So long, internet
Posted: Tuesday 01 February, 2011
Keredy Andrews
When it was announced on the news last week that Egypt’s internet had been turned off, I have to admit it filled me with a flurry of excitement. Some might say it’s quite a controversial statement, especially considering the line of work I’m in, but I don’t think it would be a bad thing for us to experience the chaos of total internet and mobile phone disconnection... at least for a few days!
The disconnection has clearly failed to stop the Egyptian population from mobilising themselves as the protests are, today, stronger and larger than ever. However, what’s interesting is how Egyptians are now reaching the outside world, thanks to Google and its SayNow ‘speak-to-tweet service’. Google purchased SayNow just last week and seems to have very quickly created a number for people to leave any voicemail they like, which is then hosted on the SayNow site and linked to from @speaktotweet. The stream appears to have a new message every minute or so and if your Arabic isn’t up to scratch, English speakers can visit Alive in Egypt to read some speak-to-tweet transcriptions. It’s fascinating, powerful and I wish I could read it all day – so much for that desire for UK disconnection!
Nevertheless, here are my personal pros and cons for total internet shut down –
- I’d have more meaningful relationships because we’d make the effort to pick up the phone and find out how each other was, instead of just reading a social media news stream
- I’d get lost a lot because I couldn’t rely on starting my Android phone map application
- I’d have less money because I’d buy a lot more books, especially for things like recipes
- I’d be more content using local services and buying when I spotted something instead of worrying, “what if there’s something better or cheaper out there”, and then going home to search and compare
- I’d probably be out of a job because integrated social media, SEO and digital PR campaigns would be a thing of the past!
