The other day, I woke up and looked over at my phone and stared in horror at the red low battery icon.
“Shit! I guess my charging cable finally died,” I thought to myself. I wasn’t terribly surprised since I had been having trouble with the cable and knew it was on its last leg. I hate that unpleasant, slightly panicked feeling that increases as one’s phone approaches battery death, so I recharge my phone every night to start fresh every morning. Anyways, I knew I had another charger set up next to the couch in the living room so I got out of bed and went over to the charger. My eyes followed the white cable from the outlet to the arm of the couch and that’s when I saw it, the cable connected to my partner’s phone. I felt this wave of irritation and territoriality come over me, “But, but…it’s MY charger and my phone’s gonna to die!”
It turns out that in addition to phone addiction, I also suffer from hysteresis of the battery.
In the article “Portable technology and multi-domain energy practices”, Thomas Derek Robinson and Eric Arnould study consumer’s energy practices, their relationship with the battery icon as well as their behaviours and coping strategies surrounding energy consumption in portable devices. They observe this sense of anxiety, even panic associated to depleting battery icons and an acute awareness of energy consumption of mobile devices, especially when consumers are on the move and may not have immediate access to charging capabilities.
Symptoms
The symptoms of battery hysteresis include:
- Discomfort, anxiety and even panic associated to depleting energy gauges;
- Territoriality (ex. fighting over chargers, sense of invasion when someone else is using your charger);
- Going out of your way or changing your plans to find a charging outlet;
- Acute awareness of your battery status;
- Association of life and death metaphors and emotions to battery icon points;
- Sense of FOMO, emptiness and/or disconnect when phone battery is near death or has died;
- Awkward pride in qualities not usually seen as positive (ex. control freak, OCD, anal) when it comes to describing just how far you’ll go to avoid running out of charge;
- Prioritizing charging your phone over interacting with people who are physically present;
- A return to a sense of “normalcy” once your battery has been recharged to its full capacity.
Coping Strategies
To alleviate these symptoms, consumers report adopting a several coping strategies including:
- Carrying around a battery pack;
- Engaging energy saving functions when running low;
- Designated chargers for each household member;
- Changing itinerary to find a charging location;
- Unplugging a demo phone at the Apple Store to charge their phone and pretending to browse products while the phone is charging;
- Warning others who may need to connect with them in the short term that their battery is dying.
How marketers can help
While charging stations have become ubiquitous in public places such as malls and airports, in a world that is so dependent on mobile technologies, as marketers, we can also help consumers cope with these anxieties surrounding battery depletion. We already see many of these strategies in use today.
- Alleviating symptoms through product features (ex. energy saving mode, fast chargers, automatic low battery alert to loved ones).
- Services such as rent-a-charger (ex. trade shows, conferences, retail outlets).
- Renewable charging sources such as portable solar packs.
- Apps that locate charging stations and assist in itinerary planning such as Tesla’s and other third-party EV route planners.
Until the day technology provides us with unlimited power, we are at the mercy of our batteries. Taking in to account the symptoms of battery hysteresis will not only provide a smoother user experience, it can also facilitate adoption, especially for disruptive technologies.
How do you cope with symptoms of hysteresis of the battery?
Send us a message and let us know!
by
Reference
Robinson, T. D., & Arnould, E. (2020). Portable technology and multi-domain energy practices. Marketing Theory, 20(1), 3–22.
Image provided by www.freepik.com
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