We live highly linked to the digital world, which we don’t even realize the real importance of the internet in our daily routine. Professional and personal interactions, access to information and leisure, almost everything depends on our online presence.
A recent electric blackout in Portugal and Spain, lasting approximately 10 hours, caused an unprecedented impact on the daily life of millions of people. Despite energy failure, the internet remained functional for some users equipped with battery systems or generators, especially through satellite connections, although with registration of interruptions on fiber optic and mobile networks. This experience allows you to analyze the resilience of communications and ponder the scenario of a possible total blackout.
The possibility of an internet blackout is real, is increasingly discussed by experts due to the growing global dependence on digital networks. There are many factors that can cause large -scale interruption, from technical faults to critical infrastructure such as submarine cable cuts, DNS servers, and even coordinated cyber attacks and extreme events such as solar storms capable of affecting satellites, electric networks and fiber optic cables.
There are other relevant factors, such as government decisions and geopolitical conflicts, which in recent years have caused many intentional blocks to internet access in various countries, demonstrating that vulnerability is not only technical but also political.
The impact of a global internet blackout would be strong, with large economic losses, blocking essential services and widespread disturbances, affecting virtually all sectors of today’s society. Companies and financial markets would suffer immediate losses, with interruptions in stock exchanges, banking systems and electronic transactions.
Health services, transportation and communications would be severely committed, making it difficult to access medical care, emergency coordination and urban mobility.
Digital isolation would make it impossible to communicate rapidly and effective, not only between people, but also between institutions that depend on real -time data to work. Supermarkets, gas stations and commercial establishments would see their inoperative electronic payment systems, further aggravating chaos and the feeling of insecurity. This scenario highlights the vulnerability of today’s society, which depends on the internet not only for comfort and convenience, but for the basic functioning of services that support community life.
Although an electric blackout and an internet blackout may look like similar at first glance, its impacts and implications are different. An electric blackout instantly paralyzes most activities, from lighting to the operation of essential equipment, affecting all sectors transversely and immediately. However, its resolution is usually faster and faster. Already an internet blackout, although less visible at first glance, can have even deeper and more prolonged consequences, as it compromises communications, financial transactions, access to information and even management of critical infrastructure that depend on digital networks. In addition, the recovery of a digital blackout is more complex, requiring specialized technical interventions and often international coordination.
The growing dependence on modern society in the face of essential infrastructures is evident in both scenarios. An Internet blackout, however, reveals different vulnerabilities, capable of significantly disturbing the world order. As we prepare for electrical failures, it becomes imperative to reflect and protect a possible Internet blackout, whose consequences, in my view, could be considerably more harmful to society.