Seems a clever take from “Dies the Fire” by S. M. Sterling.
In that series, all modern technology quits by magic, and magic itself seems to make a comeback, with multiple gods.
In that series, it is liberals who survive,while conservatives die off because they will not “cooperate”.
99%+ die off.
It is popular among liberals, I understand. I like your take better, because technology still works, it is just not being used.
Too hard for me to suspend disbelief, though. May you attract many of the readers of Sterling’s series.
The plot has holes, and in reality i think the militia type action by some fed-up patriots as well as looting could be used to justify an increasingly militaristic police type, encouraging and using technology to keep tabs, while it would be incongruous not to have China expanding its territory possible to here, in the end, it is the same unredeemed fallen nature that takes its course.
And there won't be any soft landing with a 19th century level of tech. That tech is gone too. Our collapse will just keep on collapsing. The outcomes will resemble either Mad Max anarchy, or North Korean totalitarian govt rule.