If I shut off the internet how many days do you think it would take before people lose their minds?

Man, probably not good when someone that's been advocating for complete systemic segregation of the mentally ill and who thinks people dont "deserve" a chance at happiness starts fantasizing about having the power to shut down the internet.

This is a hypothetical as I clearly am not able to shut down all of the internet again

Sure thing, not-an-aws-employee!

How bad would affect society, it would be pretty much catastrophic. I live in the United States pretty much. Everything is computerized at this point. No Internet access good luck in getting your medical files, good luck on buying something at a store. Stores would not be able to order anything so the shelves would be empty. Traffic lights are all computerized so there would be traffic jams from hell. Now the traffic lights might continue running for a while in certain areas as long as they are not networked, But I have heard rumor that some of them might be networked And if they are, I have no idea if they could run independently.

There’s so many things in this country that require an Internet connection to actually even operate. It’s quite scary.

Most people would lose their minds because society would really cease to function within about a day.

For example, grocery stores would shut down for the day, maybe two Possibly three, until the grocery store owners realized this wasn’t going to be a short term item. At which point they would have the managers of the store escort people in figure out what items they need and then have to hand. Write up receipts to get things sold. They would have to calculate the tax by hand. Many grocery store managers would have a hard time on even figure out how to do this. Within a couple of days, the grocery store shelves would be up empty. Because there would be no real way to re-order food., Grocery store owners would be forced to close the stores. At which point food riots would begin. Because people would be convinced there was food in the grocery store yet the stores are closed and the Kids at home would be crying for food, people would lose their minds.

I’m thinking a week maybe two tops before society completely breaks down

From a business/productivity side it would be cataclysmic.

For the private life of people quite the opposite, things would get a lot more sane.

There have been several high-profile systemic failures in the past few years that give us a glimpse into the hypothetical you're describing. Most interruptions have lasted mere hours, if not minutes, before causing mass panic and devastating economic catastrophes. Planes are grounded, banks stop operations, global trade shuts down, and hospitals can't access patient records.

The question isn't how long before it would be a huge problem. That starts immediately. The better question is, how long before people adapt to a world without the internet? How long would it take to build an alternative?

Not sure if this is close enough to on-topic for you but during the London blitz people who were previously depressed got a little less depressed.

When things are going crazy you don’t have as much time to mope about. You have to survive.

So depending on what you mean by “go crazy”. A lot of us might band together in the aftermath more than before.

At this point the “Internet’ is the same as any other utility. So society would collapse in about three days.

I'll just leave this here.

I think the world would become more sane if the internet stopped working.

3 minutes

2... maybe 3 hours.

There is great sci-fi book about shutting down all electronic and how society collapses from perspective of the prepper guy.
Not sure if there is English translation because it's Swedish author.
Stjärnklart
Author: Lars Wilderäng
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22937310-stj-rnklart

We should shut down every social media web site as a test. For 10 years.

I don't really care that much about Lemmy or any communications, I just want entertainment. I'm just too reliant on the internet for entertainment. I have zero cd/dvds, not even sure if the DVD player works anymore. TV is 15 years old, those old TVs hurts your eyes (Its an LED tv but still...) when you look at it for too long, remote is already broken, the buttons on the tv itself are unresponsive half the time.

I mean, tbf, I don't think anyone even has those anymore, everything is just online subscriptions and you don't own anything.

People would bored so quick, DVD sales and DVD players (and I guess BluRays players and Bluray disks?) sales would boom. Like skyrocket and stores get emptied. That's assuming we even survive past the initial hours.

Powergrids would go down, military communications will have issues. Potentially China could invade Taiwan amist the confusion.

Economic crash. Protests and riots.

Humanity could end with M.A.D. within a week.

I'm fascinated by this

I wonder how many people would die before pharmacists and doctors adjust.

I think South Park nailed it

It would be bad.