In mid-July 2024, a software glitch caused a massive technological outage. This glitch affected many businesses and became a significant obstacle in many people’s lives.
This digital blackout and the speed at which it occurred show how fickle our global technological infrastructure is. While this glitch was a major inconvenience, it wasn’t the worst-case scenario.
There could be a worse digital blackout scenario that affects everyone and lasts long-term, like for months or years. The effects of a more widespread outage could be far more devastating and cause significantly bigger problems than this one.
I’m going to teach you about the possible scenarios you could face in a nationwide or even worldwide technological failure. You’ll also learn some tips on what you can do to prepare for and navigate those situations to keep you and your family safe during such an event.
Some of these tips would apply to a survival situation that wasn’t a digital down event. In the event of an emergency such as a severe pandemic, devastating natural disaster, civil unrest or any other bug-out type of scenario, a digital blackout might be likely, so it’s good to know how to survive without needing access to the Internet or other digital gadgets.
Medical Care in an Outage
One thing that was affected by the outage was hospitals. Many important pieces of equipment failed, which caused issues in various departments. Some hospitals had to cancel all incoming medical procedures, leaving people needing aid without care.
Emergency services were also not operating properly in some areas, which can pose a major threat to medical safety. Those without family members who can drive them to the hospital or people living alone who can’t operate a vehicle in their condition would be in serious danger without the help of ambulances.
There are so many crucial aspects of hospitals that rely on digital convenience. When technology fails or is down due to a hacking situation, the medical industry is left in utter chaos. It slows down significantly in terms of treating patients with potentially critical ailments.
In the modern age, we are too reliant on systems that could easily crash in a much more long-term, even possibly permanent way. An event like this shows why it’s so important for you to be able to treat medical issues at home without technology.
Keeping medical supplies in your home and knowing how to use them could potentially spell life or death in a dire situation, especially if an outage was paired with a survival event.
If a survival event were involved, depending on the situation, injuries may be much more likely to occur. Medical knowledge of any kind would be valuable in situations where modern medical care wouldn’t be available.
Save Cash for Reliable Currency
Another problem caused by this massive outage was the inability for people to use digital currency. Some systems that take credit or debit cards and other digital pay methods like Apple Pay were completely down and unable to process anything.
The inability to bring in profits in an age where most people are no longer using cash could cause many businesses’ incomes to tank. This was also a major inconvenience for customers who don’t have cash on them.
Many cashless buyers who tried to purchase goods at their local grocery stores were unable to make transactions due to the outage. This left those people needing help to buy the foods, toiletries, and other items they needed for their household.
In some areas, banks were also affected. Some banks’ ATMs were down, making it increasingly difficult for people to withdraw cash once the event unfolded. Since so much of the equipment used by banks is digital, a bigger outage could render it virtually useless.
This is why it’s important to keep cash on hand at all times and not wait until something happens to withdraw it. If you need to purchase anything during a digital blackout, you won’t be able to if you only have digital pay methods on you.
Another thing to consider is that because of the outage, many people are facing the possibility that they may miss their paychecks. Depending on your career, you could’ve been one of the ones affected. If you weren’t one of the unlucky ones this time, in a broader scale tech failure, you might could be.
If paychecks were unable to process, something more long-term than this recent outage could be a disaster for many families and their incomes. This is one reason why it’s important to build up cash savings for a situation like this one.
Another way you could purchase goods in a digital blackout would be bartering. Of course, this would be in more extreme long-term survival events where the supply chain might take a massive hit.
Having some extra necessities others might need in a time where no one is able to order or buy from a store would be good for trade. This could help you get some items you might need as well.
Avoid Going Hungry in a Digital Blackout
Most things in the modern world rely on technology. This includes our food sources. People’s homes and grocery stores both rely on power to keep food fresh and at safe temperatures.
In a technological outage, the power grids could be disrupted. If this were to happen, there could be widespread power losses which could inhibit stores’ and citizens’ ability to maintain a safe temperature for their refrigerated or frozen food.
Depending on the length of the blackout, all food that isn’t safe at room temperature for long periods of time would then be unsafe to consume, leaving many people and stores with significantly less food supply.
To prepare for the possibility of power loss due to a digital outage, have non-perishable foods or foods with a long shelf life that are meant to be stored at room temperature. This way, you’ll still have plenty of food to rely on even if your fridge or freezer quits working.
In a power outage, you’ll also lose the ability to use modern appliances such as microwaves, ovens, and stovetops. Make sure you have alternate options for cooking that don’t rely on electricity.
You should also have some knowledge on foraging in your local area. If a situation were to unfold where the supply chain was unreliable and you’d run out of food, it’d be good to know about edible plants you can gather around where you live.
It might also be helpful to learn about hunting for your location. Different places can have different game, so gather knowledge on what people hunt for locally. You should also check up on local laws if you’re considering practicing.
Meet Your Daily Water Needs in a Mass Outage
Access to clean water is something everyone needs to stay healthy and hydrated. Being able to get clean water in a widespread, long-term outage may not be as easy as it currently is.
A digital outage can cause power loss. Many houses’ water systems rely on power to run properly. This means that in a power outage, homes around the globe will be left with no running water.
Tap water also relies on water treatment plants to stay clean. These water treatment plants are very reliant on digital systems to operate properly. In a long-term outage, this could cut off people’s access to clean water.
In the event of water treatment plants not being able to clean the water they distribute to homes, dirty water filled with unsafe microorganisms could potentially contaminate people’s tap water.
Drinking water that hasn’t been decontaminated could pose a serious threat to your health – even your life. There are many dangerous pathogens that can be transmitted to you through water intake.
Since the risk of contaminated water could be potentially life-threatening, part of your preparation for a mass digital outage should be ensuring your household will have access to clean water without relying on treatment plants that could potentially quit functioning.
