Remember the "exaflood"? The idea that Internet video bandwidth demands were simply unmanageable and that we'd all be crying over clogged tubes by now? The exaflood never arrived -- because it wasn't real.

It was a bogeyman created by hardware vendors looking to sell intelligent network gear. It was a phantom crafted by think tankers and carrier lobbyists, eager to convince politicians that if they didn't give ISPs whatever they'd like (less regulation, no net neutrality laws, no price controls, huge subsidies and tax credits, less consumer protection, metered billing) the Internet would implode.

The concept was debunked countless times by real network traffic analysis which clearly illustrated how Internet growth is not only reasonable, it is easily managed by smart network engineers and modest network investment. Still, the idea took root as a gospel truth in the press despite not being based in reality (something that happens far too often in this sector).

Most of the primary pushers of the myth have quieted down (like The Discovery Institute and Nemertes Research, the latter of which predicted we'd be seeing "Internet brownouts" by now) as time has disproved their predictions. Still, people seem trained to be terrified of the imaginary bandwidth apocalypse that never arrives. Last week we noted how Netflix streaming was now unsurprisingly eating up to 20% of peak prime time bandwidth, which resulted in some particularly silly headlines like this one at Slate. In refreshing contrast, Fortune's Scott Woolley points out that the Internet's doing just fine under this Netflix load:Wooley also correctly notes that this cycle of hyperbole has been going on since 1997, yet the Internet continues to adapt to new bandwidth demands created by a multitude of devices just fine. So about those Internet brown outs we were warned about in 2009...