What Would Cause Massive Amounts of People to Abandon the Internet?

[Cli-Fi]

I'm working on a new WIP that is outside the realm of my other one. It is black mirror/twilight zone inspired and deals with my experiences in internet communities. People say write what you know, right?

The cusp of the idea is that the MC discovers a virtual reality network that has been isolated from the rest of the world. Because these people never left VR, they don't know a thing about what has happened in the real world and how almost no one uses the internet anymore, but they have developed a polarized abstract culture all their own.

They were somehow protected from some event that caused every internet connected device to go offline, and it's been years since anyone has even tried to hook something up to the internet, for fear of what the world went through after the collapse. It was pretty much as much chaos as you can imagine and the book takes place in the aftermath of this when the world is relatively been put back together.

The MC being a technology historian and professor is shocked to discover that this network is still online after all this time and goes in try to find out if the suspected person or group responsible for that event is hiding in there. Yes, I know it's ironic!

In the opening pages that I have written so far, there is a lecture that the MC is giving that questions the nature of why society doesn't use the internet anymore and she lays out some clues as to what went wrong, but ultimately even the foremost expert tech historians, don't know what actually happened. I liken this to how the extinction of the dinosaurs stumped people for decades.

Part of me is left wondering if this event even needs to be a static event like an EMP or a chain of events that when put together made the internet go boom. But for now, I've left it out of the novel. I've seen this concept, done particularly well in the Twilight Zone before, and I think it works a bit better if the author doesn't mention what this event could possibly be so that the readers can just have this thought-provoking what-if thing to discuss among themselves.

What do you think? Do you like the idea of not knowing what exactly is the cause of people leaving the internet? Or do you think the event has to be known because a bunch of people not ever wanting to use the internet again is simply improbable to us right now as a culture?

 

[Juliana]

I think it works a bit better if the author doesn't mention what this event could possibly be so that the readers can just have this thought-provoking what-if thing to discuss among themselves.

I think that depending on how you handle it, this could work really well. Or it could end up being incredibly frustrating! If it was well done, I personally wouldn't mind having references to an 'event' that readers don't really know details about. And you can always feed tiny hints throughout the story for people who want to know more...

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Did the event leave TV intact? Because if it were something that knocked that out, too (say, something to do with satellites), it would naturally be a bit fuzzy in historical accounts -- due to everyone's having been knocked off of the sources of information about what was going on.

 

[VinceK]

Recent attacks targeting IOT devices could be a probable cause, in that the internet became so infected with botnet code that it affected peoples' homes. For example, central heating systems, TV, fridges, home security, etc. etc. The only solution would be to pull the plug.

 

[Mr Orange]

this could work if it was done well. if not, it could end up full of holes.

the only way i can see people switching off the internet and forgetting about it would be if there was no conceivable way of fixing it, or if all the people that could fix it were incapacitated, maybe something like Stephen King's "Cell". so a virus that destroys the internet and also infects everyone that interacts with it online and turns them mad.

EMP could also work, if it was big enough to destroy all technology, because I can't see just the destruction of the internet causing the collapse of the world. if you pull the plug on the net but still have computers, tv's, radios, phones etc, i think the world would adjust pretty quickly. and then get about fixing the internet.

another thing you would have to think about is how the people who never left VR have survived. as in how have there physical needs been met? and how would this network be accessible if the internet had been completely shut down?

 

[Biskit]

As Mr Orange says, it would have to be something big and irreversible, but then you have to come up with a reason why your isolated network survived, which means the hardware still needs to be functioning.

Anything that takes out the internet that completely is also probably going to take down telephone exchanges, the stock exchanges and international banking, so if you purely want the internet gone it has to be something quite subtle. Even then, you are probably looking at the collapse of the world economy because the internet is so integral to everything at present that it would take months if not years to work around it.

Do you envisage mobile phones and their networks surviving? Those are all pretty locked in with the internet now.

 

[zmunkz]

I think it would need to be more than an event like an EMP. If everyone is going to put their devices down for good, it is because they are personally worried about some ongoing risk of connecting up. For that reason I like the botnet idea above, or a variation (artificial intelligence that can find people connected, something sinister like that). If the internet was just broken or offline, people would try to fix it.. And I wouldn't be able to suspend disbelief if they just shrugged and said, "oh well." An ongoing (or perceived ongoing) personal threat from connecting, however, I'd fine believable.

