Cyber Talk: Don’t let phones take over your life

The dominance of smartphones in our daily lives is so significant that even psychologists, psychiatrists, and civil societies are advising people to stay away from them

Our life is very much influenced by smartphones due to their immense functionality, use and accessibility. The dominance of smartphones in our daily lives is so significant that even psychologists, psychiatrists, and civil societies are advising people to stay away from them for a while to avoid addiction.

With unprecedented access to various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Instagram, we are making ourselves vulnerable to hackers and stalkers, who can mount their attacks from anywhere and at any time with impunity.

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The most important things that can make you smarter than smartphones are:

(a) Don’t let smartphones interrupt you
(b) Don’t let smartphones distract you
(c) Don’t let smartphones invade your privacy
(d) Don’t let smartphones ruin your sleep
(e) Don’t let smartphones spoil your morning

The smartphone is an amazing human invention, but you must ensure it serves us rather than let it rule our lives.
Smartphone usage:

India has a population of 1.40 billion people of which 79 per cent (1.10 billion) use mobile phones, 45 per cent (624 mn) use the internet, and 32 per cent (448 mn) use social media, with an average internet session lasting 6 hours and 26 minutes.

Of the 1.10 billion internet users in India, 96.7 per cent watch online videos, 82 per cent watch live streaming, 52 per cent listen to FM radio stations, and 50 per cent listen to podcasts. It’s important to note that 86 per cent of the consumption happens on smartphones.

How to manage it better

* update your smartphone software to increase security and eliminate weaknesses; the more out-of-date your systems are, the easier it will be for hackers to target you
* Always keep your devices locked. Your phone may contain sensitive business and personal information; implement either fingerprint scanning or facial identification, or a 4–6-digit passcode to unlock the phone
* Implement Find My iPhone and Android Find My Device when there is a case of loss. You can programme the phone to erase all data after five to ten failed passcode attempts
* Most people don’t think twice about jumping on a free public Wi-Fi connection in areas such as shopping centres, cafes, airports, parks, or gyms, which is often far less secure. It’s also a good idea to disable BlueTooth and Wi-Fi options by default and enable them only when in use
* Use two-factor authentication (2FA) for all emails and social media accounts that are handled on smartphones
* Manage app permissions, including the most critical ones, such as camera, microphone, contacts, and location access. Keep track of which permissions you’ve given to which apps and revoke those permissions when they’re not required
* Ignore spam and phishing emails. We shouldn’t click on links in promotional emails, or short links, open suspicious attachments or run updates that are prompted through email
* Always back up your data, and it protects your important documents and images in case of any loss. For an Android phone, make sure “Back up my data” and “Automatic restore” are enabled in the settings, and sync your data with Google
* Use an antivirus app with enhanced security for installed apps, PDFs, images, and other files you download
* Know where your apps come from, Install apps only from the App Store for iPhones and from the Play Store for Android phones

Open-source checks:

* Check how your Smartphone applications access your data – https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/
* Fact-checking an image (Reverse image check) – https://images.google.com
* Un-shorten short web links – www.unshorten.it
* Check if the website is doing phishing activity – https://isitphishing.org/
* Allowing subscribers to telecom confirm their registered numbers and remove numbers that were registered without their knowledge. https://tafcop.dgtelecom.gov.in
* Allowing subscribers to identify the sender of bulk SMS. https://smsheader.trai.gov.in/
* Platform for determining whether the video was genuine or a deepfake. https://platform.sensity.ai/deepfake-detection

Take digital break:

* Disable Notification on your Smartphone
* Make your bedroom a smartphone-free zone
* Charge your electronic devices outside the bedroom
* Access social media from your computer instead of the smartphone
* Keep only important tools on your home screen
* Keep your phone away during meals with friends and families
* create device-free meeting zones in your workplace
* Use Grey Scale mode on your smartphone, it avoids you to use the smartphone longer times
* Have more green time (Play physical games) than screen time (Playing online games)
* Track your usage using the ‘Screen Time’ App on iOS Smartphones.
* Track your usage using the ‘Digital Wellbeing’ App on Android Smartphones
* Make use of productivity apps, that are available on app-store and Play-store