[Nota bene: The following is copied from a series of posts Greenbee made on Twitter. It’s worth reposting here.]

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Okay, I’m gonna sound more than a little socially-unacceptable here, but STOP HAVING ELECTRONICS WORK IN MAGICAL PLACES LIKE HOGWARTS.

I say this a practicing witch, who grew up in a household of magic. I do not mean that in the fantasy-land way, but in the real way.

I grew up with Wiccans & other occultists. That was my childhood, my pubescence, and my early adulthood. I still find my people when I move.

Let me share a thing about households where magic is done: ELECTRONICS DON’T WORK RIGHT.

My mom still can’t wear a watch without killing it in days. LITERAL DAYS.

• A comment by Ladybug – A side note, mom (Raven) has been wearing a watch for the past several years, and it still functions fine; it’s a necessity of her job.

Things have bizarre issues; reception is either surprisingly good for no cell towers nearby or completely inoperable despite cell towers.

Batteries (which typically have shorter life in this example) last longer if they are kept cold than at room-temp (as they “should” be).

In the home I grew up in, you were especially careful what you named things, because Names Have Power. And you ALWAYS named things.

Game systems that were obsolete 20 years ago still work fine there.

All this to get back to my original statement: stop having electronics work in Hogwarts. Stop having wizardkind make tech work.

And yes, I’m directing this at fanfic writers, but also at people all “lol it’d totally have work” with no actual experience with magic.

That is not to say that magic works for everyone. There’s a reason not everyone has seen it or felt it – magic knows when it’s unwelcome.

In the Harry Potter novels, this is directly addressed: the ambient magic interferes with electricity. It’s why Colin Creevey had to basically build a non-electronic camera to get it to work. Kid had to specially engineer that. The Weasley’s car did not function as it should, not bc Mr Weasley had no clue what he was doing (he had intent, which is more than half of a spell, jsyk) but bc electricity is in many ways its own magic. The Ford Anglica used electricity, it had a magic counter to what Mr Weasley wanted.

Now, I sincerely doubt Ms Rowling knew any of this when she wrote the books. Most people don’t. They think we witches don’t exist, or they lump us in with Wiccans, Satanists (of which there are many types), and other occultists.

But, as someone who was a first year’s age and learning about magic, I’m gonna promise you: those first year muggleborns aren’t going to be near half as alarmed at the “no muggle technology” rule. They’ve probably noticed their propensity for shorting things, or things work when they theoretically shouldn’t, or or or. Please, take it from someone who lived that life. Thank you.

• What about hearing aids or electric wheelchairs?

my dad’s hearing aids behave oddly, tbh. I’ve not known anyone in a magical place that had an electric wheelchair, so i don’t know on that.