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 everyday lives. Luckily, my small farm in rural north central Florida wasn’t affected., but it could have been!
This digital blackout and the speed at which it occurred show how fickle our global technological infrastructure really 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. Think EMP or CME. The effects of a more widespread outage could be far more devastating and cause significantly more problems than this one.
I will 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.
Remember the recent big solar flare when we weren’t sure if it could become an EMP or CME? Read this – April 8, 2024 Solar Eclipse Survival Tips
These tips would apply to a survival situation that wasn’t a digital down event. In an emergency such as
- a severe pandemic,
- devastating natural disaster,
- civil unrest, etc.
A digital blackout or any other bug-out scenario is 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
Hospitals were one thing affected by this recent outage. Many important pieces of equipment failed, causing 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 could significantly threaten medical safety. Without the help of ambulances, people 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 danger.
- There are so many crucial aspects of hospitals that rely on digital convenience. When technology fails or is down due to hacking, the medical industry is left in utter chaos and significantly slows down in 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 essential 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 spell life or death in a dire situation, especially if an outage was paired with a survival event.
- Injuries may be much more likely to occur depending on the situation if somebody is involved in a survival event. Medical knowledge of any kind would be valuable when modern medical care is unavailable.
Save Cash for Reliable Currency
Another problem this massive outage caused was the inability to use digital currency. Some systems that take credit or debit cards and other digital pay methods, like Apple Pay, were entirely down and unable to process anything.
- Profits can be challenging to earn in an age when most people no longer use cash, which could cause many businesses’ incomes to tank. This is also a significant inconvenience for customers who don’t have some money on them.
- Many cashless buyers who tried to purchase goods at their local grocery stores could not make transactions due to the outage. This left those people without any way to buy the food, toiletries, and other items they needed for their households.
- 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 banks’ equipment is digital, a more extensive outage could render it virtually useless.
- Not being able to withdraw money during an outage is why keeping cash on hand is essential, rather than waiting until something happens. If you need to purchase anything during a digital blackout, you won’t be able to do so if you only have digital pay methods on you.
- Another thing to consider is that many people may miss their paychecks because of the outage. 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 have been.
- If paychecks could not be processed, something more long-term than this recent outage could be a disaster for many families and their incomes. This is one reason why building up cash savings for a situation like this is vital.
- Bartering is another way to purchase goods in a digital blackout. Of course, this would be used in extreme long-term survival events where the supply chain might take a massive hit.
- Some extra necessities others might need when they cannot order or buy from a store would be suitable 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, including our food sources. People’s homes and grocery stores rely on power to keep food fresh and at safe temperatures.
- A technological outage could disrupt power grids. Widespread power losses could inhibit stores’ and citizens’ ability to maintain a safe temperature for refrigerated or frozen food.
- Depending on the length of the blackout, food that isn’t safe at room temperature for extended periods would then be unsafe to consume, leaving many people and stores with a significantly reduced food supply.
- To prepare for the possibility of power loss due to a digital outage, store non-perishable foods or foods with a long shelf life 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 cooking options that don’t rely on electricity.
- You should also have some knowledge of 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 in your location. Different places can have different game, so gather knowledge on what people hunt for locally. If you’re considering practicing, you should also check local laws.
Meet Your Daily Water Needs in a Mass Outage
Everyone needs access to clean water to stay healthy and hydrated. However, getting clean water during 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 correctly, so in a power outage, homes around the globe will be left without running water.
- Tap water also relies on water treatment plants to stay clean. These plants rely heavily on digital systems to operate properly. A long-term outage could cut off people’s access to clean water.
- Water treatment plants are unable 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 or your life. Many dangerous pathogens can be transmitted through water intake.
- The risk of contaminated water could be potentially life-threatening. As part of your preparation for a mass digital outage, you should ensure your household has access to clean water without relying on treatment plants that could stop functioning.
- Keeping drinking water in storage is one way to ensure you’ll have clean water. However, your supply could run out before the outage is fixed. A sudden outage could also leave you unprepared and without any.
- Know about natural water sources around your area, like lakes, ponds, streams, etc. In a dire situation, you can gather water from these spots. Remember to take the necessary steps to make the water clean and safe to ingest before consumption.
- Stock up on water filtration supplies to filter dirty natural or tap water. You can also learn how to filter and decontaminate water naturally. Many natural resources can be used to filter water using different methods.
