Last March, the internet in my area of Quezon City went down for four whole days because a construction crew accidentally cut a fibre cable. It also happened to be the week I was supposed to be finishing an assignment for my online accounting course.
The first day was chaotic. My mobile data was very slow because, apparently, the whole neighbourhood was using it at the same time, and it ran out within hours. I couldn't access my course, check work messages or even pay my electricity bill. My younger brothers were climbing the walls because they couldn't play their online games. By the evening the whole family was sitting in the living room, slightly irritated with each other, with nothing to do.
The second day, I gave up waiting and went to the public library, which had a weak but working connection, and I finished the most urgent parts of my assignment there. In the evenings, though, things changed at home. My mother found an old board game, and we played for hours. My grandmother taught my brothers a card game from her childhood. I read a paperback novel for the first time in about two years.
My feelings went through stages. At first I felt anxious and cut off, almost as if I'd lost a limb, which shows how dependent I'd become. But by the third day I felt strangely calm and slept much better. When the connection came back, I was actually a bit disappointed. I've since started switching off my phone for an hour every evening, and I think those four days were the reason why.