Vratislav Holub During yesterday evening, there was a large-scale outage of Facebook services, which affected not only Facebook itself, but also Instagram and WhatsApp. People are talking about this incident as the biggest FB outage of 2021. Although it seems banal at first glance, the opposite is true. The sudden unavailability of these social networks caused confusion and was a huge nightmare for many. But how is this possible and where is the buried dog?
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Nowadays, we have all kinds of technologies at our disposal, which can not only make our everyday life easier, but also make it pleasant and entertain us. After all, this is exactly an example of social networks, with the help of which we can not only communicate with friends or socialize, but also access various information and have fun. We have literally learned to live with the phone in hand - with the idea that all these networks are at our fingertips at any time. The sudden outage of these platforms forced many users to undergo a practically immediate digital detox, which of course was not voluntary, says Dr. Rachael Kent from King's College London and founder of the Dr Digital Health project.
Funny reactions of the Internet to the downfall of Facebook services:
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She continues to mention that although people try to find a certain balance in the use of social networks, it is not always completely successful, which was directly confirmed by yesterday's incident. The academic worker continues to emphasize that people were forced to stop using their mobile phones, or rather the given platforms, from second to second. But when they took them in their hands, they still didn't get the expected dose of dopamine, which they are normally used to.
Setting up a company mirror
Yesterday's outage is being resolved practically all over the world today. As Kent points out, people were not only exposed to a sudden digital detox, but at the same time they were (subconsciously) confronted with the idea of how much they actually depend on these social networks. In addition, if you often use Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp, then yesterday you probably encountered situations where you constantly opened the given applications and checked whether they were already available. It is this kind of behavior that points to a present addiction.
Businesses that use these social networks for their presentation and business were not in the best of shape either. In such a case, it is quite understandable that anxiety sets in at the moment when one cannot manage one's business. For regular users, anxiety comes for several reasons. We are talking about the inability to scroll, which humanity has become incredibly accustomed to, communication with friends, or access to certain products and services.
Damn I just noticed I'm addicted to Instagram
— OFFSET (@OffsetYRN) October 4, 2021
Possible alternatives
Due to malfunctioning services, many users moved to other social networks, where they made their presence known immediately. Last night, it was enough to open, for example, Twitter or TikTok, where suddenly most of the posts were devoted to the blackout at the time. For this reason, Kent adds, she would like people to start thinking about possible alternatives for entertainment. The idea that a simple blackout of a few hours can cause anxiety is literally overwhelming. Therefore, several options are available. In such moments, people can, for example, throw themselves into cooking, reading books, playing (video) games, learning and similar activities. In an ideal world, yesterday's outage, or rather its consequences, would force people to think and lead to a healthier approach to social networks. However, the doctor fears that a similar situation will not occur at all for most people.
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