New Year’s Eve is celebrated with the hopes of new beginnings and promising to improve how our lives are progressing. Where most of us have small resolutions such as losing weight, letting go of things, and many more, some of us have resolutions of a different kind.
We can all agree that technology has made our daily tasks much easier, and less time-consuming. And while it’s evident that smartphones, social networks, and computers have enhanced our lives greatly, you can’t deny the social and physical effects that come alongside them.
Of course, you’re allowed to change things at any point in time, but in all honesty, the New Year is a perfect opportunity to make positive changes to your routine. So should unhealthy tech habits be completely forgotten, or should you improve them? Here are some resolutions to consider if you’re indeed a tech-savvy individual.
Keep Your Devices Away From the Dinner Table
Well, for starters if you have a teenager in your house, this one’s going to be tough, in fact near to impossible. But even if you’ve no kids at home, it’s a good habit to adopt. Let’s be real, no one exactly waits for you to upload photos of each and every meal of yours.
With how busy life gets, we barely get time to ourselves, or time to recollect our thoughts. We often forget we have people around us who perhaps want to know how our day went and what’s bothering us.
You can try opting for FirstEnergy’s smart home options to get your hands on smart lighting that’ll make dinner much more relaxing, and you can further purchase smart speakers to play some music.
These are some ways that’ll keep your mind off your smartphone while having your meal with or without your family. No one is forcing you to make this a habit in the shortest time possible, take baby steps.
Stop Getting Distracted While Driving
Almost every other state has made it a rule to charge you with a ticket if you’re caught using your phone while driving. This shouldn’t be a reason for you to stop using your smartphone when using the wheels, because safety should be your first and foremost concern while on the road.
More than 100,000 people every year suffer injuries or cause injuries to others on the road by being distracted by a text message or talking on the phone. Only placing one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding the phone is a recepie for disaster.
You may not be concerned if you’re not one of these individuals, but as a driver, it’s your obligation to make sure you’re not doing anything that may cause harm to yourself or another person.
Put your phone down, and remember to keep your eyes on the road. And if it’s a must for you to stay connected, use a Bluetooth device. Ultimately, there’s no reason for you to be distracted by your phone, especially if you know the dangers of doing so.
Have No TV in Your Bedroom
Did you watch last night’s episode of The Most Wanted? Wasn’t it so intriguing? But watching it on a Sunday night right before you head to bed, is one of the worst things you can do. This isn’t just bad for your early morning conference call, but it affects your health as well.
According to several studies, late-night screen time will cause you to have chronic sleep issues. Moreover, having less than seven hours of sleep can cause obesity, insomnia, morbidity, and many other health issues.
And if you’ve children in your home, don’t even think about putting a TV in their room. Disrupted sleep not only causes health issues but it may affect your personality as you’ll be cranky and tired the next morning, which will inevitably affect your productivity.
Backup Your Files in More than One Way
We’re certain most of you do backup the data in your computers/laptops, but the question here is, are you doing it the right way? We suggest you do a three-way backup so that you’re 100% safe in ensuring your data won’t get lost.
The first way, and also the simplest one is to backup all your files is to do it onto an external drive. If you’re using Windows, it’s much easier to get your daily backups done by enabling your File History. Whereas if you’re using Macs, you can enable the Time Machine feature.
Cloud backups have been getting more and more popular, and we believe rightfully so. If there was an unfortunate incident of a fire, and your external drive catches fire, there’s no way for you to get back all your lost files.
However, if they’re online on the Cloud, you’ll have no issues in retrieving them back. The last way to backup your files is known as off-site backups. In case there’s something worse than a fire, say an earthquake, and the internet’s down, you’ll still require your files.
What you can do every month is copy your external drive data onto a thumb drive and store it safely at your or your parents’ place. Of course, you’ll have to make more trips down to their place, but trust me, you’ll want to do this.
Countdown Begins
Technology isn’t bad until we forget our boundaries and the fact that we’re living in a real-world where people and time matter. This New Year, spread your love for technology by respecting the importance of using it wisely and being considerate to people around us!
Have a great holiday!
