Lights out in school – How dependent are we on Electricity?
A power cut in school. Exciting! Everyone wandering through the dark school corridors, on their way to the dimly lit classrooms. An eerie feeling, there is no power, the lights are out, Wi-Fi is down.
No one panicked. Everyone just got out their phone and used the pre-installed torch.
5 minutes into the power cut, people started to realise the Wi-Fi did not work anymore. Subtle outrage, a roll of the eyes, “I can’t check my snapchat!”.
But are these reactions good? Luckily the power came back on within 5 – 10 minutes, but what if the power stayed off for 2 hours, 12 hours, 2 days, or even a week? What would happen? Would people still be that enthusiastic and excited? All jobs – ALL – rely on wi-fi or electricity. I cannot think of a job that does not use Wi-Fi or electricity. The fact that we take electricity for granted every day, makes it hard for us to imagine life without it.
What do we wake up to? An alarm set (usually) on our phones or another electric gadget. Our breakfast is likely to be made or stored using electricity. Then there’s the case of transport. How do you get to where you have to be without electricity? You might think you caught us out, but while walking or cycling don’t require electricity, at a closer look, bike lights need electricity and so do streetlights.
Every room you will walk into , likely has lights and at least two sockets. Do you sit down a massive computer screen staring back at you, or do you prefer a more portable laptop or tablet? You will probably always be within walking distance of a building that is connected to the electrical grid.
Our civilisation is built on electricity, and that is by no means a bad thing. All the innovation and development that has been occurring since the industrial revolution is thanks to electricity (and transistors). I am not ashamed to say that I would not want to live in a world without electricity. However it is important to realise how dependent we are on it. How interwoven electricity is into our every day lives. We are connected 24/7. Which is something that’s not inherently bad, but is it good?
Written by Ezinma and Alysha, Year 10 students at the BSN
