1.

I think my phone spends more time charging than it does vice versa. I keep that electrical umbilical cord connected no matter what. My phone’s attitude towards me must resemble that of an arrested-developed child to their tiger parent, never out of sight, never living a leashless life. It can’t survive on its own! I’m a responsible parent. This is mentally sound. In fact, I don’t trust the battery status to just show me a green, yellow, or red to signify what my battery level is at. I want to see the very percent I am currently operating at.

I think a person who wants to see the percentage of their battery status has a different approach to life compared to someone who is happy just to see the extent to which the small battery visualization box is being filled. The difference between a person who wants to see a quantified percentage, or a subjective visualization which obfuscates the percentage. I think the first implies a certain need to control to the exact amount, wanting to somehow extrapolate and self-calculate the amount of time your battery can last. The other implies a trust (or a lack of a digital addiction) in the technology to carry on. The latter is less addicted to their phone, less obsessed with the possibility that' it’ll die on them. Leaving them stranded with the fear of living life without connection.

2.

But the battery percentage itself is meaningless, as we self-deduct ourselves the true intention of our battery checking gauge—the amount of time before it dies. But this isn’t something truly calculatable, as so many factors, such as the number of apps running, the temperature, your very way of interaction and the use of your device, all fluctuate and are habits which cannot be fully quantified or predicted. As the battery decreases according to your unpredictable human timing. Battery statuses—now more than ever—will show this prediction, giving you an estimated time left of its remaining battery use. But this estimation only reflects the predicted time remaining which is derived from the way you are currently using your laptop or phone.

But it is color through which one can be moved by their battery status. All semiotic understanding going the way of the traffic light. Green/gray implies a fullness; you have fed your laptop enough, and now here they are, ready to serve. Yellow (around 20-30%) gives less of a cautious feel and more of a speed-up whatever you’re doing. Red is the motivator to save and do a final conclusion to whatever apps are open, the final goodbyes one gives to a relative dozing off into a permanent coma. But here you wave goodbye to your permanent Soma.

The Battery percentage needer is driven to watch that stat trickle down out of their felt fear. The way an ADHD-riddled zoomer feels as their Vyvanse stash trudges down to their final pill. People are in love with their phones, that’s not even flowery language, that is the exact truth. Think about your relationship with your phone or laptop that way, do some of your excessive habits seem more clear? The amount of times waiting for a pinging notification, the rapid checking of a home screen, the care to which you choose a wallpaper, what widgets can best improve your life, what deserves to make it on my home dock, what songs have to be downloaded for offline listening, do I have all my apps I need, what sound should message notifications be, do I choose to send read receipts or not, what phone case should I have, what entertainment should be downloaded. The fear of letting that phone die is because that phone is a part of you that you spend a vast majority of time making a vast majority of decisions. There is a mental investment in its setup and use, and for it to die is a failure of yours, a waste of time. It should be always alive, always loving you, never leaving you. Like all lovers. Do they exist as their own individual person without you to perceive them? Depends on how you view love. Depends on your relationship with your phone.