Seven Rules of Power
The Etiquette of Electricity
Time was, a gentleman never left his house without a lighter. Even if he didn’t smoke, he might meet someone who did, and the proper thing to do was to offer to light their cigarette.
Far fewer people smoke today, and those who don’t can be forgiven for not carrying an old Zippo. What everyone does do today, though, is use a smartphone. And there’s a Zippo equivalent for that: A battery charger.
You want to be a hero to a damsel or dude in battery distress? Offer to charge them up when their phone’s running low. It’s one of the gentler ways to make our electronic age more civil.
Sharing power doesn’t come easy to everyone, however. Some of us like to hoard our battery charge. It is understandable, but it’s wrong. You wouldn’t withhold water from a person dying of thirst, would you?
When thinking about how or if to share your electronic reserves, follow these guidelines.
1. Share Power
Carry a small battery charger with you. When someone complains about their phone running low on juice, graciously offer to charge them up.
You do not have to carry every charging cable known to mankind with you at al times, but do try to keep cable adapters for common device types (Lighting, MicroUSB, and maybe USB C) in your briefcase or travel bag.
If you’re working on your laptop and a coworker is low on battery and asks to borrow your adapter, lend it to them.
To make returning adapters and batteries easier for the people you help out, label your equipment with your name.
2. Recognize When You Have Enough Power
Don’t hoard power. You don’t have to keep your device at 100% charge all the time. If someone is running low, offer to give them a boost.
Similarly, if you’re the one who’s being charged up by a friend or stranger, give the charger back when you have enough juice to survive, not when you’re fully topped off.
3. Don’t Block Access to Power
When your device is plugged in to the wall or a power strip, be sure you’re not blocking a free outlet. If you are, either move your charger out of the way or unplug it if someone else needs to plug in. Better yet, get a socket multiplier or one of the small power strips made just for travelers, so you don’t have to hog two jacks with your lumpy wall wart.
Special note for electric car owners: This applies double to you. If you’re charging at a publicly-accessible location, move your car once you have enough juice to get home. Don’t make other people wait longer than necessary.
4. Consolidate Power
A rule for families: Last person awake in the house each night looks for cellphones, tablet, and laptops, and plugs them in — and doesn’t make a big deal of it in the morning.
5. When Offered Power, Rise to Meet it
When someone offers lend you their battery pack, charger, or cord, do not expect them to bring it to you. Get up and fetch it.
6. Keep Your Power Under Control
When you know you’ll be away from a power source for a period of time, configure your devices to use less power: Enable low-power mode, shut down rapacious apps (ahem, Facebook), and so forth.
Also, keep your cables tidy. It looks better if, when you go to get a cable from your satchel, it comes out as a nice neat coil, not in a tangle with other cables, spare receipts, and the banana you’re saving for lunch.
7. Make Your Office the Seat of Power
Whatever the most popular laptop is in your office, put power adapters for it your conference rooms and meeting places.
Long story short: Electrical power is the oxygen of modern life. When presented with the opportunity to help keep a fellow human breathing, take it.
