5 Simple And Effective Tech New Year’s Resolutions You Should Try

Here’s to a better, digital you

2020 – New Year, new you. You probably already have a long laundry list of resolutions you’re starting on this year, but please, add these five that we’re listing down below. These tech resolutions are simple to do but will have a big impact on your digital health and well being well into the new decade.

Stop feeling bad about your phone purchases

I’ve personally seen a lot of comments on the site to the tune of “sayang sana nag hintay nalang ako [I should have just waited]” whenever we post a new phone from a manufacturer.

The thing is you shouldn’t really feel too bad with your purchase, since the phone that you bought with your hard-earned money is perfectly fine for your needs, or you wouldn’t have bought it anyway.

READ: 5 Simple Tips When Buying A New Phone

The way that tech works nowadays is that there’s really no giant leap of technology each time a new phone at a particular price point is announced. So while the phone that you just bought doesn’t have one particular feature that the new one has (additional camera, new selfie filters, etc.) know that the phone in your hand is still perfectly fine for what you need it for.

Learn a new skill via YouTube

I’m not a videographer by trade, and neither is Jamie, our video editor here at Unbox.ph. Yet both of us know how to edit and put together tech videos that you guys enjoy over at our YouTube channel.

I’m not a particularly talented or bright guy by any stretch of the imagination, yet all the skills that he and I learned that you guys watch were all stuff we picked up watching YouTube tutorials.

While most of us use YouTube differently, one of the things that’s very under-utilized are tutorial videos. There’s literally tutorial videos for almost every skill under the sun – from cooking, editing photos and videos, working on your car, makeup, etc.

READ: YouTube Content Creators Now Have More Avenues to Earn Money

Picking up a life skill should be one of your goals this 2020, and I’m not even talking about the glamorous ones like I mentioned before. Skills like mastering Microsoft Excel and making PowerPoint presentations that won’t bore your audience to death are excellent skills to learn to help you up the corporate ladder, if you’re willing to put in the time.

Unfollow toxic groups, pages and people

2020 is a great opportunity to cleanse your social media feed. One way to keep a healthy Facebook feed this 2020 is to unfollow toxic groups, pages and in some cases, people.

READ: Is the Philippines the Trashtalk Capital of the World?

Take a look at the groups you follow and ask yourself if it really adds value to your life, or if you find yourself getting into arguments with the people in it. Same with for pages, same with people.

Put 2FA on everything

Online security is one thing that has become increasingly important as the years wear on, and it’s something that you need to turn on for all the services you use. 2FA stands for two-factor authentication, which basically requires you to provide a unique alpha-numeric code every time you log into a service or an app from a different phone to make sure it’s really you.

It’s one of the ways you can lock down your account with reasonable security, and it just takes a few seconds to turn on for Facebook and Google. You should also turn on 2FA on apps that you rely on though, as an extra precaution.

READ: 5 Simple, Easy Ways To Keep Yourself Safe(r) Online

Don’t be a slave to your phone – turn off notifications from time to time

This is a piece of advice that I’ve been wanting to follow personally for a while. As someone who works online, I’ve been a slave to my phone and its notifications, even after work hours.

That’s a bad habit to get into, one that slowly degrades your mental health over time. But there’s a solution – turning off your phone’s notifications, even for a period of 24 hours, is beneficial for your health, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University and Telefonica.

Those daily detoxes will help you concentrate on where you are at the moment, and won’t hijack your consciousness from where you are to your phone. Aside from a boost in mental health, participants in the study saw a reduction of overall stress levels as well as an improvement in overall concentration.