey (N= 1070) shows that respondents are not dismissive of the possibility or its effects, but also not greatly concerned about it in general. Preliminary analysis of 609 qualitative responses reveals that people perceive concomitantly negative, positive and/or neutral impacts of not having Internet access and often are able to articulate various offline methods they will use to cope should such an event occur. However most concerns of impact are about quality of career/work, knowledge/awareness of the world, and quality of social ties and less about basics such as food, water and electricity. These findings provide implications for educators, emergency management professionals, and designers as they plan for such alternatives.