Bad battery life is a social issue not a technology one.
We think that batteries need to do more. Maybe we need to do less.
I’d like to propose a theory:
Your battery life isn’t too short, your attention span is.
We feel like we never have enough battery life to get us through the big party we’ve got going on tonight. We act as if our lives are actually a hunt for a charger, charging station or plug point. We think that we need to constantly update those who are not near us with the happenings near us.
The truth is we do have enough battery life. We don’t need to tweet every step of our journey and the world can do without that instagram photo you’re about to post of the sunset or your coffee foam art.
I find that the days when my battery lasts the longest are the days when I’m too busy to take a phone call, write a text message, join a group conversation on Whatsapp, scroll endlessly through my Instagram feed and tweet myself into some irrelevant online war. My battery depletes rapidly when I find myself in a socially uncomfortable situation like when I’m the first to arrive at a dinner party or when I’m waiting for the Uber to arrive at the end of an evening.
It’s often those moments that require quiet contemplation that I find myself manically swiping through my phone to find something to occupy my short attention span.
The strangest thing happened a few weeks ago. I went to a music concert and my battery lasted the entire way through and even all the way home. The concert wasn’t first thing in the morning either, it was an evening show that started after 8pm. That’s right, my smartphone battery lasted through an evening show that ended at 11pm. When was the last time you managed to squeeze a full day out of your iPhone 5whatever? There’s no secret lifehack to my achievement, there were no magical plug points that the stadium had erected and no brand claiming to be helping me by juicing my phone. Over a year ago I made a decision to stop using my mobile device at public events like concerts.
I used to catch myself watching the show through the screen of my mobile device. I would whip out the video camera app when my favourite songs would come on and film them. I’d film the live show with my teeny, tiny, camera phone so I could relive the moment. The only problem with that thinking is that I wasn’t living the moment. I was running from it in the name of FOMO.
I wanted to show everyone that I was having a great time instead of actually having a great time. That sort of fun can really deplete a battery.
My socially awkward approach to real life experiences was draining my battery along with my sanity. So I decided that I wanted to live my life through my own eyes and I stopped. I stopped tweeting (mostly) at live events. I stopped instagramming every moment that I was living and I stopped following every single one of my Facebook friends.
My smartphone battery lasts almost two days now.
So my theory is a simple one. Embrace the experiences you are having when you are having them, keep your cellphone in your pocket and save your battery for a real emergency.
