Taking the stairs instead of the elevator

This new place I moved in has two elevators. One of them was broken for a long time. When I moved in, I used to take the stairs once a while, because the waiting time for the elevator was too long for me. Instead of taking the stairs, many people would wait for the one elevator to arrive. When you take the stairs, you notice there is a locked gate in the staircase on the first floor. Many people did not know about that gate because they never took the stairs. Once both elevators were fixed, I stopped taking the stairs. I forced myself do it when I went for a run and came back, but generally elevator becomes the norm again.

Before elevators were even a thing, humanity used to take the stairs. Upper floors were even seen as poor man’s quarter¹. They were seen less attractive and reserved for the workers, because climbing the stairs takes physical effort.

Before elevators, you had to carry your groceries up the stairs, you had to move the furniture through the staircase, had to carry your kid up the stairs. People who were handicapped were unable to see the upper floors, unless they were helped by others - but it needed some organization.

Now, we live in a world where elevators are everywhere. They might be even enforced by law. In fact, where there is an elevator, there are also stairs as a backup in case the elevator fails to work. Nowadays, I don’t even think to take the stairs anymore, when I see the elevator first. Some people take it to the first floor, others prefer to walk the first few floors, but it takes some mental effort to reject the elevator. Stairs are mostly more visible than elevators in many places.

Stairs are a fallback in case the elevator does not work. People would easily complain and bash stairs. They would only take the stairs when no elevator is there. You would even get weird looks if you suggested stairs instead of the elevator.

Nowadays, I feel that we are witnessing another transition from stairs to elevators as the default mode of moving up the floors. Elevators are now everywhere and we seem to slowly forget how to walk up the stairs. The perception of lower floors, upper floors, stairs and elevators are changing. We should not forget about why stairs are there, and that effort is needed to use them, otherwise you will never be able to see the upper floors again.

This article was proofread by other humans - they might have taken the elevator, I told them not to, but can’t guarantee that.