Could you cope if everything that has a screen or a speaker disappeared?

I’d probably die….

Maybe I would finally get my work done.

I’d be upset by my music disappearing.
And the ease of the internet would be lost to me, but we got along fine for thousands of years, it’d be fine.

@asmonet…You would have to try and catch everyting live…

No. I would lose my mind damn near immediately! I mean i’m sure i’d adapt, but it would take a little while.

not at all

I guess I’d have to.

But I’d suffer from extreme boredom first. And I’d need to find a different career – I’m a film student.

Eventually. I’d fret horribly at first, though.

I was nodding until you got to cell phone. I need my cell phone.

Would take some time, but yeah, I should think so.

I would be so cranky. How would I even hook a non-cellphone phone up? I’d have to, like, look it up—in the phone book, which I don’t have—and call them from work or something. I could cope, but my crankiness would be legendary.

@everyone…You all do realize this is something not outside the realm of possibility, right?

I’m about to do that.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Short answer: no. Not just because of iPhone and computer either. Without speakers, there goes my music. I’m assuming headphones count as speakers?

@Blondesjon: Sure—most of this stuff is less than 100 years old. It’s a baby compared to time and technology. But, um, it’s a really cool baby. That everyone protects and nurtures.

@EmpressPixie…It is indeed a very cool baby.

living. without. music. sucks.

@aviona…There would be music. It just wouldn’t be coming from any type of speaker or electronic amplification.

@Blondesjon I would be fighting you for your guitar!

@jonsblond…Would it be fighting or some type of erotic wrestling?

@Blondesjon very true, very true. And my friends and I have had some pretty amazing acoustic sessions.

But I do love me some headphone time. Which, I do feel spoiled about on a weekly basis.

But seriously, I will be experiencing exactly what you are talking about. So if you don’t hear from me by, like, July. Then you’ll know it’s not possible. I died because of lack of technological stimulation. Or, you know, eaten by a mountain lion.

@Blondesjon, I think it is outside the realm of possibility. Our society has come to rely completely on computers. Without computers, our society would utterly collapse. (Arguably, the same applies to TV and cell phones, which are woven into our economic and cultural infrastructure.)

So what event or series of events do you think could happen that would force us to give up this technology?

The only things I can think of are “unlikely”:

• Skynet, the Matrix’s ancestors, and/or the Cylons becomes self-aware.

• A nuclear holocaust that strikes pretty much every major city in the world, and/or destroys every world’s government.

• A meteor or comet hits Earth. (A big one.)

• Jesus comes back / the 12th Imam emerges from occultation / Shiva initiates the Kali Yuga / Ahura Mazda and Ahriman finally battle to the bitter end / Ragnarok occurs.

• The cephalopod civilization under the network of deep sea hydrothermal vents culturally evolves faster than we do, emerges from the depths, and conquers us all with their exceedingly good camouflage and polarized-light-manipulation abilities.

the loss of easily accessible music would devastate me the most. i can’t play music for myself, and besides, i’d like never hear most of my favourite bands ever again.

@Qingu…I didn’t originally ask if it could happen. I only asked if you could cope.

No way now, I sold my last manual typewriter YEARS ago, I’d have to write everything out by hand. Can you imagine the drugs I’d need for that kind of Carpal Tunnel pain?

I know whenever my computer is down, I sit and wonder, just what the fuck did I do before I had a computer (and a PlayStation, and a cellphone, and all the rest)?

I would freak out. I could probably cope more easily if I wasn’t a stay at home mom. The internet is my only “adult” interaction some days. It’s my sanity.
Tv is for down time, I’d miss having it..but I would probably end up reading a lot more..which would be a good thing.

also, i’d like to add that i’d be pretty upset about having to do schoolwork without computers. i’d rather do my projects with pen than with a keyboard, but research is a bitch to do using books, especially since i hate the way they reconstructed my local library, and would end up having to travel further to get to a different one.

side rant: the plus side, though, would be that i wouldn’t have ridiculous standards for my typed papers anymore. i can’t stand it when a teacher will only take an assignment if it has been typed. my most recent project for a class is one that requires me to print out like 20 copies of a ‘study guide’ for the class, and i know where all of those study guides composed of my paper and expensive ink are going as the students walk out the door – right in the trash.

I would feel lost but then I’d love it.

Ooh… I was thinking “Oh, I could totally do that! No computers, no cell phones… The good old days!” Then I remembered that that would include movies…

I’d die.