A world without the Internet can mean radical changes in social dynamics, and the film Leave the World Behind leaves a window open into this scenario. (Photo: Getty) (ANGELA WEISS via Getty Images)
The film Leave the world behind, recently released on Netflix, has opened the tap of criticism and analysis on the message of this feature film, which has an unexpected ending and leaves more questions than certainties.
Those questions – spoiler alert – include how to survive a massive power outage and get by without internet in a society that uses the smartphone as an extension of one's arm because it is the best assistant and life-facilitator ever created. invented to this day.
With a smartphone you can make video calls, you have access to personal correspondence and information about what is happening anywhere in the world in real time, you can locate yourself and send the location, brag about happy moments on social networks, etc. Find out about the another.
In addition, more and more people use their mobile phones or computers to pay for everything and that is why there are many who forego cash, those who order everything online, be it groceries, a vacuum cleaner or a video game. , those who are looking for a partner through an application or those who make a living from it, “Influencers” via social networks.
It is a fact that all information “Cloud“, files, documents, photos and videos, and that the use of the office is already seen as somewhat overrated because you can work from anywhere, a computer is enough and sometimes a cell phone.
The idea of all this lightness disappearing is far more than a dystopian scenario, as new societies are emerging between digital connections that, although it sounds like a horror movie, can be broken.
The film is based on the book of the same name by author Rumaan Alam, which was published in autumn 2020, in the middle of the corona pandemic. COVID-19a chance event that coincided perfectly with the catastrophic history of the literary work, making it clear that although it is a work of fiction, it is a situation that can occur in real life today.
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However, the director is in the film Sam Esmail Certain changes were allowed to highlight perhaps the greatest fears of a society dependent on technology and the Internet, such as plane accidents, uncontrolled ships stranding and dozens of vehicles Tesla uncontrolled vehicles colliding one after the other, all to illustrate the catastrophic consequences of a cyberattack.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Esmail noted that talking about cyberattacks sounds “mysterious” and people don't really understand what it means “or what it would look like.”
But, he said, “when you start dramatizing that on screen and they realize that's a connection to reality, I think that's where the real horror might strike.”
Esmail is also the creator of Mr. Robota series in which the American producer and director revealed the dark sides of the internet and technology between 2015 and 2019.
Leave the World Behind is also the first film by Altitudethe production company founded by the former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama in 2018, and that's why many conspiracy theory followers have said that the power couple may know something about an impending catastrophic event that most of the world doesn't know about.
The last innocents
There is a scene in the film where Amanda, played by Julia Roberts, and George, played by Mahershala Ali, try to combat the fear of a tense situation in the house and an apocalyptic situation outside.
Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts star in this film that proposes a catastrophic scenario (Photo: Getty) (Cindy Ord via Getty Images)
The two have just met, they don't trust each other, but what they have in common is that they are both around 50 years old and belong to what social scientists call “the last innocents”, i.e. they grew up in the last generation. without the popularization of the Internet.
That's why they knew how to escape to a beautiful living room of the elegant house with a huge collection of records and dance and laugh there.
in his book The end of absenceCanadian writer Michael Harris also refers to this generation as “digital immigrants” because they knew how to live with and without connectivity.
In 2019, a study was published in World Psychiatry in which an international team of researchers used MRIs and behavioral observations of a group of people and found that prolonged internet use causes “acute and persistent changes in specific areas of cognition,” that is, changes in attention. , memory and social interaction skills.
Quoted by The Guardian, the neuroscientist Joseph Firthwho led the study, explained that the brain quickly gets used to the idea that the Internet is a kind of “outsourced memory bank” and that this reduces the function of “transactive memory”, that is, the memories it engages with or images in mental classification processes.
Digital immigrants know how to use this memory, but children born in a society where they have access to the Internet from birth and are not required to perform this cognitive function are still being analyzed.
The question of how new generations would react to an Internet outage remains open.
Writer Michael Harris says in his book “The End of Absence” that people must learn to “reclaim solitude” and prevent the “inner life” from being lost. He recommends “digital detox”, taking walks without a cell phone, writing by hand for an afternoon or reading uninterruptedly for a long time.
Harris points out that solitude without electronic devices allows imagination to grow and independent thinking that cannot be adopted by everyone who wants to influence the individual's decision-making.
Today's world is therefore in an interesting moment in which “the last innocents” live together, those who have already been born into a digitalized society and those who have always refused to fall fully into the clutches of the Internet who are usually people over 65 years of age.
A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center between January and February 2021 found that 7% of American adults do not use the internet.
Analysis of this survey shows that lack of internet is primarily related to age, as 25% of adults aged 65 and over say they never connect to the internet.
According to this study, education level and monthly income also influence the lack of Internet at home: about 14% of adults with secondary education or less do not have access to the Internet, and 14% of those earning less than 30,000 a year do not either.
Those who are prepared
In the story of Leave the World Behind there is also the character who has spent years preparing for the arrival of the apocalypse. It's Danny, played by Kevin Baconwho was responsible for stocking up on everything necessary for survival, including medicine and weapons.
It is estimated that there are around 20 million preppers in the world and many of them have shelters and bunkers (Photo:Getty) (José Luis Buendía via Getty Images)
Rose, Amanda and Clay Sandford's teenage daughter, accidentally finds one of these shelters, specially prepared for the arrival of a possible apocalyptic event, in a house next to her family's home. There, in this luxuriously decorated underground space, there is everything you need to survive without the Internet, including a treasure trove of series and films.
Bradley Garrett, author of the book Bunker: Building for End Times, says there are about 20 million “preppers” around the world, or people who prepare for a big event. apocalyptic catastrophe.
Quoted by BBC, the criminologist of the University of KentMichael Mills, explains that preppers organize and plan for possible situations in which “food and basic supplies may not be available, government support may not be available, and survivors may have to fend for themselves.”
Among this large number of preppers, there are many who have managed to build luxurious accommodations like the one Rose found in the film, and others, less elegant, aimed only at providing shelter, food, medicine and other basic resources to provide for survival.
These lodges are often kept secret, especially when they are luxurious and extremely well equipped.
Prepared for the event
In April 2021 the Austrian Defense Minister, Klaudia Tanner He publicly said that “the question is not if there will be a major blackout, but when,” words that triggered a situation of collective fear and led many inside and outside the country to prepare for an event like this.
He Austrian army He then said that in the event of a major power outage, it is best to have enough reserves at home for the equivalent of two weeks of electricity. camping.
The Austrian government advised citizens to prepare for a major power outage (Photo:Getty) (Ondacaracola photography via Getty Images)
This supply consists of non-perishable foods such as pasta, rice and canned goods, two liters of water per person per day, a portable gas stove, cash and a battery-operated radio.
He also recommended that citizens agree on a meeting place with family, friends and neighbors and plan a network for neighborhood cooperation.
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Sources: New York Post, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, BBC, DW, Pew Research Center