The constant stress of the battery meter

Imagine if at the beginning of the day, a clock started counting down the time until some fundamental part of you stopped functioning. The clock was in your field of vision most of the day, even though it almost never actually got to zero. I’m vastly exaggerating the stakes, but that’s very much the type of stress I feel every time I click on my phone and see the battery percentage at the top right corner, like the slowest lit fuse in the world. This information is designed to be helpful. It’s not. Instead, it’s enough to send us into tiny hysterias throughout the day: Do I need to top off my battery before heading out for the night? Have I used too much this morning? Researchers are actually looking into the anxiety of phone separation F... Continue reading…