It is widely said that, in the future, humans will be controlled by artificial intelligence. That may be true, but only time can tell for sure. Although now, we are already being controlled by something that is reshaping the way we live — electricity.
In Pakistan, load shedding has become a bitter reality, and the consequences are too significant to ignore. What makes the situation even more drastic is the unpredictability of power outages; we do not know when the power will be cut off and for how long. Because of this, people have to structure their lives around the availability of power.
Waking up at odd hours to charge devices, because ‘we have electricity now; who knows when it will turn off?’ has become an everyday thing. Sleep schedules are regularly disturbed.
The adjustment has extended beyond our households into workplaces and educational institutes. Businesses change their working hours for convenience; similarly, schools have to make amendments too.
These disturbances are not merely surface-level inconveniences; their effect dives deeper into people’s well-being. In today’s society, everyone has become a part of a race to succeed. In which an individual’s level of productivity is linked to their sense of achievement and also identity. So, when an uncontrollable factor like electricity frequently causes disruption in professional and personal lives, it causes vexation, helplessness and a losing sense of stability.
With the growing remote work market, this issue has further escalated. Many companies and firms are hiring people from all over the world, including Pakistan, creating opportunities for people to work from home. However, the uncertain availability of internet and electricity makes it difficult to work smoothly and maintain professional consistency.
Students are also caught in a similar pattern, striving to excel in an unpredictable environment, where sudden power outages interrupt their ability to study. This causes a pressure of an incomplete course load attached to the fear of falling grades, eventually leading to stress and mental exhaustion.
Beyond productivity, it is creating negative impacts on mental health as well. The constant anxiety of “When will the power go out again?” or “I need to get maximum work done before the light goes out again” prevents people from planning, concentrating and working peacefully. With time, we start to see negative impacts on our physical health as well, particularly because of inconsistent sleep patterns. The burden of living under such circumstances is too heavy to lift.
However, in the midst of these struggles, Pakistanis are said to be highly adaptable. We adjust according to our environment and just continue to move forward whatever the circumstances may be. Over time, we have found our own ways to cope with load-shedding.
From generators to power banks, we keep our backup tools for times in crisis — although the irony is that these solutions too require electricity to function. In fact, our adjustment has gone beyond the use of backup devices — restructuring of daily routines around the availability ofelectricity has become the new normal. That is because we have become so used to instability that it doesn’t feel abnormal anymore.
This ‘new normal’ may seem admirable at first, as it reflects the resilience of Pakistani society — however, it should be known that over time, constant compromises turn into silent acceptance. The resilience of Pakistanis is so frequently glorified that more often than not a crucial fact gets overlooked — that while being adaptable ensures the continuation of work and life, it does not eliminate the root cause that still needs to be resolved.
Citizens are expected to carry the burden of institutional failure, while those responsible for addressing the issue do not face the consequences themselves. Despite fulfilling the expected duties of responsible citizens — paying taxes, contributing to the economy, and obeying the laws — they are still made to suffer at the hands of an insecure governance system and ineffective policies. Gradually, because of our surrender to uncertainty, the pressure to implement long-term solutions has diminished.
The demand for accountability still exists, yet society has become so accustomed to compromising that the real questions that need to be asked are being replaced by more submissive ones. From asking, ‘How will this stop?’ People have shifted towards, ‘How can we survive around it?’ Instead of finding ways to end the problem, we are learning how to work around it. The most important question still lies unattended to: “Why do citizens of a democratic society always have to redesign their lives around failures that should otherwise be addressed structurally?
The problem is that we are already living in a dysfunctional society where the demand for better policies is being replaced by the constant adjustment and submissiveness of its members. To ensure harmony and stability within the state, the resilience of people should complement effective policymaking rather than act as a substitute for it. A developed society can not endlessly rely on survival tactics alone. Real progress can only take place when people are safeguarded by systems that allow them to live with stability and certainty.