Sometimes I’m at the doctor’s office, at the library, or even at the grocery store and see an unused power outlet. My phone is dying. I feel weird plugging in, but I feel even weirder asking for permission.
Plugging into any outlet that you do not own or have explicit permission to use is stealing electricity. People with Nissan Leafs used to do this to charge their cars.
Now, a phone charger takes so little electricity you could probably pay them a penny and you’d be overpaying, but stealing is stealing.
While I agree with the sentiment that it is technically stealing. No one should worry about charging their phone in public. Atleast in the region of the US I am located, it costs about 1-2 cents per year to charge your phone. So charging your phone for one sitting would be a miniscule amount of money. Just opening the door of the business and letting the conditioned air out would cost them more.
Obviously cars are an entirely different situation since one charge can be several if not tens of dollars.
I agree completely. This is not as big of a deal as some people are making it. Charging a phone takes VASTLY more energy than a charging a car. Whoever complains about the former is being more than a bit ridiculous and really needs to rethink their priorities.
While I agree with the sentiment that it is technically stealing. No one should worry about charging their phone in public
It is stealing. It doesnt matter if they’re stealing $0.00001 from someone, they’re still stealing from them. If they ask permission, or if the location has an outlet marked for public use, then its no longer stealing. I have seen charge stations in public, and while I personally would never use those due to my question of their security, people can use those too without stealing.
If a person’s phone battery often runs low when they are away from home, that’s what portable battery banks and car chargers are for. If their phone battery dies in the middle of the day, they can simply stop running a million apps in the background and maybe lower the brightness down from “puts the sun to shame” to something more reasonable. My phone battery lasts all day long, and usually I end the day with 30% battery remaining, and its an LG Wing. Not even a brand new phone and it has two screens.
Edit: I got it backwards, meaning these are what I’d consider acceptable places to charge your phone.
Airport? Yeah but use a no-data charging cable.
Mall? I don’t see why anyone would care about that.
Restaurant? If it’s under your table or very close by.
Parking lot? Do they have outlets?
Stadium? Where would they be charging it at a stadium, maybe where the bathrooms and concessions are? If it’s out of the way I don’t think that would bother anyone.
Your friends house? Yeah unless they’re running an off-the-grid setup or something.
The office? Yes fuck the man.
Classroom? I assume they can charge it somewhere while in class, I’ve been out of there for a while though.
Imho, it’s a bit like a water fountain. You wouldn’t ask before filling up your bottle. In both cases you as an individual are costing the business pennys.
The only place you mentioned that I personally wouldn’t do it is a store, but that’s mostly because to charge your phone you kinda have to sit by the outlet and I personally see stores as places of movement where hanging out is discouraged. You are supposed to buy something and leave.
But for doctors offices, you’re probably fine, and libraries you 100% all g.
You could probably just skip the whole anxiety issue by buying a portable battery and using that whenever you’re low. If your phone is fully charged at the start of the day and you burn through the whole battery and a mid range portable battery you’re using your phone quite excessively and may need to figure something more reliable out.
I agree completely. This is not as big of a deal as some people are making it. Charging a phone takes VASTLY more energy than a charging a car. Whoever complains about the former is being more than a bit ridiculous and really needs to rethink their priorities.
Yeah this is a great tip, you can get some that can fast charge your phone and plug directly into the wall. You can use it as a normal phone charger and then unplug it and bring it with you for 10,000mAh on the go
Something small like that, you’re fine. They wouldn’t really care, or even notice the bill.
The problem comes if you either start unplugging devices to plug in your phone, or you plug in such a ridiculously large load that you start tripping breakers, but that comes more with space heater, or car charging territory.
Phones are perfectly fine, and in some places, like the library, that is what they’re meant for, to let people charge their phones or laptops while they work.
yeah me too, I always just move other people’s furniture around and even shoosh the occasional pet away if my phone is in need, no one ever said anything either. they might look funny but that’s probably bc my farts smell
Will you drink a can of Coke™ lying around a stranger’s house without asking? No? Then, ask for permission as a matter of etiquette unless there are signs specifically saying it is ok to use them.
