We baby our smartphones and laptops with glass protectors and rugged cases, yet the accessories that keep them alive, such as charging cables, expensive earbuds, power banks, dongles, and essential smartphone accessories , are often treated as disposable.

I used to be stuck in that mindset. I assumed cables were meant to fray every six months and that dwindling earbud battery life was just “planned obsolescence.” After burning through far too many accessories far too quickly, I finally stopped replacing them and started paying attention.

What I learned was simple: most accessories don’t die of natural causes. They’re worn down, little by little, by the habits we’ve normalized.

Stop the tangle before it starts

Master the over-under coil

If you wrap your charging cables around your hand

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