Jan. 15, 2026, 3:35 p.m. ET
If you wondered what it might be like to be in the middle of a blackout during an impending apocalypse, look no further than the events of Jan. 14. At least 1.5 million Verizon customers − including myself − were without service, some for up to 10 hours.
While a phone service outage is most definitely a first-world problem, it was strangely inconvenient and worrisome ‒ especially as a mom ‒ and made me think I’m way too dependent on my smartphone for, well, everything.
As of this writing, Verizon has given very little explanation as to what might have caused the interruption of service, except to say the outage was tied to a software issue, according to a Verizon spokesperson who spoke to USA TODAY. Verizon is conducting a review to see what went wrong.
“Today, we let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry,” Verizon said in a statement shared on X.
On Jan. 15, Verizon also announced that it will issue $20 credits to customers affected, but they must log on and actually redeem them.
I have a new slogan for Verizon’s marketing campaign, but I have no background in marketing, so bear with me. How about, “Can’t call your kids or loved ones for nearly seven hours? Can’t call your boss or a shareholder for an important meeting? Here’s $20 and no explanation for your trouble!”
Verizon outage shows how much we depend on smartphones
I’d like to think I’m a bit of a unique, somewhat anti-technology millennial. I banned my kids under 18 from using social media and haven’t given my 12-year-old a phone yet (much to his chagrin). I’m all in favor of schools banning phones, because they prevent learning and create addiction. I actually wish I’d waited until high school to give my kids phones at all.
But let’s face it, Verizon’s phone outage revealed just how much I rely on my phone without a backup plan for communication. I don’t mean social media apps, either. I didn’t feel restless or panicked from not being able to check social media. I was busy working.
But I genuinely needed to use my phone on many occasions, including to get in touch with some of my kids, and really couldn’t, save for text messaging. (And that only worked when I had Wi-Fi.)
According to the Pew Research Center, 91% of Americans own a smartphone. I suspect Verizon’s outage affected far more than 1.5 million people. I didn’t even report the outage, because doing so seemed futile.
I worried about what my adult son would do if he needed to call out of work, or what my teenage daughter would do if our text messages about logistics failed to send. I know millions of Americans started having the same concerns, especially as the hours passed. Had internet service been disrupted as well, the world would have suddenly felt very small.
Smartphones are a first-world luxury, no doubt, but I hadn’t quite ever thought of how they really do create a dependency that isn’t just an addiction; it’s a real reliance on a tool we expect to have access to all the time. I don’t even know anyone with a landline anymore (and service for that can get disrupted, too). I hadn’t fully grasped how dependent I was on my phone to reach my loved ones until I couldn’t.
The experience left me oddly grateful for a device and service I usually take for granted, even though it isn’t free. My monthly bill hovers around $245.
More troubling, it made me wonder how Americans − or anyone − would fare during a true, prolonged blackout, especially if it were deliberate. The honest answer?
I’m not prepared. And neither are most of you.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.