Yep, super easy to ask. “Hey, is it cool if I charge my phone here while I wait?” I’ve never had anybody tell me “no”. Assuming you’re not also asking for a cable or something, I don’t think most people mind at all.
Phones charging use such little power I’d really be surprised if anyone cared. It really depends on the place. A library I would have no issue plugging in anything without asking. I can’t say I’ve ever been at the doctors and considered charging my phone though I may ask out of courtesy if I did simply because I like my doctor. Overall I’d say it wouldn’t be a big deal either way.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
No such thing. Ask away!
!nostupidquestions is a community space dedicated to being helpful and answering each others’ questions on various topics.
Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All posts titles must include a question.
All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.
Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.
Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.
Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.
Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.
Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.
That’s it.
Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.
Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.
Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.
Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.
On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it’s in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.
If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.
Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.
If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.
Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.
Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content. Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.
Let everyone have their own content.
Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.
Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.
Partnered Communities
You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.
Community Moderation
For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.
Matrix Chat Room
To find & join our chat room, log into fluffychat.im(or any other matrix client) and put #nostupidquestions:matrix.org on the search bar.
Credits
Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!
Libraries welcome you to do it! So definitely don’t feel weird there.
Plugging into any outlet that you do not own or have explicit permission to use is stealing electricity. People with Nissan Leafs used to do this to charge their cars.
Now, a phone charger takes so little electricity you could probably pay them a penny and you’d be overpaying, but stealing is stealing.
Just ask permission first.
While I agree with the sentiment that it is technically stealing. No one should worry about charging their phone in public. Atleast in the region of the US I am located, it costs about 1-2 cents per year to charge your phone. So charging your phone for one sitting would be a miniscule amount of money. Just opening the door of the business and letting the conditioned air out would cost them more.
Obviously cars are an entirely different situation since one charge can be several if not tens of dollars.
I agree completely. This is not as big of a deal as some people are making it. Charging a phone takes VASTLY more energy than a charging a car. Whoever complains about the former is being more than a bit ridiculous and really needs to rethink their priorities.
It is stealing. It doesnt matter if they’re stealing $0.00001 from someone, they’re still stealing from them. If they ask permission, or if the location has an outlet marked for public use, then its no longer stealing. I have seen charge stations in public, and while I personally would never use those due to my question of their security, people can use those too without stealing.
If a person’s phone battery often runs low when they are away from home, that’s what portable battery banks and car chargers are for. If their phone battery dies in the middle of the day, they can simply stop running a million apps in the background and maybe lower the brightness down from “puts the sun to shame” to something more reasonable. My phone battery lasts all day long, and usually I end the day with 30% battery remaining, and its an LG Wing. Not even a brand new phone and it has two screens.
Dr office, no in the waiting room, yes in the exam room. Library, no. Grocery store, yes. Any more?
Airport? Shopping mall? Restaurant? Parking lot? Stadium? Your friend’s house? The office? Classroom? Museum? Cinema?
BDSM parlor.
No, maybe, yes, no, no, yes unless you know better, no, depends how old you are, maybe, no so long as its off/silent.
Also, I’ll note in case anyone forgot, the original question was not “can you?”, but “is it rude?” Which are two different things.
Lmao
I think it’d have to be no for all them, no? Besides maybe museum or cinema, but I guess it depends on where the outlet is.
Edit: I got it backwards, meaning these are what I’d consider acceptable places to charge your phone.
Airport? Yeah but use a no-data charging cable.
Mall? I don’t see why anyone would care about that.
Restaurant? If it’s under your table or very close by.
Parking lot? Do they have outlets?
Stadium? Where would they be charging it at a stadium, maybe where the bathrooms and concessions are? If it’s out of the way I don’t think that would bother anyone.
Your friends house? Yeah unless they’re running an off-the-grid setup or something.
The office? Yes fuck the man.
Classroom? I assume they can charge it somewhere while in class, I’ve been out of there for a while though.
Museum? Eh, feel like it can wait.
Cinema? No.
