When the “Internet” Does Not Work!

Yesterday, (Monday, October 20, 2025) a significant disruption happened in the digital world: Amazon Web Services (AWS), a massive provider of cloud services, experienced a widespread outage that knocked offline dozens of websites, apps and tools many of us — and our children — use daily.

Let’s talk about what this means for us as parents, for our kids, and for the digital future they’re growing up into.

• The outage began early Monday morning in the U.S. East region (US-EAST-1) of AWS, when a key internal system — specifically the DNS resolution of AWS’s DynamoDB API endpoint — failed.

• Because AWS is the infrastructure backbone for so many services (apps, websites, games, smart devices), many systems we rely on went down. Examples included voice assistants, home security cameras, game platforms, payment apps — even education‐related tools.

• Although the core issue was resolved, recovery took time, and many services experienced backlogs or slow performance even after the “fix.”

1. Our daily life is deeply intertwined with technology — even when we don’t notice it.
For example: your child might use a learning app at home or at school; a parent might remotely check a home-camera; you might use a payment app or streaming service. When the underlying infrastructure fails, it affects everything. The outage showed us that what seems like a simple “app not loading” can be a symptom of large, complex systems going down.

2. Tech isn’t optional anymore — it’s embedded.
Schools are increasingly using online platforms, remote learning tools, homework submission portals, video conferencing for class updates, etc. If those tools fail, it affects learning, communication, deadlines. Our children are living in a world where being comfortable with technology isn’t just a “nice-to-have” — it’s becoming a core skill.

3. Infrastructure fragility is real.
The fact that a problem in one region (US‐East) of one provider (AWS) can ripple globally is a wake-up call. It highlights how much we rely on a few large tech companies and systems — and how vulnerable that makes us.

For children growing up in this environment, it’s a real-world lesson: “things might break”, “services might fail”, and “the network” isn’t infallible. That means adaptability, troubleshooting, and understanding tech systems matter.

4. Future careers and opportunities will lean on tech fluency.
Because so many industries (education, health, entertainment, finance, logistics) now rely on cloud, data, apps — our children’s future workplaces will expect more than “I can use a word processor.” They’ll benefit from knowing how things work behind the scenes (even at a basic level), how to respond when things go wrong, and how to continue learning as the tools evolve.

Encourage curiosity: Ask your child what apps or devices they rely on and why. Discuss what might happen if they don’t work (as happened yesterday), and explore what the “behind the scenes” might look like (servers, cloud, internet).

Promote basic tech problem-solving: When something doesn’t work (app won’t load, camera is offline, game crashes) treat it as a learning moment. Instead of immediate frustration (“Why is this broken?”), ask together: “What could be wrong?”, “What steps can we try?”, “How might the device, internet, server, or app be involved?”

Balance screen time with learning time: If your child uses games or streaming apps, incorporate discussion about how they work. For instance: “Hey, yesterday many online services were down — did your game/app work? What did you do instead?”

Highlight the role of digital citizenship: Because our lives are more connected, it’s important kids understand not only how to use tech, but how to use it responsibly, safely, and adaptively (including what to do when things go wrong or when there’s a digital disruption).

Encourage ongoing learning: The tech landscape changes fast — cloud computing, AI, apps, smart devices — so organizations promoting STEM, coding, digital literacy matter. Support your child in exploring coding clubs, robotics teams, online tutorials, or maker activities.

Because of yesterday’s outage, we can see how a failure in the “invisible infrastructure” disrupted many visible parts of our daily life. That’s a strong real-life example to share with kids: the tech they rely on isn’t magic — it’s built by people, and it can break.

If children understand this early, they’ll be better prepared to:

• Adapt when technology changes or fails (resilience)

• Innovate and contribute to building those systems (opportunity)

• See themselves not just as consumers of technology, but as creators or problem-solvers within it.

Yesterday’s disruption underscores a powerful message: technology is woven into our lives more deeply than ever before — for parenting, schooling, play, work, safety. For our kids to thrive in this world, they’ll benefit not just from knowing how to use technology, but how to think about it, work with it, question it, and innovate with it.

As parents, we have a meaningful role: to guide them, to encourage their tech-curiosity, to frame failures (like yesterday’s) as learning moments, and to help them build the confidence that they can understand and shape the digital world they live in.