Imagine someone turning off your hot water in the morning when you’re getting ready for work, said Andrew Fitzgerald, a professor of communication and media at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It interrupts routines that are very meaningful for our everyday functioning. But we don’t often view it that way.
Fitzgerald’s insights come in the wake of recent outages with major tech companies like AT&T and Meta, shedding light on the profound impact these disruptions have on society’s daily operations. Experts emphasize how these incidents underscore the extent of our reliance on technology for essential tasks, communication, and information consumption.
According to Fitzgerald, mobile technology, including platforms like Facebook, has become deeply intertwined with our lives. In some developing countries, Facebook serves as the primary gateway to the internet, while domestically, it acts as a crucial entry point to various applications. He noted, “The reason why they do this is because it allows them to share data and effectively make money off of you.”
University at Albany professor and Department of Cybersecurity chair, Ariel Pinto, highlighted that global outages can have far-reaching consequences, with causes ranging from cyberattacks to technical failures. Pinto explained, “Or, as they will call it in this series of incidents, technical failures.” Such disruptions often leave consumers feeling disconnected and in the dark about the underlying issues.
While these outages can be disruptive, experts suggest that there is no immediate cause for alarm. Regulatory and public relations considerations, coupled with the complexity of identifying and resolving technical issues, contribute to the time taken to address such incidents. For instance, the recent AT&T outage was attributed to a routine update that did not proceed as expected, requiring extensive troubleshooting to pinpoint the issue.
Fitzgerald encourages users to approach these outages as an opportunity to disconnect and focus on the present moment. He likened the experience to a holiday or a snow day, urging individuals to embrace the temporary break from constant connectivity. “Treat it like a holiday, or a snow day. Let your brain focus on what’s present and immediate to you,” he advised. “You might find you’ll want to do that when the internet or bigger platforms aren’t experiencing outages.”
As society continues to navigate its reliance on technology for essential functions, these recent outages serve as a stark reminder of the interconnectedness between daily life and digital infrastructure. The evolving landscape of technology underscores the need for resilience and adaptability in the face of unforeseen disruptions, prompting individuals to reconsider their relationship with digital tools and the importance of balance in a tech-driven world.
