In our last blog, we ended with a very poignant question. What would life in our day and age be like without batteries? The obvious answer, and one you may have heard from your grandmother, is “Well everyone seemed to get along just fine till about a hundred years ago.” True, but back then, the battery, and everything electrical for that matter, wasn’t an integral part of the way we function day to day. So we thought it would be an interesting experiment for someone to attempt to live a day without batteries. Our friend Erika, a Media and Communication student at Texas Tech, volunteered to give it a shot. Here is what she reported back to us.
From the Mind of a Millennial:
For the purpose of researching just how dependent on batteries we are, I decided I would attempt to go one full day without using batteries whatsoever. I cannot remember the last time I changed batteries in anything besides the TV remote, and if going a day without batteries just meant I would have to get off the couch every time I needed to adjust the volume or change the channel, I figured the exercise would probably do me some good.
As I pondered this venture I was about to embark on, I soon realized just how impossible this task would be for me to complete. The first realization that hit me was that while I may not use devices that require double A’s all the time, most of the items I use frequently throughout the day require a battery of some sort. This thought donned on me as I was attempting to prepare a list of battery-less activities for me to spend my day doing. First off, I would have to either walk or bike everywhere I needed to go, or just stay put for a day. Thankfully there was plenty of food in my fridge, and all my kitchen appliances plug into the wall, so I really have no excuse to leave. Problem solved.
As I started to think this wouldn’t be so bad, I optimistically looked at the next item on my list, which was to get some homework out of the way before the weekend. I was confident as I started working on my paper, thinking to myself that I was using the very same tools that were once used to write some of the most historic and well-known pieces of literature such as the Declaration of Independence or the Bible – a pen and paper. Unfortunately for me, such tools do not have auto-correct or spell check, so after about a paragraph, I found myself reaching for my iPhone to double check my spelling. I then realized that not only would I be without a TV remote, but my cell phone as well. I was effectively cut off from the world as I knew it as a twenty-something college student. Access to information, access to my friends and family, access to the immediacy we enjoy on a daily basis; all of it is controlled by a device I could no longer use. I knew then that I was no match for a day without batteries; I am a millennial not a caveman.
After admitting defeat, I began to realize just how many of my devices require batteries. TV remotes, cell phones, cars, watches, clocks (anyone know how to 
read a sun dial?), computers, and calculators are some of the items that came to mind right away. These are devices that I use every day, and being without them even for a few hours was not fun. My life is obviously extremely dependent on batteries, so making sure that I keep them healthy is pretty important to me.
Check out our previous blog post “Life and Times of your Phone Battery” to find out how to keep your phone battery healthy and strong, and visit Battery Joe to stock up on, recharge, and replace all of the batteries that power your life!
Think you could last a day without batteries, or have any fun stories about living without batteries? Message us on Facebook with your story and you could be featured here on our blog!