Being forced off the grid can be inspiring. 'Digital Natives' assume the Internet will be there when they walk into class. Especially my class, a computer lab. One morning, the Internet was dead. No big deal, I told them. There are parts of the world, and even swaths of this country where Wi-Fi is not a given. Networks are sluggish or non-existent.

Without computers - since we use Chrome boxes-- it's an opportunity to improvise rather than panic. At such times I turn to the next best thing, a Socratic discussion. So I raised this topic: “What would you do if the Internet suddenly disappeared from our lives?”

Listen to how the class went.