I'll have you know that I read all of my posts out loud several times before submitting them. Otherwise I wouldn't be sure if they were up to HN's high standards.
Having not read UBIK, I'm not sure what exactly you were going for by comparing having to keep your phone charged to "a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you'll never be sure you've woken up from"[0].
I genuinely do not see how being required to manage a phone's battery is any more onerous a requirement to place on someone than keeping track of a key. People are used to doing both already, and of course I'm not suggesting that it would be acceptable to remove existing fallback measure like resetting locks in the event of a lost key/phone.
The door refused to open. It said, “Five cents, please.”
He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. “I’ll pay you tomorrow,” he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. “What I pay you,” he informed it, “is in the nature of a gratuity; I don’t have to pay you.”
“I think otherwise,” the door said. “Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt.”
In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip.
“You discover I’m right,” the door said. It sounded smug.
From the drawer beside the sink Joe Chip got a stainless steel knife; with it he began systematically to unscrew the bolt assembly of his apt’s money-gulping door.
“I’ll sue you,” the door said as the first screw fell out.
Joe Chip said, “I’ve never been sued by a door. But I guess I can live through it.”
― Philip K. Dick, Ubik
I genuinely do not see how being required to manage a phone's battery is any more onerous a requirement to place on someone than keeping track of a key.
really?
you can predict how much you use your phone during the day? my key will never loose power, people calling me is something i can't control.
and control is the problem here. i can control that i will not loose my key. just as i can control that i will not loose my phone. and while i know that usually i can get through the day with a single charge, i can't predict that one day a year where that charge won't be enough. so just because of this unpredictability i have to go out carrying a backpack just so i can carry a powerbank. because my phone fits in my pockets, an extra powerbank requires me to have some kind of bag, in summer when i want to go out with shorts and a t-shirt. oh and what about my off-grid weekend trips where i don't get an opportunity to charge my phone for two days?
also, what about my kids who are to young to have a phone on their own?
requiring a phone severely affects my lifestyle in ways that i just don't want.
but i just realized what the solution to the power management is: every door that requires a phone needs to have a charger station right next to it. only that would really solve the problem of being able to make sure i can have a charged phone when i need to enter.
that still doesn't solve the other problems, but at least i can leave the powerbank at home now
It seems you think that having a phone, on you at all times and charged is easier/better than a key/fob. I honestly don’t see how one can think that is a better solution. This solution REQUIRES that I can’t leave my house with my (charged) phone!!! That’s a massive restriction!
Re-read please out loud :
"If you knew that you needed phone charge to enter your apartment I bet you'd bring a spare battery pack when you went out."