Apple gradual shift to USB-C has taken a very organized charging routine and turned it into a mess. I have drawer upon drawer of cables, yet somehow, I’m constantly searching for the right one.
The Bedside Mistake
- 1 The Bedside Mistake
- 2 From Order to Disorder: My Charging Setup Falls Apart
- 3 The Calamity That Is My Cord Drawer
- 4 A Home Full of Gadgets: The Cause of the Mess
- 5 How the Tech Industry Fuels Charging Chaos
- 6 The Unexpected Problems with USB-C
- 7 Apple’s Decision to Exclude Apple’s the Charging Brick
- 8 The Cost of Convenience
- 9 The Modern Charging Frustration
The other night, I did what every rookie does: I went to bed without charging my phone. Not knowingly, of course I couldn’t charge it because the charger was used on some other device earlier and was left in another room.
From Order to Disorder: My Charging Setup Falls Apart
Not that long ago, my charging system was very simple and very workable. I had iPhone chargers scattered about in key locations: next to my bed, near the couch, at my desk, and in the kitchen. Occasionally, I used a mini-USB cable to charge my Kindle or other gadget. Everything fit someplace or another and was there waiting for me as I needed it.
But my formerly predictable charging routine has devolved into chaos over the past year. There are cables everywhere in my house, and I find myself rooting around in the kitchen drawer for an iPhone charger and end up with nothing but dust bunnies.
The Calamity That Is My Cord Drawer
What was once a neatly organized “” cord drawer”” became a jumbled mess and never seemed to present the correct cable when I needed it. The organized setup I used to take pride in vanished and its place was occupied by a frustrating jumble upon a jumble of cords that never seemed to match any device needing charging at any given time.
A Home Full of Gadgets: The Cause of the Mess
Some of the reasons for this mess are my own doing. Arguably, the biggest was adding kids to our household. No one tells new parents that redoing their charging setup will be one of the most profound changes. Suddenly, far more devices baby monitors and white noise machines compete for limited spots.
Of course, they start crawling and become little chaos agents, pulling the cords out of their sockets. There will come a moment when you need to rethink your charging setup.
Though my kids are way past the baby stage, they now have gadgets that need charging: tablets, walkie-talkies, various electronic toys, and even an AI-speaking plush toy get ani that runs on USB-C. It isn’t unusual for me to notice that the iPhone charger has a remote-controlled monster truck inserted halfway through a charge in the kitchen.
How the Tech Industry Fuels Charging Chaos
Sure, I’m partly to blame for this mess, but the tech industry and to some extent, European Union regulators also play a part.
In 2022, the EU passed a law requiring all phones, computers, and cameras to use USB-C chargers by 2025. Thus, Apple stubbornly sticks to its propitiatory Lightning cables for iPhones, iPads, and Air Pods, starting to make USB-C-compatible devices since then. The iPhone 15, which emerged in 2023, is Apple’s first model with USB-C.
The Unexpected Problems with USB-C
It’s a change that has not come without making things a little more complicated. Now, I have USB-C cables on one end and connect to a traditional USB brick, while others sport USB-C on both ends and call for a USB-C brick. I tried charging my new bed gadget, but it messed up my bedside power strip setup.
You’ve probably done this, too: You possess the device, you possess the cable, you possess the charging brick, but not the correct combination of all three. Maybe you’ve stormed out of your house, yanking chargers from their outlets in wall sockets, or perhaps left some device charging in that really inconvenient spot you’ll always remember.
Apple’s Decision to Exclude Apple’s the Charging Brick
Another factor is the tech companies themselves. Apple’s iPhone 12 was sold without Apple’s charging brick, which was the first model to do so in 2020, supposedly to reduce e-waste. I wouldn’t have cared at the time because I had enough charging cords and bricks from previous purchases. Over the last four years, though, my supply of charging bricks started to wear down.
My husband purchased some of those multi-chargers at one time one brick that could hold a few cords simultaneously. One of these is broken, leaving us with one by Anker. It has one big flaw: it keeps falling out of the socket.
The Cost of Convenience
Convenience at a Cost: Of course, buy new multi-chargers. But I have a grudge about buying them—they’re not cheap! The one multi-charger sitting in my Amazon cart is over $80. While perhaps that’s not so much for peace of mind, it hurts for something you once got free.
The Modern Charging Frustration
I know I’m not alone in this tan. I’m a tangled mess of cords. Somewhere inside, I know there are others like me responsible gadget owners who haven’t increased their device usage much yet are still on the run for the right plug day in and out. It is how charging chaos has become that provokes general frustration in many homes, being a small but insistent hassle in our lives that have already been saturated by technology.
Thank you for reading.
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