Nothing is more nerve-wracking than a dead battery. You could be chased by a bear or get a missed call from the bank. But those who want to keep their laptops plugged in to avoid such anxieties (I'm one of them) are in for a nasty shock, as it could be the worst thing for their battery life. [According to Kent Griffith, an assistant professor at the University of California, research on battery degradation has concluded that leaving a laptop at 100% charge for weeks or months can reduce it to half its initial capacity (via Gizmodo). As someone who has been doing this habit for years myself, I have to say that this conclusion is completely consistent with my own experience with battery life. Gosh. [According to Griffiths, the optimal state for a battery is between 20% and 80%, i.e., it is best to fully charge a laptop, let it discharge throughout the day, and then recharge it again when it reaches 20%.

This is terrible news for battery anxiety sufferers like myself. He reaches for the charging cable at 60% at most and keeps it connected as long as possible, just in case.

To be fair, as a fan of high-powered gaming laptops, I hardly expect battery life to exceed a few hours, but how many laptops have I plugged in a charger whenever I'm near a convenient outlet and just left it connected? It makes me wonder how many batteries I've ruined.

Still, there seems to be no getting away from the fact that leaving a laptop plugged in is essentially ruining one of the device's core functions, which is troubling news indeed.

But maybe I'm acting like a spoiled brat here, but the thought of unplugging and plugging my laptop from the wall multiple times a day while keeping the charge rate in the ideal range is a bit of a kick in the teeth. That said, for the sake of my device, and yours, I think you should be a little more careful about how long you charge your laptop.

Get ready to do the charger dance with me, my friends.