Don’t let your smartphone be smarter than you. As a smartphone user, you should be both smart and wise when using your smartphone. Here are some unwritten rules that you should consider in order to use your smartphone smartly and wisely.
Some places are designed to be phone-free
Some places are designed to be free of phone. When you are at those places, you may need to conceal your phone and to stop using it. Places like places of worship, classroom, and your house’s dining room during a family dinner, are places where using smartphone, even quietly, is considered inappropriate. Put away your phone and enjoy the phone-free interaction instead to respect people whom you are gathering with.
Some places are designed to be selfie-free
One great function of a smartphone is to take a selfie, but this doesn’t mean you can take a selfie everywhere you go. Even places that are not considered phone-free are appropriate places to take selfie. You can take photos of memorable objects at a Holocaust Museum, but taking a selfie at such place may not be a good idea. You may also become a focus of odious attention if you take a selfie in a funeral.
Avoid making noises
Just because the speaker volume of your phone is low or the signal is weak doesn’t mean you have to raise your voice when making a call. Even a whisper can still be heard by the person you are talking too. Shouting, loud talk and loud laugh is a disturbance for everyone around you, so you should avoid it.
If you use an earpiece to hear your favorite music, keep your sound volume at a reasonable level. Most earpieces leak the sound out, so people around you can still hear what you are listening to if the volume level is high enough. This sound leak is not less disturbing than all phone-related noises that you make.
You may also need to turn off unnecessary sounds that your phone makes, such as that annoying keypad sound.
Talk either to people or to a phone
You cannot talk to people and use your phone at the same time. When you are talking with your friends, put away your phone. On the other hand, if you are making a call, don’t do that when you are talking with them. It is not considered respectable to talk and to use a phone simultaneously.
Personal details should be yours only
Privacy becomes an important matter when your phone and its apps start asking for “permissions.” Certain apps may politely ask you for permissions when they have to gain access to your sensitive data or to your phone’s sensitive parts, such as camera. Be sure to investigate those permissions before granting ones to avoid unwanted exposure and exploitation of your personal data.
Set a time limit
Smartphone use can be addictive. If you don’t force yourself to stop, you will least likely stop using the gadget. Set a time limit so that you don’t be a lazy procrastinator who spends much of your time to use phone and forgets about anything else.
Limit the use of apps that make you addicted to them
Certain apps, such as games, social media apps and internet browser, may cause you to become an addict. If you are aware that you have become addicted to certain apps, you may need to limit their usage. Together with setting a time limit, you should also set usage limit so that your use of your phone doesn’t make you a non-productive individual.
Mind your fingers
Your mouth is now not the only part of your body that may kill you. Your fingers may also do the same if you don’t use them cautiously. Writing insulting statuses and messages may cause you to lose friends and to make enemies. Be sure to think before you write or upload something and you will be a smarter smartphone user.
Don’t use phone when driving
Your brain is not designed for multitasking, especially if it involves activities that are similarly taxing. Using phone while driving is not wise because you will lose focus on either activity, which can be dangerous. You should also put away your phone when you are cooking and doing other heavy-duty and dangerous tasks. Don’t let your phone get you killed.
Finally, know when to take a break
It is always a good thing to set a day on which you are committed to be free from phone. You and your phone need a day off and at that day, you can enjoy your phone-free life. Do this and you will be amazed by the peaceful feeling you feel when there is no disruptive phone nearby.
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