Networks in Everyday Life
Towards the end of the twentieth century, research indicated that only 1% of the world’s population could access online space. However, two decades later, more than 3.5 billion of the world’s population are now comfortable enjoying internet connection in the comfort of their homes, job environments, or even while exercising in gyms. The research conducted by the Pew Research Center has indicated that a fifth of all Americans use the internet “almost constantly,” while close to 75% of this population have asserted that they use it on a daily basis (Feldmann et al. 4). Despite the continued adoption of internet use, a greater portion of users have been realized to take its use for granted by failing to acknowledge the extent to which the internet has infiltrated the various aspects of their lives. This paper will briefly discuss some of the consequences that would be realized if, all of a sudden, the capability to network computers was not available.
The inability of computers to network would partially impact the economic situation of a region. During the 2008 great depression, Borg was requested by the US Department of Homeland Security to examine the impact of a sudden decline in internet connectivity. In their research, Borg and his colleagues evaluated the economic impacts of internet outages from the onset of the 21st century. A close examination of quarterly financial reports belonging to twenty companies revealed an insignificant financial impact caused by internet outage (Feldmann et al. 6). This was the case in outages that lasted for not more than four days. On the other hand, the sudden loss of computers to network resulted in people falling behind on their work schedule (Feldmann et al. 7). While employees would have managed to perform their respective activities earlier, the inability of computers to network would result in employees executing the same activities two or three days later.
In conclusion, the sudden loss in the capability of computers to network would result in increased productivity among employees. When an internet outage that lasted for four or more hours occurred, a significant portion of employees performed some activities, such as dealing with paperwork, as opposed to twiddling their thumbs. The availability of internet access would hardly compel employees to perform paperwork, hence serving to increase productivity within an organization (Feldmann et al. 10). Based on these findings, the presence of internet outage for a few hours each month would go a long way in compelling employees to deal with tasks they would have otherwise postponed hence serving to increase overall productivity.
Works Cited
Feldmann, Anja, et al. “The lockdown effect: Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on internet traffic.” Proceedings of the ACM internet measurement conference. 2020.
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Question
Networks, especially computer networks, are virtually everywhere in our daily lives. In what is called “the developed” countries of the world, society has become accustomed to networks providing a variety of services, information, and access. What would daily life be like if all of a sudden the capability to network computers was not available, meaning computers could not be networked in any form? Describe what you envision the impact of this development on your daily
life.