What is Mobile Safety?

This month at Midnight Sun Home Care, we are focusing on helping to educate our clients and their families about mobile safety. We realize that this topic may be entirely new to some and just plain intimidating for others—but it can present some very real concerns with big consequences, so we think it’s important. Today, we’ll start with the basics, for those of us who aren’t comfortable with this topic:

What is a mobile device?

Many of us know what the Internet is and we probably even use it on a somewhat regular basis. It’s a wonderful tool for learning about, well, almost anything-and it’s also made it easier to communicate with colleagues and loved ones alike. It wasn’t that long ago that we could only access the Internet from stationary devices, like desktop computers, but then, along came mobile. All of a sudden, people could access the Internet from their phones, tablets and e-readers. Essentially, these are all hand-held computers that make it much easier to get or transmit information from nearly anywhere. If you can connect to Wi-Fi or through a cell tower, you can connect to the Internet.

What are the risks of using mobile devices?

There aren’t a lot of risks associated with using mobile devices, but there are two primary risks, and they are big:

• Distraction: You’ve probably noticed people in their cars, on their phones, or walking down the street, on their phones, or in cafés, on their phones and tablets. It’s hard to miss, unless you live in one of Alaska’s really rural towns where people are still inclined to look you in the eye more than look at their devices. Of course, people are already inclined to distraction and while much of that distraction may simply seem rude or anti-social, it doesn’t cause desperate harm. But, some of it does: cellphone usage causes 1 in 4 car accidents and there are all sorts of statistics that tell us even more about these types of risks.
• Exposure of Private Information: Because we can all access the Internet so freely and more and more people are doing business online, information that used to be protected is more vulnerable to exposure. If you are not operating on secure networks, webpages and servers, it’s possible that someone could access your private records, especially financial information. Sadly, there are people in this world who will always prey on others with these kinds of opportunities. And, there are even people who will work hard to breach secure networks and obtain the private information of many people.

So, what is mobile safety?

Mobile safety is essentially using mobile devices responsibly—so as not to cause harm to yourself or others. Some mobile safety practices are simpler than others; like not using your mobile device when you are supposed to be focusing on something else—like driving, or your visitors, or making dinner. These are based on common sense and it should be fairly easy for you and your loved ones to determine appropriate times to use your mobile devices. But, other practices are not so straightforward and we’ll talk about those in our next post.

Until then, take a look at the role that the Internet and mobile devices play in your life and decide if they play the role you want them to.