The Curse of the Short Cellular Phone Battery Life

We charge our phones overnight, waking up to a fully charged, beautiful smartphone. You go about your day with the phone in your pocket, constantly checking your friends out on Facebook, looking up words in the dictionary, and playing games when you're bored. And guess what happens. Yup! You guessed right. You get a dead phone that you can't use for the rest of the day. Sucks.

This has happened to me countless times, so I researched all over the Internet for an answer to my horrifying question: "How do I stop my phone from dying?"

Answer #1: Just stop using your phone

Sorry? What did you just say, Answer #1? No way. Nuh-uh. There is no way in heck that I'm just gonna stop using my phone even when there's absolutely no need to. I mean, I need to go on Twitter and check out my Twitter feed, don't I? I need to go on Google Chrome to obsessively check out the colleges I'm applying to, don't I? I need to go on Tumblr to check out winter fashion from time to time, don't I? And what about when I'm standing in a subway all alone with no one to talk to? I need my phone then, don't I?

That being said, if this is possible for you, DO IT! It is the most effective way to prolong your phone's life. I actually did this a couple times when saving my phone battery was super duper crucial for me to survive the day, like when I HAD to call my dad to come pick me up at, like, 1 in the morning after a concert (THANK YOU, DAD!). In those cases, I turn off my phone for a good portion of the day to keep my phone alive until the time I have to make the important call.

Answer #2: Take a charger with you at all times

This is probably the most practical of all the answers. If you carry a bag with you all the time, GREAT! Just stuff the charger inside and you don't have to worry about it until the time comes for you to use it. But there's just ONE teensy problem: not every place you go has a power plug socket. Especially when you're outside. If you're in a building, that's kind of great news. The only problem for you now is FINDING a power socket, which, I'm telling you, is puh-retty difficult.

Answer #3: Don't use the vibrate function

Yeah. Really. Don't. Either put your phone on complete mute (a BAD idea, if you ask me. Unless you want ten missed calls from angry people.) or just use your ring tone. But if you do put your phone sound on, be sure to put the volume as low as possible so the sound doesn't drain out all the battery power.

Answer #4: Turn off your bluetooth

Bluetooth is cool. You can share almost everything with your friends with it. But it will kill your battery much sooner than it is meant to. Please. Set your priorities straight and put the life of your phone's battery above the needs of your friend who desperately needs that shirtless picture of Zac Efron.

Answer #5: And speaking of, also turn off WiFi and GPS

These functions drain out your phone battery much more than you think. I get that WiFi is essential for daily life, so follow my tip: Use it only when necessary. Your friend calls you, telling you that he sent you an important email that needs to be read ASAP. Then you whip out your phone, turn on your WiFi and voila. You can check your email and accidentally do other things on the Internet that would be classified as unnecessary. Whoops. And as for GPS... who uses it anyway?

Answer #6: Put the brightness of your phone WAY low

Pretty self explanatory. The brighter your phone is, the more battery your phone uses up.

Answer #7: Avoid using animated backgrounds

Not only do they make your phone lag, they're also horrifying for your battery. I get it. It's cool having things move in the background of your phone, but don't they make you dizzy? It sure does make me feel like throwing up to be honest. Besides, like I said a couple sentences earlier: It kills your battery... so STOP IT. Use a normal one like a picture of your imaginary boyfriend or a picture of your shoes or anything.

Well, now that I've shared with y'all all the answers I received, I'm out. Peace!


-Barista Mia-

Image: Ged Carroll