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[Shambling Zombie]

Do others notice the flickering? If not, it could be a trick of your eyes. Maybe a change in your enviroment is straining your eyes more than usual (lack of sleep, new glasses, new cpu monitor, some guy poking you in the eye, ect.)

How often do lights turn off entirely around you? In recent years I've had a lightbulb blow as I approach, fall to pieces and drop our of the light fixture with a few sparks more than once, but I think it is mostly likely bad wiring or somesuch.

Have you noticed any other strange happenings? If not, it could be just random weirdness.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Do others notice the flickering?

I spend a good percentage of my time by myself, so the opportunity to figure that out hasn't come up yet.

How often do lights turn off entirely around you?

That hasn't happened in almost five years.

Have you noticed any other strange happenings? If not, it could be just random weirdness.

Nothing of note.

[Max White]

So, recently, electric lights have begun to periodically flicker around me, no matter where I am. They dim for a moment, then snap back to normal. I've seen lights outright turn off when I approached them a couple of times in past years, but that stopped around the time I left middle school. And now this is happening. I have no idea what's going on.

The most simple and straightforward answer would be that your observant. You would be surprised just how thick the average person is, often never looking at any more than one thing, or less, at any one time. Few people notice if lights flicker, so when somebody does, it seems abnormal to them. Nobody else has these flickering lights, so you must be the cause, right?
Lights flicker, they always have everywhere I go. People just tune out and don't notice these things, you happen to though. It's not magic, it is reality, and everybody else is delusional.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

It's not magic, it is reality, and everybody else is delusional.

I never thought it was supernatural. Just strange.

[Max White]

I never thought it was supernatural. Just strange.

Oh good, so I can tell the counsel our secret is safe rest assured of your sanity?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I never thought it was supernatural. Just strange.

Oh good, so I can tell the counsel our secret is safe rest assured of your sanity?

* MetalSlimeHunt leers at you.

*Rolls SAN*

[Virex]

So, recently, electric lights have begun to periodically flicker around me, no matter where I am. They dim for a moment, then snap back to normal. I've seen lights outright turn off when I approached them a couple of times in past years, but that stopped around the time I left middle school. And now this is happening. I have no idea what's going on.

The most simple and straightforward answer would be that your observant. You would be surprised just how thick the average person is, often never looking at any more than one thing, or less, at any one time. Few people notice if lights flicker, so when somebody does, it seems abnormal to them. Nobody else has these flickering lights, so you must be the cause, right?
Lights flicker, they always have everywhere I go. People just tune out and don't notice these things, you happen to though. It's not magic, it is reality, and everybody else is delusional.

This, possibly. How many electrical systems are plugged in in the houses this happens? A lot of electrical equipment, especially the kind that use electrical motors or have varying power usage, can cause what can best be described as "grid pollution", meaning the machines cause the voltage on the grid to swing with their own usage*. In a bad case this can make for a difference of more then 10 volts on the grid power before things are regulated back to the normal voltage. 10 volts on the US net (which is 110V IIRC) can be a difference of 10%. Now, if you're using normal light bulbs then that translates to a difference of about 10% in luminosity (give or take a few percents), which is easily noticeable if you pay attention.


*For example, I've been doing some tests with a photoluminescence spectrometer at our university, including measuring time-dependent responses. The machine I use uses a detector set at a certain voltage to measure the light and the response is proportional to the voltage. The time-dependent measurements show a very characteristic type of vibrations that appear ever so often, which probably appear because the response of the system that regulates the voltage is slow. When another machine starts drawing extra power I see it on my spectra as a very rapid vibration that dies down after a few seconds.

[GlyphGryph]

Yeah, I've noticed lights tend to flicker a lot on general with people being none the wiser, especially in certain houses.

To be sure its you, and not just the lights, you will need to install a camera. Check to see if lights flicker for the camera when they flicker for you, later (well, assuming you have a good enough camera to catch them). If you can catch that, leave the camera by itself for a while, then review to see if they flicker when you are not there.

[ChairmanPoo]

So, recently, electric lights have begun to periodically flicker around me, no matter where I am. They dim for a moment, then snap back to normal. I've seen lights outright turn off when I approached them a couple of times in past years, but that stopped around the time I left middle school. And now this is happening. I have no idea what's going on.

Option A: You're a wizard. Learn latin, you'll need it when the white council comes calling.

Option B: You're so damn depressing that light itself attempts to flee.

Option C: You're Jesus S. Christ. "And the things of earth shall grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."

Option D: The wiring is old and the vibrations caused by your footsteps are jiggling the connections. To test this you should go past the light in different ways, bunny hoppy, ninja, M.J Thriller walk, casual, handsprings, etc. If the way the light's reaction towards you changes you it's the wiring, or it's option E and the Devil is laughing.

Option E: The light is possessed by SATAN!

F: ALL of the above

[Grakelin]

Try an optometrist.

I'd suggest a healthy dose of critical thinking first.

That's what it was.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

F: ALL of the above

So I'm a Depressing Jesus Wizard being stalked by Satan Lights, and my home's wiring is going bad?

Goddammit.

[noah22223]

So I'm a Depressing Jesus Wizard being stalked by Satan Lights, and my home's wiring is going bad?

HOLY SIGLICIOUS.

[Aqizzar]

Holy crap, this effect.  My father does the exact same thing, it kinda comes and goes with the weather.  But I swear to God, one day recently he was just messing around, talking about how he fries everything he touches.  As a joke, he pointed his fingers at a lamp, and it clicked off instantly.  Then he did it again.

He thinks, for the lack of any better possible explanation, that years of working as an electrician have given his body a natural static charge.  I think it's much more likely that Technological Thaumaturgy runs in bloodlines, and he is in fact a latent electrogician.  Sounds like you have The Touch as well.

[Nadaka]

Do you suffer from insomnia or general lack of sleep? In my experience, a ridiculous lack of sleep can warp your perception in subtle ways.

Not just vision, the things that you pay attention to, time and selectivity of memory can all lead to the perception of very weird things.

[GlyphGryph]

I know I definitely have the static charge thing, at least in the winter, but I've never had it work at a distance.

Definitely need to be careful touching things (and people) though, zaps constantly happen.

However, it definitely isn't enough to turn off lamps, since thats usually a mechanical cutting off of power that happens. o_o