McDonald's is experiencing technical problems with some customers in Japan, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Austria unable to order food.

In Japan the fast food chain confirmed there was a "system failure" and asked customers to "wait for a while" for service to be restored.

Social media users have also complained of issues in several countries.

McDonald's says the issue, which is not related to cyber-security, is being resolved.

Downdetector, a system used to monitor IT problems in businesses, noted a spike in issues with the McDonald's UK app from around 05:00 GMT on Friday.

Some media reported that there was an outage in China and Sweden.

Other posters in Australia on the social media channel Reddit reported major disruption.

There are reports in Japan that staff are calculating totals on sheets of paper and that only cash is being accepted at those locations.

I'm a typical American, and I will at least once or twice a week pop over to McDonald's and pick up an unsweetened iced tea, a couple of hamburgers, or a six-piece Chicken McNugget. I use the app for reward points and also, pay for the food with the debit card connected to the app to save time getting in and out of the restaurant.

So, while I'm pretty sure if this was happening here and if I just happened to be at McDonald's at that time, I would be frustrated that the system they set up, and we've all become accustomed to, was not working as smoothly as it usually would.  I'm also sure that the employees who are used to the system working as it was designed would probably be immensely frustrated.

Now, this is where the Andy Rooney part of my brain kicks in (if you don't remember Andy Rooney, he used to do little thought experiments on "60 Minutes" back in the day). I wonder and marvel at our dependence on technology and our everyday lives.

We are so dependent on technology today that it is mind-boggling. You might recall the AT&T outage a couple of weeks ago, during which the marvelous little mini-computers that we also use as phones and text devices went down for a spell. 

We are so dependent on technology today that even a minor interruption like the McDonald's app not working as intended could cause disruptions across the grid. It could also possibly lead to panic for people not able to do what they become accustomed to doing,  ordering with ease, or sheer panic for employees who find themselves having to calculate things manually. 

I actually read a story after the time changed last week, about someone complaining that their stove (which has the time set manually) didn't automatically update like their phone did, which caused them a bit of confusion.

Say what?.

It wasn't all that long ago that people used to tell time by how much daylight they saw when they looked out their window or stepped outside. When I was watching an episode of "Duck Dynasty" one time (the show with Phil Robertson), that's how he still determines the time.

In the past, I have tried to set simple, little reminders for myself to put away the phone, close the computer, get outside, and go for a walk--just to clear my mind and detach myself from all the modern amenities that we are blessed to have.

I personally don't feel that I need to be attached to my phone and available to the world 24/7/365; the minor inconvenience of the McDonald's app being down is a reminder to myself of that fact.

In fact, after I get done writing this brief story, maybe I'll skip using the horseless carriage, and walk up to the corner where there's a McDonald's. I'll take my chances on not be able to order my sausage biscuit and unsweetened tea on the super mini-computer I have in my pocket.

I know there's a possibility that the current outage the rest of the world is experiencing could come here. But I feel brave today, and it's a risk I'm willing to take. 

 Just like my ancestors before me.