As for the secret, absolutely you can keep it hidden for a later reveal. Just make sure it is good. You'll be establishing a strong promise that this mystery exists and will be solved, so just make sure you deliver on that promise. See "Lost" for an example of how NOT to do it, lol.

Anyway I think that is a cool idea.

 

[Brian G Turner]

It's worth noting that Iran has their own distinct internet network:
Iran rolls out domestic internet - BBC News

I'm not sure if North Korea does, of whether it's simply an extremely filtered version of the WWW.

 

[Mr Orange]

i like the bot idea the @zmunkz mentions. especially if they were sophisticated enough to recognise when someone was trying to fix the net or pull the plug. add on to that the possibility of the bots controlling weapons, and there could be some pretty good reasons not to access the internet but also to leave it functioning. of course hackers that think they know better will always drop in to the post-apocalyptic internet to try and outsmart the bots, and that could be the basis of the community your MC finds...

 

[Biskit]

I'm not sure how effective it would be to 'infect' the internet with botnet code - this is stuff that has to run on the connected devices and then talk across the net. Unless you could cause a massive and pseudo instantaneous infection then you can start cleaning/patching the connected devices. If this is going to work, you need a common 'back door' or at least a very small set of wide-spread back doors for your botnet code to get in, and then some hugely concerted attack, and some way to prevent infections from being undone.

 

[Ursa major]

I think you're (partly) providing your own answer:

The cusp of the idea is that the MC discovers a virtual reality network that has been isolated from the rest of the world.

Whatever it is that has stopped people using the Internet (or stopped the Internet from working) is one that exists inside the general Internet, but has been unable to affect the isolated virtual network. Determining why that is -- i.e. coming up with plausible reasons -- should really be your first step in working out what might have gone wrong with the "rest" of the Internet.

Note that your MC need not necessarily be correct about where the culprit is hiding: it may depend on why the culprit wanted the hidden network to continue in operation.

 

[Vertigo]

I would suggest a new breed of heuristic mutating viruses that 'breed' faster than anyone can destroy them and that, to all intents and purposes, bring the entire internet down. However if you still want computers and networks then you will have to come up with a way to keep them clear of the viruses. Like maybe they cannot operate on a single computer but need the resources of multiple computers linked by the internet. By keeping computers and networks below some critical level and power these super viruses can't exist on them.

 

[RX-79G]

Peter Watts' Rifters and some Ken MacLeod both write about self propogating spam becoming over 90% of internet traffic. Perhaps essential services keep running through this muck, but regular people give up on the daily hassle and go to some other information sharing method.

 

[Vladd67]

Anyone remember the series Threshold? Threshold (TV series) - Wikipedia

Threshold learns that the aliens are attempting to rewrite the DNA of the human race using, in part, an audio signal that somehow alters some people's body chemistry in such a way that they become alien themselves. Central to all this is a fractal triskelion pattern that keeps appearing – in electronic signals, blood, and even the pattern made by city lights. Its significance has yet to be revealed, though Arthur Ramsey interpreted it as representing a DNA pattern in a triple helix formation (like the alien DNA).

If such a signal was thought to be 'loose' on the internet this could explain why the world stopped going on line.A more mundane version is that terrorists let loose a computer virus that with a combination of visual and audio stimulation causes recipients to suffer a fatal fit on viewing. Place it on YouTube, Facebook, or sffchronicles you could devastate the online population.

 

[The Big Peat]

Someone deleting all the porn.

 

[Cli-Fi]

As Mr Orange says, it would have to be something big and irreversible, but then you have to come up with a reason why your isolated network survived, which means the hardware still needs to be functioning.

Anything that takes out the internet that completely is also probably going to take down telephone exchanges, the stock exchanges and international banking, so if you purely want the internet gone it has to be something quite subtle. Even then, you are probably looking at the collapse of the world economy because the internet is so integral to everything at present that it would take months if not years to work around it.

