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5 Good Tech Habits to Master This Year

So, are you taking a personal inventory and trying to figure out ways to improve your life in 2017? Well, we have a few simple but effective habits for you to master.

Manage Screen Time

Did you know that the blue light projected by most screens can prevent you from producing melatonin, a hormone important to sleeping? It’s true. That’s just one reason it’s important for you and everyone in your family to manage your screen time. Keep devices out of the bedroom. Institute a no-screens day. Set a curfew. For more ideas on how to manage your kids screen time, look at this. As for your own screen time, it’s a good idea to enable the ‘do not disturb’ features on your phone. If you have an android, here’s how to set up ‘do not disturb’ on your device. If you have an iPhone, follow these instructions.

Use Two-Factor Authentication

You don’t need to enable two-factor authentication for everything, but for any account attached to your money, daisy-chained to other accounts, or attached to digital goods, two-factor authentication is essential. It’s a simple but effective way to foil online criminals. See, most online criminals are a bit like street criminals who go car to car, testing doors. It’s a matter of easy opportunity—so, your accounts shouldn’t be so easy to open. For more on two-factor authentication, read this.

Make Better Passwords

It’s important to have passwords that are difficult to crack, but its’ also important to have passwords you can easily remember. Things like inside jokes, obscure references, your most eclectic tastes—anything you know you’ll remember that the average Joe wouldn’t guess. For more on crafting simple but effective passwords, check this out.

Protect Yourself on Public Wi-Fi

We know. Public Wi-Fi is everywhere and just so convenient. That said, it’s also pretty dangerous. Public Wi-Fi is generally unencrypted and leaves you open to malicious attacks. Even worse are fake, malicious hot spots. For example, a scammer might set up a hot spot near your local coffee shop, call it ‘Coffee_Shop_WiFi’, and leave it free to use—while they snoop your sensitive information. Our advice: get a good data plan.

Be More Sceptical Online

Okay, we lied about all our tips being easy. This one is actually a bit difficult and we’re working on it all the time. Why be more sceptical online? For one thing, getting you to click on bad attachments and funny-looking links is one way scammers get your information. Also, social media is rife with fake stories that get millions of views. Not only is that kind of misinformation just generally bad, it also causes tons of angry disagreement online. Here’s a tip: if something makes you very angry, be extra sceptical. Anger is the biggest way fake stories spread.

The Bottom Line

Lots of people think of New Years as a time to set a new financial goal or get more fit. Those are certainly worthwhile goals—but it’s also important to treat your family’s digital lives with the same care as their health and wealth.