Otherwise we would all become like you, and civilization would cease to function smoothly and productively.

FORBES: Connect

For him, normal life and vacation cease to function as the two binary options for how he spends his time.

FORBES: Give Yourself A Break: Why Doing Less is the Smartest Thing You Can Do

Like a cynical quack, Mr Sarkozy prescribes homeopathic cures in which policies like protectionism are so much diluted that they cease to function.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

At the ministry of higher education, where officials try to mollify petitioners, Tahar Labassi, a linguistics professor drafted in to serve as chief of cabinet, thinks the state may cease to function.

ECONOMIST: Egypt's and Tunisia's transitions

But today, whenever there is an unanticipated short silence -- cell service goes temporarily dead, e-mail or text messaging or social networks cease to function because of an electronic burp somewhere -- it gives us the occasion to reflect upon how quickly we have gotten used to the new way, with our messages coming in and going out continually and seamlessly, day and night.

CNN: When losing e-mail is like a snow day