In the past few years, there have been a number of questions from concerned consumers about whether or not they can do a multitude of tasks while charging their phones. For example, many want to know if they can listen to music while their phone is in the charger or if they can use it to surf the web and perform other tasks.
The short answer is yes, although all of these actions come with a slight risk and slight consequences for your phone. When you or others use your phone while it’s charging, the battery will burn slightly hotter. Over time, as the battery continues to burn, it may lose a substantial amount of life, although this will also take a substantial amount of time. Eventually, you could lose months or even an entire year off the life of your battery if you use it while it’s in the charger.
Using Your Phone While It’s Charging
There are many reasons to avoid using your phone while it’s charging. The first and least serious is because there is the potential for the phone to overheat while its in the charger, damaging it and the battery. This is quite rare, however, and you shouldn’t seriously worry about your phone overheating unless you’re using it well past its breaking point, using an app that consumes lots of energy while charging your phone, or using it for hours while it’s in the charger.
All of these actions could result in the phone overheating and burning you or its battery, which could cost you a pretty penny. However, there are few apps which use such an amount of energy and you’d have to use the phone for hours and hours while charging it to have a serious probability of its overheating.
Still, you shouldn’t use your phone while it’s charging because you can still heat up the battery enough to make it function poorer and lose a significant amount of battery life over the course of the life of the phone. You should avoid doing a number of activities on your phone while you’re charging it, such as listening to music, overcharging it, and exposing it to direct sunlight.
Any of these activities could damage the battery and cost you potential thousands of dollars when you go in for a repair. While your phone is charging, there are actually mechanisms in place keeping it from overcharging and burning out too quickly. You don’t have to worry about activating these as they happen automatically, but you can still interfere with them by opening apps or the internet on your phone.
Other Activities to Avoid
In addition to avoiding music, games, and surfing online while your phone is charging, there are other activities you should avoid, both while your phone is in the charger and in general. For example, you should never sleep with your phone while its charging and you should keep it at least three feet from your body during the night.
You should avoid putting your phone under a pillow or on your bed while it’s charging because the heat from the charger could spark a fire or burn your skin during the night. Many people have been woken up with burns by a phone that’s overheating, in its charger, while under their pillow. You should move the phone away from you while you sleep, whether it’s charging or not, because sleep experts have warned that phones can disrupt the production of key hormones your body needs to function throughout the day.
You can also disrupt other brain activity while you sleep if your phone is directly beside you. Finally, you should avoid placing your phone on uneven surfaces or applying pressure to it while it charges. An uneven surface is a slipping hazard for a phone, and your charger may wind up stuck in the phone, leading to costly and previously unnecessary repairs. Applying pressure will heat up the phone and cause it to burn during the night or at other times.
Knowledge is Power
There are thousands of people every year who use their phone extensively while charging and end up having to foot the bill months or years down the road. Knowing the limitations of your electronic devices is one way to avoid having to repair them frequently and will also help you keep them around for longer.
Knowing the ins and outs of the technology you use every day will keep you safer and save you money in the long run and can also help you cut down on the amount of time you spend on your phone or on other electronic devices.
In addition to knowledge, not using your phone while charging it will help you focus on other important tasks which aren’t related to technology. You can accomplish other goals and help yourself in other ways while you take a break from your phone. It all starts with no using it while it’s charging.
Additional Hazards
While the most prominent dangers to yourself and your phone have been covered, there are still some other actions you can avoid to ensure that your phone has a long and healthy life. For example, you should avoid charging your phone in multi-plugs or power strips; these can often be unreliable and lead to damage.
Similarly, you should never have your phone repaired by a shady or unreputable technician, as many scammers will not know what they’re doing and could even leave your phone worse off then when you first took it into their shop. Finally, you should always make sure to remove your phone case while your phone chargers.
This will help make sure the phone doesn’t heat up, as most phone cases act as insulators, trapping in heat. Following all of these tips should prolong your phone’s lifespan and save you thousands in the long run.
The Bottom Line
Charging your phone should be done carefully and relatively infrequently. Additionally, you should try to avoid overcharging it, taking it out of the charger when it hits full battery life, and not using it while it’s in the charger. There are many misconceptions about correct and incorrect phone usage, but as long as you follow these tips, your phone should be fine and work well throughout its life. There are many things you shouldn’t do while using your phone, and if you simply ignore it and wait for it to charge up before using it again, you should be fine.
