The Media "Dark Ages"

The era of the Roman Empire was known as the Classical Era, where much learning and knowledge was gathered and kept.  After Rome collapsed, Europe experienced what scholar Petrarch referred to as the Dark Ages.  A big characteristic of this time period was the lack of literary records that could define the era after the "extinguishing of the light in Rome."  It is a dark period in history because of the grim events associated with the time (plague, smallpox, superstition), and also because of its dark "hole" in what we know because of its lack of documented records.

I wonder how we can relate this to modern times.  Currently, much of our newest information is stored in a digital archive.  Books, maps, and research are all being reallocated into this digital archive.  So if a world event were to happen that could destroy this technology, what would happen to all of this information?  We keep discovering new things about history because cultures and civilizations past have preserved them on a document, wall, or carving in the earth for us to find so many years later.  If we lose the digital, where is the archive?  I think this would be an extreme situation for the internet and technology of our time to be eradicated, but I can't help but wonder "what if?"  Is this how we have preserved our role in history?  Or was the internet our printing press?  Just as the printing press enabled people to publish their works and create new ones, the internet has created a medium in which anyone can publish news, world events, documented histories, thoughts, or a picture of your breakfast.  This has all been achieved in the approximate 550 years since Gutenberg's invention.  Where could we be 500 years from now?