It has been dark online for most Ugandans since Wednesday evening – – Who would ever have known that one day our smartphones will be rendered useless for some days. It’s been over 4 days without the internet and this has really taken drained most internet addicts. Many found their Internet bundles and OTT expired and VPN bypass was no longer a solution. Many online businesses were put at a standstill.
It doesn’t matter who you voted in the just concluded elections– what matters is that this whole drama is now past us and we are all back online. On Wednesday evening there was panic, I got over 30 calls from friends calling me asking for a bypass in order to access mobile internet. Most thought their VPNs had been blocked.
ALSO READ: Prepare for Total Internet Shutdown
This is the time most people got to realize that their smartphones were rendered useless without the internet. We got to charge our phones less as the battery strain on data download and upload as a thing of the past, and it is the time I realized that most apps on my phones required the internet. The citizens had to go back to the traditional voice calls just to keep in touch with their mates.
It was the first time at a social gathering I went to where people were actually more engaged with each other without smartphone interruption. People were having uninterrupted conversations and I noticed some would only access their phone to either make or take phone calls or play a random game.
Some people took the time to look at their galleries in details and do some clean up by deleting no longer needed media. Personally, I watched and deleted many videos and I was able to recover over 10GB of space on my phone. The lack of internet really freed up a lot of time for us.
You honestly missed nothing on the internet
The internet will always be the internet, you never missed anything, the same old president was elected and announced by the electoral commission, Joe Biden is still the next American president, Trump and NRM bloggers are still banned from Facebook and Twitter, your WhatsApp inbox has been filled with the messages you missed and your social media account logins are still the same. Now that we are back online life moves on.
For now, the internet is back but will still need your VPN. Welcome back online until early 2026 when the internet will be switched off again enjoy the internet. What did you miss most while you were offline? Leave us a comment below.
