A shocking canvas shutdown affected millions of students and teachers around the United States. Monday, October 20, 2025, from kindergarteners to university students, everyone relying on Canvas faced unexpected disruptions. The outage, caused by a technical failure in Amazon Web Services (AWS), left educators scrambling to find alternative ways to deliver lessons and assignments. This incident underscored the vulnerability of educational systems heavily dependent on digital platforms for day-to-day operations.
If you’re not familiar with AWS it is a massive corporation. Not only was Canvas shutdown but so was other major platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook, and Canva. AWS, being a leading provider of cloud computing services, hosts a vast array of websites and applications. When AWS experiences issues, it can ripple across the digital platforms, causing significant disruptions for businesses, educational institutions, and even government services. This particular outage highlighted the interconnected nature of our online structure and the challenges that arise when key systems go offline unexpectedly.
Over an intense eight-hour period, a series of unexpected events sent problems through various sectors. Airlines had system shutdowns, resulting in delayed flights and leaving passengers in limbo, unable to check flight statuses or make reservations. Simultaneously, financial institutions had disruptions to their online services, sparking customer frustration as they found themselves unable to access their accounts. Even government websites were not immune, experiencing outages that added complexity to citizens’ attempts to file taxes or access essential services. This domino effect of disruptions showed the vulnerabilities in our increasingly digital world.
Taking a look at a more local business “Recursion Pharmaceuticals” located in the CBD (Central business District) of salt lake city; I interviewed Ana Davis the “Head of Global Quality Systems”. When asked about how the shutdown affected her? She said “When the AWS outage hit, we quickly realized how dependent we are on cloud-based systems like Salesforce and Slack. Without access to those platforms, key parts of our business came to a halt. Recursion is a clinical-stage TechBio company using AI and technology to discover and develop new medicines, so it’s critical that we maintain our business running —our patients depend on us keeping clinical trials operational. The outage was a wake-up call that showed us the importance of having strong business continuity plans. Now we’re putting backup processes in place so we can keep essential work running even if our web services go down.”
Looking at it from a Student perspective Davis high sophomore Caleb Marsh said “It was the best thing ever, we hardly did any work, and I hope the person who did it has a great day” although this comical response by Caleb was a little mis informational, since the shutdown wasn’t done by one person per say; It pretty much sums up the opinions of students k-12. Burton elementary 3rd Grader Mia Davis said that the shutdown was “Weird but awesome! We couldn’t read on the iPad the teacher had to read in front of the whole class”. What a blast from the past…
As we reflect on our digital world, consider this: the convenience and efficiency it offers are unmatched, and is propelling us into a new era of innovation and instant communication. However, these advancements come with their own set of negatives, as evidenced by the widespread disruptions caused by AWS. It is a stark reminder that while we continue to reap the benefits of this digital age, we must also invest in robust and resilient systems to guard against unforeseen breakdowns. Our challenge lies in striking a balance between leveraging technology and ensuring its reliability.
