Yesterday, something happened that we have been secretly fearing for the past few years. No, the world didn't stop making shoes and don't worry, shops are still selling macaroons. It was something much worse than that, something that made people think that they just couldn't go on, that their lives were over.

Facebook went down.

Boom. Nothing. Silence. One of many social media sites that people depend on daily crashed and failed for 30 minutes around 9am yesterday morning, causing a swarm of outrage and panic around the world. 'Oh no, I can't get on Facebook to wish some distant old friend of mine Happy Birthday!' or 'oh no, I can't get on Facebook to delete those awful photos from last night!' were probably just some of the comments people were shouting as they held their head in their hands, staring at their blank computer screens.

What do you think happened next? Twitter went mad. Completely mental. People actually couldn't believe that Facebook wasn't working and more unbelievably than that, it seemed that they just couldn't cope without it.

People from all over the world took to Twitter to complain that they couldn't access the network, some even saying they were being forced to do other things than spend their time on Facebook.

You've got to ask the question - do we really depend on Facebook that much? Should the world have gone into complete panic mode when it crashed for about 20 minutes?

I don't think so.

I won't lie, when I was at university, I lived on Facebook. I was on it all the time, because it was the way a lot us communicated there, especially in my community. But now? I still check it daily for birthdays and to see what a couple of people are getting up to, but for me it's changed. When I heard the news Facebook went down I didn't think, oh god what are we going to do?' I thought,'oh right.'

And that was about it. It went down - what else is there to say more than that?

It's something the majority of the world uses and cares about, I get that. But surely if you wanted to wish someone happy birthday, you'd have their number in your phone to text them, right? Would they be worth sending best wishes to otherwise? It's the same for meeting up with an old friend, unless they've changed their number.

A few years ago, I used to post a status daily on what I was getting up to. Now, I only post when I reach a milestone in my life, like completing my MA course or when I get a job.

So yes, Facebook is important. If it disappeared forever, I'd probably be shocked at first. But I'd learn to live without it, because we lived without it before. And when it went down for 20 minutes yesterday morning, the world showed they could live without it too.

Well, for a short amount of time anyway.

So let's talk - could you live without Facebook? What would your reaction be if it went away forever?