16 Apr 5 Bad Tech Habits You STILL Practice

The key to efficiency is building strong, memorable habits. You can apply that logic to anything, but when it’s tech-related work (see: IT, cybersecurity, or computer-centric work), it’s especially important. However, given the expansion of tools, apps, software, updates, security requirements, and involvement of “AI” models, avoiding dangerous and inefficient tech habits is harder than ever.

Here are some of the biggest bad tech habits and mistakes you’re still making.

Bad Tech Habits and How to Avoid Them

Bad Habit #1: Never Updating

It’s important to keep all apps and software updated to their latest version if they’re task-facing. In other words, any program you (or your business) makes use of on a daily basis needs to run its latest version to prevent threat intrusions, bugs, and zero-day exploits. And, in general, it’s a bad habit to never keep your important software and apps updated. It’s one of the ways threat actors achieve success.

These days, apps will typically update themselves in the background of your device(s). But sometimes, especially with specialized software, routine downloads of new versions are necessary.

Bad Habit #2: Poor Password Hygiene

Passwords are the foundation of IT security. Though it’s important to apply layered security methods, such as intermixing MFA and passphrases, passwords still remain the backbone to protecting personal data. Therefore, ignoring the importance of strong password hygiene is one of the biggest IT-centric mistakes you can make and a bad habit to “keep.”

There are various ways to strengthen your password. Arguably, with threat actors taking advantage of brute force tools – passwords are not as effective as they used to be. That said, you must absolutely maintain good password hygiene, either by adopting passphrases, routinely checking for compromised passcodes, and changing them at certain intervals (some suggest six months, but it varies from person to person).

Bad Habit #3: Never Switching off the Socials

How distracting is an alert from your phone? Unfortunately, social media updates, phone alerts, and an otherwise endless concentration of “updates” can obliterate productivity, mess with focus, and even have impairing effects on attention spans.

Even if you’re not focused on IT work, the incessant updates from a phone, social media, apps, and contacts is like a haymaker on getting anything done. Think of it this way: you’re focused on a task, maintaining a strong mental workflow, and then an update reaches in and snaps away your focus. This distraction pulls you out of that streamlined flow state and forces you to mentally recalibrate. What were you just doing? What progress were you making? Isn’t the social media update far more interesting?

Socials, in other words, are productivity drainers. In general, when you’re trying to focus on a task, it’s important to curtail “checking the phone” as you’ll quickly find yourself getting lost in endless updates and potential doomscrolling.

Bad Habit #4: No Backups

In the digital age of continuously automated processes and background functions, it’s very easy to assume that all your important data is ‘safe.’ Backed up on the nebulous cloud or automatically save to your mobile device(s) that will never sustain damage or theft, or on a reliable external drive. Our information, we assume, is always accessible and safe because we’re conditioned to interact with technology in such a way.

You can’t be blamed for adopting that mindset, but it’s a bad habit because it isn’t reliable. In short, it’s critical to maintain sturdy, accessible backups of your priority data at routine intervals. For example, you might assume the “cloud” is one of the best ways to keep your information safe. And while cloud computing does offer a powerful level of accessibility, a fail-safe backup it is not. It is, for instance, reliant on internet activity. No internet, no files.

Furthermore, hardware is prone to failure, damage, corruption, and in worst-case scenarios, theft/destruction due to malware, ransomware, or other forms of malicious software.

So, for your own data safety and sanity, backup critical data in multiple stages. External drives, multiple devices, and combined cloud services create a web of protection. Furthermore, in business scenarios, develop a strong, comprehensive backup recovery plan and account for any and all potential disasters.

Bad Habit #5: Posture and Stretching

While not a “tech-centric” bad habit in the sense that it’s about you and not the computer, the reality of working in computer focused environments is that it puts a strain on our bodies in a passive way. Posture and positioning are not at the forefront of our minds when working. But when neglected, they are a bad habit, and one we build without even realizing it.

It’s important to maintain good posture (or at the least, be aware of it) when working for extended periods on a computer. More importantly? Stand, stretch, and take quick breaks. The body does not do well when resting in the same spot for hours at a time.

Summation

Though these tech habits are common, the good news is they’re easy to adjust and fix. Doing so will give a you a safer and, ideally, more efficient workflow.

If you’d like other tips or strategies for improving efficiency at home or at work, get help today. Contact Bytagig for more information.