Overdependence on tech can prove costly

We are all foolish people. We have put our entire lives into the hands of technology. Mobile phones, apps and online banking are all fraught with extreme danger.

A man recently said that his life had been destroyed when his phone mysteriously deleted all his contacts, photos, videos and apps. I can understand how he feels because many people do not maintain backups of anything electronic, whether it’s on their phones or laptops.

Several years ago when I worked for a company, my company laptop crashed. It crashed to the extent that the hard drive was irrecoverable. It contained my entire company work. I had taken no backup because, at the time, the company had no electronic backup system. Nor were we issued with external hard drives onto which we could back up our files and data. Needless to say that, even though the information I lost was not of a personal nature, I was still quite upset because it contained my entire Quality and Health & Safety Management System. Moreover, since I had no assistants, no one else had backups of my files. I had to go through emails to see if there were any documents I could work with. I never recovered more than 60 per cent of my documents and to this day I can’t recall what I had lost but it was upsetting. I mean it didn’t destroy my personal life but it made my work life a lot harder than it needed to be. Needless to say that, after that incident, the company actively began a backup process and immediately issued me with a hard drive until a proper process had been put in place.

However, I still believe that we are all very foolish human beings to rely on technology to do the job when sometimes the old-fashioned method works just as well.

For example online banking runs the risk of banking passwords being stolen through hacks. New technology has also brought about the capability of credit cards being copied within seconds, right in front of your eyes. One even has to be careful at ATMs. We have to watch behind us, examine the ATM card slot carefully before inserting the card and if the ATM behaves in an odd way, to swiftly move onto another one instead.

One of my biggest beefs is with being forced to download apps. You might be shopping and in order to redeem loyalty points you might need an app. Many supermarkets have their own apps that they insist you download. I have to be honest here. Not every app developer is skilled in producing apps that actually work. Many do not.

What I mean is that these everyday app developers for supermarkets, real estate and pharmacies are not skilled at all and are no match for the likes of LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook. Much as we might dislike these apps even though we do use them, they are mostly flawless when being used to post anything. Very few people ever have trouble actually using these apps. And when there is a problem it’s often mass reported on other platforms and an internet search reveals that Facebook or Twitter have acknowledged the issue and are working on resolving it. But rarely do these apps not allow you to register or log in and rarely do they not open.

But these local apps seem to be a disaster. I have used some because I’ve been forced to and most of the time they do not work. Sometimes they do not allow you to register and sometimes they do not open at all.

Another beef I have about downloading apps is the unnecessary storage they take up on our phones. The apps are huge in size and they don’t even work. How about developing a Lite version of the app so it doesn’t clog up the phone and slow it down? Moreover, some apps do not work on older smartphones which means that if you absolutely have to use it, you need to get a new phone!? That is outrageous and unacceptable!

Anyway, I would strongly urge anyone who has their entire life on their phones to immediately back up their videos, photos and contacts. Apps are not such a big concern as they can be downloaded again.