As a fiction writer, I deal in what if questions. That’s how I build my stories. I start with “What if…” then fill in the blank.
Facebook’s crash the other day had me thinking “What if….”
What if the crash were catastrophic and the data irretrievable?
Here’s the deal. Back in the olden days we stayed in touch by means of phone calls, letters, Christmas cards (remember those?), stuff like that.
When e-mail came along, we thought we were in heaven. Now we could write letters and have them delivered instantly. No need to wait for a sluggish postal service.
Then came social media. Even better. We could interact, chat, talk on video, you name it. It was like being able to have your family and friends around you all the time.
But as we reveled in this new freedom to communicate, we slowly allowed the old means of data retrieval (memory) to fall into disuse. (I can’t even remember my wife’s phone number!)
Then a few days ago, reality snuck up behind us and bit us.
What would have happened if the social media platform so many of us rely on were suddenly gone forever? What would happen if the internet went down, never to come back up?
Would we still be able to get in touch with those we love and care about?
The possibility, however remote, exists.
Do you have a backup system for your contacts, friends, loved ones?
There’s a crazy low-tech solution we might want to reimplement.
It’s called an address book.