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What Would You Do Without Wi-Fi?

Hi everyone, Sean here to wish you Happy World Wi-Fi Day! Let's talk about what World Wi-Fi Day means, the digital divide and how my life would be without access to the Internet.

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You might ask what is World Wi-Fi Day? World Wi-Fi Day is a worldwide initiative organized by the Wireless Broadband Alliance under the leadership of the Connected City Advisory Board to help bridge the digital divide. The push is to help connect the unconnected.

"Ok, Chief, so what is the digital divide?" You may have never thought about the digital divide, but I believe the single biggest thing that sets people apart in the world is their access to the Internet. The digital divide is the gap between the people who have and use the Internet and the people who don't have access to the Internet or just simply don't use it.

World Wi-Fi Day is about Wi-Fi because it's one of our most used Internet access methods. To me, World Wi-Fi Day initiatives represent more then just Wi-Fi. It's about helping others around the world become connected.

Just think of all the benefits being connected gives us: insight, helps with finding jobs, taking trips and finding locations, working remotely, accessing digital and social media, and the knowledge to do anything! Without Internet access, you're at a big disadvantage.

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I couldn't imagine a life without Internet access. It has to be rough being on the other side of the digital divide, cut off from family, jobs and knowledge. Even worse than that, think about going every day with Internet access, then suddenly not having it. What things in your day would you have to do differently? Would it be a struggle to accomplish your everyday tasks?

Let's take a look at my day and see what would happen to me. First off, I wake up every morning at 6:30 a.m. via Google Home and a few Philips Hue lights that turn on automatically. Since both are controlled via my online profiles, I guess I wouldn't get up on time.

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After checking emails on my phone (oh wait, I couldn't), I head over to my Withings scale to see if I lost any weight. I would be able to see my weight and heart rate, but it would no longer be logged in my app and I would need to write it down if I wanted to keep track of it.

So, here I am at 6:35 in the morning, and already four things aren't working. As I hop in the shower, I ask my Google Home to play the news or stream music. I guess I will start this day less informed.

On the way to the gym, I usually stream music so that is out of the question. Once I get to the gym, I track my workout with an app on my phone, heart rate monitor and step tracker as well as stream music. I would have to break out my CD player—if I could find it. My step tracker and heart rate monitor would still work, but like my scale, the data wouldn't be logged.

OK, so now it's 8:30 a.m. and it's time for work…but wait...My whole job is via the Internet. Hurray! I get the day off.

Anyway, this is just a small example of how my life is connected to the Internet. I could talk all day about all my other Internet of Things devices that wouldn't work anymore. Don't forget all the apps we use to make our lives more efficient like Chromecast, Moleskin Smart Writing, Wunderlist for to-dos Evernote for note-taking, slow cookers, security cameras, door locks, applets from IFTTT, and more. They wouldn't work either.

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How would I communicate and keep up with my friends and family? I would need to go back to calling or texting them daily just to see what they are up to. No more access to Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and other messengers.

The absolute biggest thing I would miss would be the ability to ask Google. My phone occasionally dies while I am out and about, and that's the time when I come up with millions of questions for Google. Access to the Internet gives me a sense of security and knowledge. With Google, I can know everything about anything. Without it, I feel inadequate, hindered and less informed.

I shared my story. Now share with us how your daily life would change without access to the Internet. Would you totally collapse and cry? Hide in your room all day? Or simply go about your day like nothing has changed, happy to live in a pre-digital age? I look forward to seeing your responses.

Remember, like always, keep sharing and keep caring.

PS: If you have any questions about the tech I use and how I use it with IFTTT, just ask 🙂