At the Speed of a 100-Baud Modem

I, of course, had to walk past the snails again. They were on the way, so I was ready. I knew I could dance around them, for I'd done so already, I'd managed to keep from touching a single one. So I was prepared, just for the wrong thing.

They'd had most of the day to sun themselves, and had either (a) wandered off of the sidewalk again or (b) succumbed to an horrible fate on the bottom of someone else's shoe. None on mine, but other people are obviously less careful. But I wonder, which is a worse fate for a snail?

How bad is it to have their houses smashed with them still mostly inside? Pretty bad I'd guess. But the ants didn't mind much, it would seem. Or at least there was an army of ants covering that entire stretch of sidewalk whom I could /not/ manage to dance around.

Is that worse, or is it worse for a snail to realize that they need to go for a stroll mid-winter, only to find that someone's been nice and salted the sidewalk already? Or aren't snails related closely-enough to slugs to make them really care?

Or is the even worse fate to remain living on as a snail? What kind of withdrawl would I have if I couldn't use the internet for my /entire life/? It's only survivable if I can at least still use paper..