A new survey of 1000 commuters in London has revealed that, for a surprisingly large number of people, losing Internet access is more stressful than having no heating or water. Some 38% of those asked said that they would most stressed by a lack of Internet access at home, compared to only 32% with water loss and 18% no heating.
The Internet isn't the only thing people worry about losing though, cash (46%) was top of concern list. Interestingly while a third were worried about losing their personal mobile phone, only %5 could care less about losing their work mobile.
The survey, commissioned by Infosecurity Europe, also asked random commuters just how long they could cope without Internet access at home and 29% said they would be seriously troubled after a few days, and 25% wouldn't last longer than 24 hours without the 'net. Surprisingly, a whopping great 27% insisted that they could not cope at all if the Internet went down! This compares to just 17% in a similar survey the previous year. Are we becoming ever more increasingly dependent upon the Internet at home?
Claire Sellick, a Director of Infosecurity Europe, points out that, actually, it's not just the domestic environment. "When workers were asked what would cause them the most distress at work, a third of people citing this over and above their computer systems going down even worse than a really bad commute to work."
