The internet isn't just about sharing photos of our meals, Instagram or getting a huge YouTube following. It routinely underpins running government (such as it is), defence, utilities, essential services, news, telecoms, transport, libraries, stocks and shares, banking etc. Without the services supplied via the internet, these would stop (not always for obvious reasons) and chaos would follow while armies of technicians tried to get them online again. Does anyone remember the damage caused by ransomware in the NHS? We might get around losing one or two of these services temporarily, there will have been contingency planning, but not all of them at once. How can anyone think we can just go back to the old ways?
And what is the point of connecting 2 computers by cable except to back one up to the other? If your power goes off, the batteries won't last long anyway. What can you do with a standalone computer without any external connection (if you think a modem would still send messages without the internet, you're going to be disappointed). A typewriter, a photo album and a pack of playing cards or scrabble tiles would probably serve you better.
Don't buy a smart phone if you don't want one (although it still uses smart systems). If you don't like social media, you don't have to use it either. We must all enjoy GN though, or we wouldn't be posting.