The Mobile Age has delivered many remarkable advances to the human race: the ability for family members gathered for a home-cooked meal to text rather than speak to each other; and email blasts to startle you awake from your vacation beach nap.
Seriously, mobility allows us to communicate on our own terms, without being tethered to a desk, a car, a home office. It’s quite powerful when you think of it. We’re now accustomed to being able to get in touch from nearly every corner of the world.
That is, of course, as long as there’s power. Chief among the few headaches brought on by the mobile age is the dead phone battery.
I find it supremely dumb that so many smartphones are unable to last even a full business day without a recharge. But that’s the way it is. And it’s created a whole class of mobile users perpetually on the lookout for a power outlet to relieve their wattage worries – Hollywood celebrities included.
(Of course, if you have one of the BlackBerry devices that sport an all-day battery, such as the Z30 that boasts 25 hours of runtime, or the BlackBerry Passport and its enormous 3,450 mAh battery and 30-hours of mixed-use, you’d have no such worries. I’m looking at you, horror movie teenagers exploring the woods with 5%-charged phones.)
The Joys of Hugging
BlackBerry CEO John Chen started popularizing the term “Wallhugger” back in March to describe those poor souls who don’t use one of our devices, and as a result must crowd around electrical outlets, tethered by 3-foot cables, while getting little to nothing done.
More than a few journalists, from 9to5Mac to Inquirer, phoneArena.com and even Samsung-enthusiast site SamMobile, have noted that Chen’s comments seemed to inspire Samsung’s subsequent ‘Wallhuggers’ ad campaign.
Hey, it’s too fun – and spot-on accurate – of an idea for us not to share, right?
(If you need humorous relief from your battery woes, check out the Discharged blog).
Learn your Outletiquette
Based on my field observations from time spent recently in airports, I discovered that Homo Wallhuggeris can actually be divided into eight different sub-species, if you will. I describe all eight, along with their neurotic behaviors, in the following SlideShare presentation, which I entitled “Outletiquette,” taking a cue from the American obsession with portmanteaus, in which you squish two related terms together, i.e. Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie = “Brangelina” or phone + tablet = “profound new addition to the English language.”
The truth remains, though: it’s a major inconvenience to have to charge your phone when you need it, whether you’re at the airport, on campus at a university, or logging a long day at the office. Business waits for no one.
If you find that you exhibit the behaviors of one of the sub-species of Homo Wallhuggeris, then consider fixing your problem with a Z30, BlackBerry Passport, or the coming BlackBerry Classic.
Until then, make sure to abide by the rules of Outletiquette.
