A Writer’s Life Before the Internet

It’s pretty grim

Technology has become such an everyday part of our lives that we almost take it for granted. That we can post, tweet, email, zoom, store, write and edit electronically is the expected norm for many of us, and we should cherish it. Current global crises, including war, and its knock-on effect of shortages and price rises, remind us of how fragile the world energy status quo is.

So imagine there were sustained power outages in these times when we are heavily dependant on our tech. At the start of a power cut your phone only has 5% battery life. You can’t plug it in to charge, because there is no electricity supply. For the same reason, you can’t watch TV to pass the time until power is restored. That 5% battery life isn’t going to get you through the outage, so you may as well do something useful, like adding to the thesis you have been working on. That’s a good idea, right up to the point where you go to switch on the PC. With all of your gadgets a-goner, you acquiesce and continue your thesis in the way that many of our greatest works of literature were produced; hand-written by candlelight.

The triumvirate of the modern technological revolution, the Internet, the mobile phone and social media, are all comparatively recent developments, so we don’t have to look too far back in time to see how things were…