an electrostatic discharge blocking component is set forth for a computing device . the computing device can include a housing formed of non - conducting material and an overlaying display assembly supported by the housing . the display assembly can further include a plurality of display elements such as thin film transistors interconnected by corresponding metallic traces . the esd block is used to block static charges associated with an esd event so that essentially no esd event related static charge is accumulated on the metallic traces thereby preventing esd related damage to the plurality of tfts .