Allows you to remove power from the plugged in device without unplugging it. This provides convenience to easily and quickly turn things on and off and prevents arcing when unplugging.

That’s exactly what I do, because it’s more convenient than unplugging everything.

I live in South Africa, where we had rolling blackouts (called loadshedding) for a few years. It’s easier to switch everything back on when the power comes back than to plug it back into a socket without a switch, especially with my fucked up spine.

The electricity in the place I live was done poorly, so having something plugged in “live” risks a surge or something and then the appliance gets fucked and then everything smells like burnt plastic.

And that’s the best case scenario. Others have had housefires.

Also, the South African plugs aren’t pleasant accidentally to step on. It won’t pierce your foot, but it can still hurt like a motherfucker for a few seconds if you step on it in the wrong way.

Those UK plugs do look a lot more nasty to step on. I shudder at the thought.

I like the EU and US two prong cables ( 🔌?) where the prongs are parallel to the cable, but not the cables with the orthogonal prongs.