The Internet: Commodity or Necessity?

The internet has a big impact on our daily lives. The way we interact with each other, the way we get our information, the internet plays a major role in almost everything we do. But how important is the internet really, are we able to live without internet access or has the internet become such an important part of our lives that we can not live without it?

The importance

The growth of the internet shows no signs of slowing down. If anything chances are that "we ain't seen nothing yet". With the growing importance of the internet comes also the question if internet access is just a luxury or has it become a necessity? A large part of our infrastructure and financial structure depend on the internet, the same goes for our communication. We are an information society and the internet is our backbone.

World Wide internet Users

Almost half of the world population is using the internet and in the developed world almost 81% of the people are internet users.

The dependency

All in all we have become very dependent of the internet. Just imagine what would happen if by some freak disaster the internet would just shut down? The whole world economy would just collapse, everything would come to a standstill, disaster would ensue.
Think about the effects if it was just you that would lose internet access. In my case I would have no money, I never carry cash, all my funds are on online bank accounts. Online gaming would be out of the question, so no more Destiny, no netflix, no whatsapp, no more working from home (I work for an IT firm) even worse no more Steemit. Truthfully I would not know what to do with my time. I wonder if I would be able to fully function without internet access.

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The impact

Back to my personal life, I live in the Netherlands, a country that prides itself on being on the front end of things and continually innovating. It is no surprise that the use of internet is highly stimulated. Most services, either government or business are online. If I need a new passport for example I can schedule an appointment online. All my utility bills are paid online (which turns out to be a problem when I need to provide a proof of address because I don't get any utility bills in the mail).
If I am late paying an invoice I get a notice via e-mail with an ideal (online payment) link so that I can instantly pay the invoice.
There are more and more people pronouncing that internet access is actually a necessity and that everyone should have access. In the Netherlands the Government is promoting a lot of big Free WiFi projects to make sure that everyone has internet access wherever they are. The Government is also investing heavily in a faster broadband infrastructure to ensure that every household has at least a 100 MB internet connection.
This sounds (and probably is for the most part) very convenient but there is a downside....

The downside

With society becoming more dependent of The internet there some downsides that come lurking around the corner.

The others
What about those who don't have or choose not to use the internet? With the increasing need to have internet for things like banking, people without internet access will have a serious disadvantage. Are we inadvertently shutting people out of modern day society?
Vulnerability
Being dependent on something makes you vulnerable. This is especially true for the internet. Cyber attacks meant to cripple business or extort them are increasing. It is not unlikely that Cyber criminals will try to develop the means to totally shut down the infrastructure of an entire country and if it is not Cyber criminals than most likely it is the army developing such means.

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The Breakdown

The way I see it the internet is not a necessity (yet). Half of the world population apparently can live without internet access without problems. The other half probably couldn't if they tried, but let's be honest, in most cases it would be a major inconvenience but not a life or death situation.

However with the internet becoming more and more essential in our daily lives and more and more services and amenities becoming only available with internet access, it won't be long before internet access will be the only way to obtaining some of the basic human needs. It is then and only then that the internet becomes a necessity.