You forgot public pool and bathroom
I’ve never seen a power outlet in the public pool…
I’ve definitely plugged in the exam room, they leave you to wait for 10-15 minutes I can get 30-50% charge while waiting.
Imho, it’s a bit like a water fountain. You wouldn’t ask before filling up your bottle. In both cases you as an individual are costing the business pennys.
The only place you mentioned that I personally wouldn’t do it is a store, but that’s mostly because to charge your phone you kinda have to sit by the outlet and I personally see stores as places of movement where hanging out is discouraged. You are supposed to buy something and leave.
But for doctors offices, you’re probably fine, and libraries you 100% all g.
I wouldn’t bother asking if it’s a 15 min charge for your phone. If you are there for 3 hours, then maybe consider asking.
You could probably just skip the whole anxiety issue by buying a portable battery and using that whenever you’re low. If your phone is fully charged at the start of the day and you burn through the whole battery and a mid range portable battery you’re using your phone quite excessively and may need to figure something more reliable out.
I agree completely. This is not as big of a deal as some people are making it. Charging a phone takes VASTLY more energy than a charging a car. Whoever complains about the former is being more than a bit ridiculous and really needs to rethink their priorities.
Yeah this is a great tip, you can get some that can fast charge your phone and plug directly into the wall. You can use it as a normal phone charger and then unplug it and bring it with you for 10,000mAh on the go
I bought a 20,000mAh portable battery. My partner hogged it from day 1, so I ordered another straight away.
Honestly a big battery is so liberating.
I like the 10 amp ones because the 20 amp ones are too large for flying carryon (or they used to be, they might have changed that law)
Yeah I started looking at carry on restrictions about a year ago. Everywhere in south East Asia/ Australia seems to be 24,000mAh IIRC.
Something small like that, you’re fine. They wouldn’t really care, or even notice the bill.
The problem comes if you either start unplugging devices to plug in your phone, or you plug in such a ridiculously large load that you start tripping breakers, but that comes more with space heater, or car charging territory.
Phones are perfectly fine, and in some places, like the library, that is what they’re meant for, to let people charge their phones or laptops while they work.
I’ve literally moved tables in doctors offices to plug my phone in and no one’s ever said anything. The library those outlets are yours. Charge away.
yeah me too, I always just move other people’s furniture around and even shoosh the occasional pet away if my phone is in need, no one ever said anything either. they might look funny but that’s probably bc my farts smell
My preference would be to ask for permission.
I don’t think it matters with a phone/laptop or other small device.
If you plugged in a Tessy that might make some people unhappy.
Flashback to when my sister in law had an electric car and felt compelled to plug it in at my place everytime she visited.
Bold.
Naw, it was a Bolt.
~sorry. I’l leave now~
depends on what it is and where you’re connecting it/who pays the power bill
Will you drink a can of Coke™ lying around a stranger’s house without asking? No? Then, ask for permission as a matter of etiquette unless there are signs specifically saying it is ok to use them.
Yep, super easy to ask. “Hey, is it cool if I charge my phone here while I wait?” I’ve never had anybody tell me “no”. Assuming you’re not also asking for a cable or something, I don’t think most people mind at all.
Well if they had some on tap piped into each wall of their house I would be pretty comfortable with filling up a bottle.
Aka a water fountain lmao.
Would you fill up your bottle at the fountain, then you should be able to juice up your phone.
Ye
Big difference to a random coke and a flow of constant power that literally costs less than a cent to charge a phone.
No… Never
I don’t think it’s that big of a deal specially if you are just charging your phone.
Phones charging use such little power I’d really be surprised if anyone cared. It really depends on the place. A library I would have no issue plugging in anything without asking. I can’t say I’ve ever been at the doctors and considered charging my phone though I may ask out of courtesy if I did simply because I like my doctor. Overall I’d say it wouldn’t be a big deal either way.
They use a few cents (in US dollars) a year.
A 2000 mAh battery that is charging at 3.7V for one hour per day uses 2.5kWh of energy per year. About $.50 at ~$.20/kWh. That’s pretty remarkable!