I live off the power, water, phone, septic and gas grids, but there is still one grid that I am deeply entrenched in—the internet. I remain deeply reliant on the internet grid, which includes my ability to make phone calls from inside my house. Satellites in the sky that I beam information to and from, distant towers that relay my most mundane concerns via text like grocery lists and where to meet me later and how late I’m running. I have become so dependent on these grids that when the internet went out for 24 hours last week, I barely knew what to do with myself.
I still had cell service. There are no land lines in my neighborhood, so cell phones are a lifeline, literally in case of an emergency, and a practicality for those fewer and fewer necessities that require phone calls. Cell service where I live is spotty in general, so I don’t make many phone calls. They certainly don’t sound well behind…
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