Electronics manufacturers know exactly how big wall outlets are – so why do they make plugs so big that they obscure more than one?

Socket to ’em! Why we must resist the rise of plugspreading

Name: Plugspreading.

Age: It has been creeping up on us for some years now.

Appearance: Unwieldy, outsized, invidious, pointless.

I’ve heard of manspreading. This sounds a bit like that, only more disgusting. It is certainly disgusting.

OK. I’ll brace myself so you can tell me about it. Are you ready?

Yes. It is the rising incidence of plugs so large or awkwardly shaped that they prevent anyone from using an adjoining socket.

To be honest, that is less disgusting than I was expecting. Makers of computers and other appliances are now routinely supplying power leads and adaptors with plugs in weird, oversized shapes, as if they were deliberately trying to crowd out other plugs.

I have noticed that some manufacturers do that. Not some – all. Samsung, Apple, Nintendo – everyone.

I can see that it is annoying. They are producing oblong plugs, angled plugs, plugs with USB ports on the side instead of the back, all of them taking up more power-strip real estate than they need.

OK, I get it. They know perfectly well that sockets generally come in pairs, and often in rows of four, six or even eight, with no room for plugs shaped like Darth Vader’s head.

Perhaps the answer is to design sockets with a bit more space between them. No, that is not the answer – that would be giving in. The answer is to stop them making huge plugs for no reason so that you can’t use your other stuff. It is a conspiracy.

There must be a reason the plugs have to be so big. Well, probably. The components needed to convert AC into DC take up a fair bit of room, and it is probably better – not to mention safer – to have them at the plug end, rather than the appliance end. But that is not the point.

What is the point? The point is that they don’t have to be big in a way that takes up two sockets.

Perhaps they do. Wouldn’t something that heavy tend to fall out of the socket unless the weight of the thing was properly distributed? I don’t want to talk you about this any more. You are not angry enough.

And couldn’t you just run a short extension lead from the socket to the plug? That would make some room. Are you on their side or something?

I’m just looking for a practical solution – aren’t you? No. I want to rant.

Fine, go ahead. I’m tired now.

Do say: “It’s bad design, plain and simple.”

Don’t say: “Yes, the seat is free, but I’m afraid both these sockets are taken.”