Do you envisage mobile phones and their networks surviving? Those are all pretty locked in with the internet now.

For what I have worked out so far, this world is post-apocalyptic. Most people are used to the fact that the internet is no longer accessible and either don't care or are too afraid to try to connect new devices to it. As such, mobile devices are nothing but nice little bricks that are akin to pennies found on the floor. They are nice to have but don't necessarily equate with anything of value.

 

[Cli-Fi]

Someone deleting all the porn.

That is actually not a bad idea

 

[Cli-Fi]

I think it would need to be more than an event like an EMP. If everyone is going to put their devices down for good, it is because they are personally worried about some ongoing risk of connecting up. For that reason I like the botnet idea above, or a variation (artificial intelligence that can find people connected, something sinister like that). If the internet was just broken or offline, people would try to fix it.. And I wouldn't be able to suspend disbelief if they just shrugged and said, "oh well." An ongoing (or perceived ongoing) personal threat from connecting, however, I'd fine believable.

As for the secret, absolutely you can keep it hidden for a later reveal. Just make sure it is good. You'll be establishing a strong promise that this mystery exists and will be solved, so just make sure you deliver on that promise. See "Lost" for an example of how NOT to do it, lol.

Anyway I think that is a cool idea.

You've touched upon exactly where I want to go with this. The fear of connecting the devices to the net is preventing a portion of the society to just not even try. As this take place, decades after this event (whatever it may end up being) the majority of the public has grown up in a post-internet world and no longer feel the need for it. This is touched upon in the first few pages as the younger professor is talking to somewhat older government agents. She's a historian sure, but she cannot believe that people are so stupid to even try to go on the internet. Yet she has to for scientific reasons in order to solve the mystery of the uplink.

And I think I just found my title...

 

[Biskit]

Most people are used to the fact that the internet is no longer accessible and either don't care or are too afraid to try to connect new devices to it. As such, mobile devices are nothing but nice little bricks that are akin to pennies found on the floor. They are nice to have but don't necessarily equate with anything of value.

I may be missing the point here, but will there even be a net to connect to? Following your catastrophe, people couldn't/wouldn't connect to the net, which means from an economic point of view the ISPs go bust and the net ceases to be. Web hosting services will go the same way. Once you have that, it doesn't matter what people are afraid of, there is nothing to connect to so even if some brave souls tried... they get nothing.

As a further passing thought, perhaps you could use our local internet functionality as a model for why the net goes down. When the sun comes out, the connection dies. When the rain (currently torrential) comes down, ditto. Fog is not good. High winds are problematic. The transition between any of these weather states kills the connection. Rebooting the ADSL router fools the evil gremlins of the elements for whole seconds at a time...

Just as well I copied this to a text editor before the browser went pop.

I'm not grumbling, just trying to express myself politely without causing excessive wear on the * key.

 

[Cli-Fi]

I may be missing the point here, but will there even be a net to connect to? Following your catastrophe, people couldn't/wouldn't connect to the net, which means from an economic point of view the ISPs go bust and the net ceases to be. Web hosting services will go the same way. Once you have that, it doesn't matter what people are afraid of, there is nothing to connect to so even if some brave souls tried... they get nothing.

As a further passing thought, perhaps you could use our local internet functionality as a model for why the net goes down. When the sun comes out, the connection dies. When the rain (currently torrential) comes down, ditto. Fog is not good. High winds are problematic. The transition between any of these weather states kills the connection. Rebooting the ADSL router fools the evil gremlins of the elements for whole seconds at a time...

Just as well I copied this to a text editor before the browser went pop.

I'm not grumbling, just trying to express myself politely without causing excessive wear on the * key.

That's a good point, I think for this to work, then. Some form of the intranet will have to be up and running. it could be something very simple and basic like financial computations or some other form of number crunching for businesses. Maybe something akin to localized intranet for stores. My father has this set up in his shop where he can directly connect to a local auto-shop network that can feed him information directly on what parts are available around the area. It's pretty nifty and it doesn't touch the wider net.

That being the case, the EMP wouldn't work in this scenario, but the Spam scenario will still have it's lingering affects. This will also still make smartphones obsolete.