diff --git a/web/src/js/ducks/websocket.js b/web/src/js/ducks/websocket.js
index 3999dbcf1..ebb39cf8f 100644
--- a/web/src/js/ducks/websocket.js
+++ b/web/src/js/ducks/websocket.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ const DISCONNECTED = 'WEBSOCKET_DISCONNECTED'
 
 
 const defaultState = {
-    connected: true,
+    connected: false,
     /* we may want to have an error message attribute here at some point */
 }
 export default function reducer(state = defaultState, action) {
@@ -27,4 +27,4 @@ export function connected() {
 }
 export function disconnected() {
     return {type: DISCONNECTED}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}