Technology is great. It’s fun and generally helps make our lives easier. And as with all things, as long as it’s used in moderation, it’s fine. But when you become so hooked on gadgets to the point that it negatively affects your relationship with other people, you can’t function optimally without them or it directly or indirectly affects your health, it’s time to sit down and reassess its importance. That being said, here are the most common tech habits you need to stop right now.
Fiddling With Your Phone all the Time
Yes, we all do it. We unconsciously pick up our phones to check if there’s a new email or text. While this might be okay if you were alone, it is totally not cool when you are having a conversation with someone or constantly checking your phone in a meeting. This is not only insulting to people, it makes it look like you have more important things to do. Do the smart thing: whenever you’re going into a meeting, put your phone away. If you’re talking to someone, resist the urge to fiddle.
Leaving Your Email Notification On at All Times
For most people, the last thing they do before going to bed is check their mails. They also check for new mails in the middle of the night and first thing in the morning. Avoid this as much as possible. Your emails shouldn’t rule you; you should determine a specific time as to when to check it. So, prevent this by simply excusing all screens in the bedroom. If you must take one screen into the bedroom, take your phone and even then, turn off the email notifications.
Watching TV Until Late at Night
The body typically requires 8 hours of sleep at night. Watching TV late into the night will impact your productivity at work the next morning. You’ll probably wake up without enough rest and have to depend on gallons of coffee to keep you going through the day. If you find that you do this very frequently, remove all TVs from the bedroom. Instead curl up with a good book at night. This is not only good for you mentally, it also induces sleep.
Sticking With old Technologies
Admittedly, no one likes change. But, it is an essential part of life. Keeping old technologies like an old fax machine when you have upgraded ones like an online fax systems that you can access on the go and help reduce paper wastage doesn’t make sense. So, upgrade your technology. If your IT system needs and upgrade, do it and then learn the new technology.
Oversharing Online
You may not know this, but there is such a thing as oversharing on the internet. Taking multiple selfies or pictures of you and your friends having a great time is fine. What is not cool is uploading all of them to your Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+ accounts at the same time. This makes it look like you’re spamming your social network’s feeds. If you have an app that’s connected to all networks and syncs your updates, you might want to get rid of it and post only select pictures. Better still, create an album and upload. That way, you’ll only have one or two pictures showing up on your social media friend’s or audience’s feeds.
Not Backing Up Your Data or Setting Up Security Protocols
Many people are aware of the need for this, but keep procrastinating about it. Stop postponing your backups. If your phones, tablets or PC gets stolen, you might lose extremely important and personal information. Avoid this by backing up all your data and setting up necessary security protocols like a remote phone tracker or shutdown service. These are don’t take time and are pretty easy to do.
As you can see, these habits aren’t that hard to break. All it takes is a little thoughtfulness and willingness to change. So, break those bad habits now and help make the world a little better.
About the Author
This article was authored by Oscar Stan. Oscar is currently studying information technology at Stanford University. In his free time, Oscar enjoys learning about new technologies and about how to be more efficient with time. He has been contributing content to www.FindAFax.com - a company that specializes in workplace efficiency. If you would like to learn more about Oscar or read more of his work you can visit his Google+ page.
Fiddling With Your Phone all the Time
Yes, we all do it. We unconsciously pick up our phones to check if there’s a new email or text. While this might be okay if you were alone, it is totally not cool when you are having a conversation with someone or constantly checking your phone in a meeting. This is not only insulting to people, it makes it look like you have more important things to do. Do the smart thing: whenever you’re going into a meeting, put your phone away. If you’re talking to someone, resist the urge to fiddle.
Leaving Your Email Notification On at All Times
For most people, the last thing they do before going to bed is check their mails. They also check for new mails in the middle of the night and first thing in the morning. Avoid this as much as possible. Your emails shouldn’t rule you; you should determine a specific time as to when to check it. So, prevent this by simply excusing all screens in the bedroom. If you must take one screen into the bedroom, take your phone and even then, turn off the email notifications.
Watching TV Until Late at Night
The body typically requires 8 hours of sleep at night. Watching TV late into the night will impact your productivity at work the next morning. You’ll probably wake up without enough rest and have to depend on gallons of coffee to keep you going through the day. If you find that you do this very frequently, remove all TVs from the bedroom. Instead curl up with a good book at night. This is not only good for you mentally, it also induces sleep.
Sticking With old Technologies
Admittedly, no one likes change. But, it is an essential part of life. Keeping old technologies like an old fax machine when you have upgraded ones like an online fax systems that you can access on the go and help reduce paper wastage doesn’t make sense. So, upgrade your technology. If your IT system needs and upgrade, do it and then learn the new technology.
Oversharing Online
You may not know this, but there is such a thing as oversharing on the internet. Taking multiple selfies or pictures of you and your friends having a great time is fine. What is not cool is uploading all of them to your Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+ accounts at the same time. This makes it look like you’re spamming your social network’s feeds. If you have an app that’s connected to all networks and syncs your updates, you might want to get rid of it and post only select pictures. Better still, create an album and upload. That way, you’ll only have one or two pictures showing up on your social media friend’s or audience’s feeds.
Not Backing Up Your Data or Setting Up Security Protocols
Many people are aware of the need for this, but keep procrastinating about it. Stop postponing your backups. If your phones, tablets or PC gets stolen, you might lose extremely important and personal information. Avoid this by backing up all your data and setting up necessary security protocols like a remote phone tracker or shutdown service. These are don’t take time and are pretty easy to do.
As you can see, these habits aren’t that hard to break. All it takes is a little thoughtfulness and willingness to change. So, break those bad habits now and help make the world a little better.
About the Author
This article was authored by Oscar Stan. Oscar is currently studying information technology at Stanford University. In his free time, Oscar enjoys learning about new technologies and about how to be more efficient with time. He has been contributing content to www.FindAFax.com - a company that specializes in workplace efficiency. If you would like to learn more about Oscar or read more of his work you can visit his Google+ page.
