I use one or two mobile devices more than seems strictly necessary. I …
- … write a lot on my Macbook
- … draw, surf and write some on my Ipad pro
- … listen to lots of podcasts on my phone, plus any other computing it happens to be closest on hand for
- … still have my retina Ipad mini aroud for random tasks
Not only is that an unreasonable amount of options, it is also a lot of stuff which runs on batteries. Batteries need charging. Charging is boring, being out of power is even more so. On top of this device heap, I can also stack my bluetooth headphones as well as a mouse, keyboard and trackpad.
There are two obvious extremes to charging philosophy: whenever possible and only when discharged.
It seems to me my life with technology gets better the more I approach the second extreme. Just use the things, then plug them in should a warning pop up. Much more relaxing than habitually plugging everything in to top it up whenever the chance is given. I have become pretty good at doing this with my Macbook and Ipads, and their battery lives make it easy to keep going the same way. Bring them and use them as needed, find a charger and power when the warning does show up. On average days, that warning shows up a lot more rarely - if at all - than my previous charge-at-any-opportunity self would ever have guessed. I have gone on some shorter trips with an Ipad and intentionally left the charger at home. One less thing to pack, and also I did not at any point during the trip wonder if I should take the opportunity to charge the Ipad.
Phones, in particular, still run out too fast to be completely worry-free, but one intentional charge during the day is enough to be let me relax the rest of the time. I tend to do that charge while working, connecting the phone to fill up and then disconnecting as soon as I notice it is into the high 90s of charge. Who knows, perhaps I will not need even that now that I have a larger phone? Unsurprisingly, I do not leave things charging overnight either.
Less charging: happier Fredrik
Come on, can we also get things powered by mini fusion devices or something soon? No charging is infinitely nicer.