ARTICLES

Imagine not washing your hands for a whole week. Just think of the kind of germs that could be crawling in the spaces underneath your fingers. 

How disturbing!

Now, imagine again that you went around touching things like the remote control at home, using it to tune down the TV volume. Afterwards, you helped your mum pick up her ringing phone and handed it over to her. 

And then, from there, you went to the kitchen to help your sister operate the blender, all with those same hands! You would not only risk contaminating yourself, but also wind up infecting other people around you, which ultimately ends with everyone falling sick.

Technological hygiene is a much underrated concept, especially in this pandemic ridden period. It is so easy to forget that while taking necessary measures to prevent direct contact with the potentially life threatening virus, Covid-19, by social distancing from other people like ourselves, we also need to put limitations to the use of our personal gadgets. Living a technologically neat and fit life can go a long way.

It is not so surprising that your mind would immediately dive into thinking that this would mean buying our phones their own personal sanitizers, or face masks for our laptops. However, technological hygiene encompasses taking care of all electronic device forms, almost in the same way that you would take care of yourself.

For the same reason you need to take a regular shower, your gadgets need to be kept clean—to keep all kinds of dirt and problems farther than arm’s length. Or nowhere near you at all. It would be a shame if your laptop were too develop problems due to dust build up, or your phone were to have lag-related issues or hang while you are working on something important. 

Or even worse, as a result of a full memory, especially when you would be spending a lot of time with it in this “stay online to be in the loop” period, or rather, the period of social distancing.

In order to avoid all these, here are a few easy steps to avoiding techfection, maintaining an electronically hygienic lifestyle, and improving your user experience:

1. Cleaning your device

– Externally: Even when you think you can’t see them, dust particles tend to accumulate in all ports and crevices of your device, especially those tiny spaces underneath your keyboard. Soft brushes can help you gain access to such inaccessible territories on your device.

Your device screens also need to be rid of grime and grease. The best way to tackle this problem is to get a microfiber cloth, according to Burton Kelso, a technological blogger and expert.

– Internally: We are all guilty of hoarding media files we don’t necessarily need on our devices, and this can generate storage inconveniences. Freeing up space and decluttering your device will not only give you more storage access, but also promote the smooth and efficient running of your device. You can do this by sorting out pictures you no longer need, or backing them up in other sources like cloud storage, or in a hard drive. Clearing your app caches is also advisable.

2. Opt for alternative methods of contact with your devices

It takes just a simple act of putting your phone to your ear to spread an infection, and also get one. So when using your mobile phones to receive calls or make them, opt for using headphones instead. That way, you would be preventing getting facial grease or oil, or even sweat, all over the screen of your phone, which you would eventually touch in the process of replying that WhatsApp message, or swiping to see that YouTube video, and then probably transmit by shaking someone’s hand, later on.

With regards to tapping your phone screen, you can get stylus pens. But then, this brings about the question of “wouldn’t I still be holding my phone with my other hand?”. This situation can be salvaged by getting rubber phone cases, which you can easily clean with wipes or disinfect. They might be plain and boring, but you’re better off safe than sorry.

3. Update your software

The OS sub-world is one overflowing with tons of vulnerabilities, which malicious individuals, such as hackers, are always looking to exploit. And so, it is important to keep your device software up to date to strengthen the security of your phone.

If your immune system is weak, you would easily fall sick under the attack of even the smallest illnesses. So, just the same, the stronger your operating system is, the stronger your device’s resistance to foreign attacks.

As much as human beings incorporate personal hygiene into their daily routine, so does the very fascinating world of modern technology require the same to keep it running. It is a bridged connection and contact between physical and electronic existence, and so its survival is much similar to ours.

What necessary measures are you going to take today to refine your tech hygiene lifestyle and maximize your user experience?

How disturbing!

Now, imagine again that you went around touching things like the remote control at home, using it to tune down the TV volume. Afterwards, you helped your mum pick up her ringing phone and handed it over to her. 

And then, from there, you went to the kitchen to help your sister operate the blender, all with those same hands! You would not only risk contaminating yourself, but also wind up infecting other people around you, which ultimately ends with everyone falling sick.

Technological hygiene is a much underrated concept, especially in this pandemic ridden period. It is so easy to forget that while taking necessary measures to prevent direct contact with the potentially life threatening virus, Covid-19, by social distancing from other people like ourselves, we also need to put limitations to the use of our personal gadgets. Living a technologically neat and fit life can go a long way.

It is not so surprising that your mind would immediately dive into thinking that this would mean buying our phones their own personal sanitizers, or face masks for our laptops. However, technological hygiene encompasses taking care of all electronic device forms, almost in the same way that you would take care of yourself.

For the same reason you need to take a regular shower, your gadgets need to be kept clean—to keep all kinds of dirt and problems farther than arm’s length. Or nowhere near you at all. It would be a shame if your laptop were too develop problems due to dust build up, or your phone were to have lag-related issues or hang while you are working on something important. 

Or even worse, as a result of a full memory, especially when you would be spending a lot of time with it in this “stay online to be in the loop” period, or rather, the period of social distancing.

In order to avoid all these, here are a few easy steps to avoiding techfection, maintaining an electronically hygienic lifestyle, and improving your user experience:

1. Cleaning your device

– Externally: Even when you think you can’t see them, dust particles tend to accumulate in all ports and crevices of your device, especially those tiny spaces underneath your keyboard. Soft brushes can help you gain access to such inaccessible territories on your device.

Your device screens also need to be rid of grime and grease. The best way to tackle this problem is to get a microfiber cloth, according to Burton Kelso, a technological blogger and expert.

– Internally: We are all guilty of hoarding media files we don’t necessarily need on our devices, and this can generate storage inconveniences. Freeing up space and decluttering your device will not only give you more storage access, but also promote the smooth and efficient running of your device. You can do this by sorting out pictures you no longer need, or backing them up in other sources like cloud storage, or in a hard drive. Clearing your app caches is also advisable.

2. Opt for alternative methods of contact with your devices

It takes just a simple act of putting your phone to your ear to spread an infection, and also get one. So when using your mobile phones to receive calls or make them, opt for using headphones instead. That way, you would be preventing getting facial grease or oil, or even sweat, all over the screen of your phone, which you would eventually touch in the process of replying that WhatsApp message, or swiping to see that YouTube video, and then probably transmit by shaking someone’s hand, later on.

With regards to tapping your phone screen, you can get stylus pens. But then, this brings about the question of “wouldn’t I still be holding my phone with my other hand?”. This situation can be salvaged by getting rubber phone cases, which you can easily clean with wipes or disinfect. They might be plain and boring, but you’re better off safe than sorry.

3. Update your software

The OS sub-world is one overflowing with tons of vulnerabilities, which malicious individuals, such as hackers, are always looking to exploit. And so, it is important to keep your device software up to date to strengthen the security of your phone.

If your immune system is weak, you would easily fall sick under the attack of even the smallest illnesses. So, just the same, the stronger your operating system is, the stronger your device’s resistance to foreign attacks.

As much as human beings incorporate personal hygiene into their daily routine, so does the very fascinating world of modern technology require the same to keep it running. It is a bridged connection and contact between physical and electronic existence, and so its survival is much similar to ours.

What necessary measures are you going to take today to refine your tech hygiene lifestyle and maximize your user experience?