Keeping drinking water in storage is one way to ensure that you’ll have clean water. However, it’s possible that your supply could run out before the outage is fixed. It’s also a possibility that a sudden outage could catch you in a situation where you’re unprepared and don’t have any.
This is why it’s important for you to also know about natural water sources around your area like lakes, ponds, streams, etc. In a dire situation, you’ll be able to gather water from these spots – just keep in mind that you must take the necessary steps to make the water clean and safe to ingest prior to consumption.
You can filter dirty natural water or tap water by stocking up on water filtration supplies, and you can also learn how to filter and decontaminate water naturally. There are many natural resources you can use to filter water using different methods.
A few examples of these resources include charcoal, sand, and even prolonged exposure to the sunlight. Boiling water after filtration is also a natural and very reliable option when it comes to decontaminating water.
Getting Through Transportation Setbacks
Lots of transportation relies heavily on technology to function properly. In the event of a major outage, traveling from one place to another using certain types of transport may become difficult.
The first way transportation could be impacted is by getting directions. Many people these days rely on digital technology like directional apps that guide you during a drive to your destination. In a mass tech outage where you could be left without any service or Wi-Fi, these apps wouldn’t work properly.
Things like GPS that don’t require Internet service could also be affected. Even though these work through satellites, solar flares are another component in causing a widespread digital outage. Solar flares can disrupt satellites, therefore rendering a GPS useless.
To make sure you can travel without needing to rely on digital directional guides, have a physical map and compass. Keep maps of your local area and surrounding areas in case you need to travel a further distance.
It’d be good to laminate these maps to keep them from getting damaged. Without protecting your map, an accidental spill or rainfall could ruin the paper and ruin your ability to travel with confidence.
Another aspect of transportation that could be affected by mass tech outages would be gas pumps. Gas pumps rely on power. A tech outage could cause power grids to fail, which means if you needed gas for your car in a situation like this, you’d be out of luck.
To avoid this being an issue, you can stock up on extra gasoline. Make sure you know how to handle and store it safely, and check your local laws to ensure you’ll follow the proper guidelines for keeping extra gasoline. Also keep in mind that gasoline has a set shelf life.
In a long-term outage situation, it’s possible that you could run out of gas and be unable to use your car. To prepare for this situation, have another form of transportation that doesn’t rely on other forms of power.
These could be things like skateboards, roller-skates, bikes, and scooters. They might seem impractical, but in a situation where you have no other options, they’d save more energy than walking and give you the opportunity to travel quicker than you would on foot.
Airlines are something else that would be affected by a widespread outage. In the recent IT outage, many travelers who had already paid for their flights and were prepared for their trips were left stranded at airports.
The potential for another outage of this volume or bigger is why you should make sure you have insurance on your flights. An event like this could strike at any moment, so it’s better to be safe and ensure you won’t lose your money.
Secure Your Home Without Relying on Technology
Many modern security systems these days rely on power and Wi-Fi. In a mass outage, both of those could easily go down. This is why it’s important for you to make sure your home is secured without needing to rely on digital components.
A digital home security system could also be compromised during a cyber attack for malicious reasons. Protecting your home with only technology leaves you vulnerable to these dangerous hackers.
Instead of only using digital security, use physical home security items as a backup. This way, if a cyber attack occurs or the power grid/Wi-Fi goes down, you can be at ease knowing your household will still be protected.
Be Able to Learn Without Tech
With the modern technological advancements we have at our fingertips, it can be easy to become dependent on them. Especially when they can quickly and conveniently teach us important information.
The Internet has more information on it than anyone could ever know. Billions of pages can load on Google for any given topic within less than a second. However, if a tech outage were to cut off your access to all of this information, you’d need to be able to learn about important topics without technology.
One way you can make sure you’ll still be able to learn without digital appliances is by gathering books on basic or important knowledge. For example, if you don’t know much about cooking, it might be a good idea to have one or a few books on that topic in case you need to find out how to do something without Internet access.
You can also try to extend your knowledge prior to a major outage event happening. Learn about important topics like growing your own food, self defense, survival tactics, foraging, etc.
You can accomplish learning more about important topics by reading, doing research while you have the technology available and taking notes, or even taking classes online or in person.
Keep Your Temperature Regulated in an Outage
Modern homes rely on air conditioning to keep their homes at a comfortable temperature. Since most air conditioning relies on power to function properly, many AC units would quit working in the event of a mass tech outage.
This could be dangerous to many people, especially those that live in areas with more extreme climates. To these households, not being able to control the temperature could cause extreme health problems, and even death.
There have even recently been times where people have passed away during power outages while extreme temperatures were present. This is why it’s a good idea to ensure that even if you lose the ability to control your home’s AC, everyone in your household will be kept at a safe bodily temperature.
You can prepare for a situation like this by stocking up on items that combat extreme temperatures. Having items for staying warm will be more important if you live in a colder area, and the opposite goes for if you live in a hotter area.
Keep in mind that weather can be unpredictable, and you don’t want to be unprepared for either extreme heat or cold temperatures. Your safest bet would be to prepare for both.
Also keep in mind that heat rises, so if you’re trying to stay warm in cold temperatures, go to a higher spot in your house, and a lower spot if you’re trying to cool off from the heat.
Reducing your tech dependency is important when preparing for a technological outage. Using these tips above, you can ensure your household will be able to navigate a digital blackout significantly more smoothly.
Digital Blackouts will happen and these blackouts will cause you problems so you need to be prepared. Follow these guidelines above and have things that can help you when it happens. Here is a list of item that will help.
Emergency Hand Crank Radio with Solar charging
300 watt Portable Solar Generator
Stay Safe