Some examples of these resources include charcoal, sand, and prolonged exposure to sunlight. Boiling water after filtration is also a natural and very reliable option for decontaminating water.
Getting Through Transportation Setbacks
Many forms of transportation depend heavily on technology to function correctly. Traveling from one place to another using certain types of transportation may become problematic during a major outage.
- 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 correctly.
- Things like GPS that don’t require Internet service could also be affected. Even though these work through satellites, solar flares are another component that causes widespread digital outages. Solar flares can disrupt satellites, therefore rendering a GPS useless.
- Have a physical map and compass to ensure you can travel without relying on digital directional guides. Keep maps of your local area and surrounding areas if you need to travel a distance.
- It’d be good to laminate these maps to prevent damage. An accidental spill or rainfall could ruin the paper and your ability to travel confidently without protecting it.
- Another aspect of transportation that could be affected by mass tech outages is gas pumps. Gas pumps rely on power, and 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 issue, you can stock up on extra gasoline. Ensure you know how to handle and store it safely and check your local laws to ensure you 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, you may run out of gas and be unable to use your car. Develop another form of transportation that doesn’t rely on other forms of power.
- These could include skateboards, roller skates, bikes, and scooters. They might seem impractical, but if you have no other options, they’d save more energy than walking and allow you to travel quicker than you would on foot.
- Airlines would also be affected by a widespread outage. In the recent IT outage, many travelers who had already paid for their flights were left stranded at airports.
The potential for another outage of this volume or more significant is why you should ensure you have flight insurance. An event like this could strike any moment, so it’s better to be safe and ensure you won’t lose money.
Secure Your Home Without Relying on Technology
Many modern security systems rely on power and Wi-Fi. In a mass outage, both of those could quickly go down. This is why it’s important to ensure your home is secured without relying 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 digital security, physical home security items are used as a backup. 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
Our modern technological advancements at our fingertips make it easy to depend on them. They can quickly and conveniently teach us valuable information.
- The Internet has more information on it than anyone could ever know. Billions of pages can load on Google for any 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 essential topics without technology.
- One way to ensure you’ll still be able to learn without digital appliances is to gather books on basic or essential knowledge. For example, if you need to learn more about cooking, having one or a few books on that topic might be a good idea if you need to find out how to do something without Internet access.
- You can also try to extend your knowledge before a major outage event. Learn about important topics like growing your food, self-defense, survival tactics, foraging, etc.
Reading, doing research while using technology, taking notes, or even taking classes online or in person can help one learn more about important topics.
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 depends on power to function correctly, many AC units would quit working in the event of a mass tech outage.
- This could be dangerous to many people, especially in more extreme climates. To these households, not being able to control the temperature could cause extreme health problems and even death.
- People have even recently passed away during power outages when extreme temperatures were present. This is why it’s a good idea to ensure that even if you lose control of your home’s AC, everyone in your household will be at a safe bodily temperature.
- You can prepare for this situation 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; the opposite goes for living in a hotter area.
- Remember that weather can be unpredictable, and you don’t want to be unprepared for extreme heat or cold temperatures. Your safest bet is to prepare for both.
- Also, remember 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 essential when preparing for a technological outage. By following these tips, you can ensure your household can navigate a digital blackout significantly more smoothly.
Have you prepared for a potential blackout or loss of electricity? What process have you done? I’d love to hear from anyone about your preparations and tips! Please leave a reply/comment below.
I’m the daughter of 2 original survivalists who moved from the north to sunny Florida. My mother, along with her parents, bought 30 mostly uncleared acres in 1938. The first home was made of pecky-cypress and built by a house-raising. My mother raised 10,000 chickens.
My divorced mother met and married my father in 1948. From pine trees on our property, he hand-built a log cabin. He also built a tarpaper-lined 65’x45′ pool with duck pond overflow. We had an artesian well for our water and powering our hand-built waterwheel for the pool. He built a substantial cantilevered roof workshop with a car pit in the massive cement floor.
Since my early teens, I have read a ton of books about survival, prepping, the bomb, an apocalypse, homestead living, and SHTF situations. As an adult, I continue to read sci-fi, survival prepping, and science. I practice a prepper lifestyle albeit a bit modified, read a lot, buy a lot, pack/store a lot of anything survival related.
Read my About Me post for more details on our self-sufficient living. I lived there until I went to college in 1968.
My SurvivalPrepperSupply.com blog strives to educate individuals on coping with natural and human-caused disasters using article posts about preparing for emergencies.
