2019 has arrived, and you know what that means? It’s Resolutions time! This year we are setting some new digital resolutions, and reminding ourselves about some old ones. They’re essential for your online health, and they are a lot easier to keep than traditional resolutions!

Beware the Public Wifi

If there is one thing the last year has taught us in the digi-sphere, it’s that public WIFI is NOT SAFE. Clever, nasty cybercriminals thrive in public Wifi hotspots, ready to get their hands on your personal data the moment you connect to an open network. If you are using a public Wifi connection you should limit your activities. Don’t enter sensitive passwords while on public Wifi. Don’t log in to the email address that all your resets go to and definitely don’t access your bank or financial institution via a public network. Basically, you should keep public hotspots for quick messages and general browsing. If you don’t want a fraudster using your details, don’t enter them over public Wifi.

Be Human First

The rise of the digital age has made it really easy to slip into digi-speak when communicating online. Not only is it only too easy to use automated tools for everything from your businesses support to your auto-reply Email, but we find ourselves responding to people online a lot differently to how we speak in real life.

Never forget that the people you are speaking to are exactly that, people. Whether you are a business, an employee, or just updating your Facebook status or chatting to a friend, you are dealing with humans. Speak to them like humans.

Use Data to Make Decisions

Okay, so it’s fairly well known that there is all kinds of digital data available to us regarding our online activities. From your research and recipes to your time trackers to your business Google analytics and Social Media analytics – the data is out there – and often it’s free. Use it.

Use the data to help you plan your activities, your spending, and your time. This is how you can see which of your strategies is working and where your time and money are going. Create timelines and strategies around the data, not the other way around.

Back Up your Besties

If it’s important to you – back it up to the cloud. You never know when you will lose your hard copies, your phone, your camera. Be it important documents or family photos, if it’s something you’re still going to want in a year’s time, it should be backed up to cloud storage. With so many low cost (and even free) data storage options available online, there is really no reason not to.

Assign Digital Chores

Most modern homes have more than one connected device. To keep your home cyber safe, everyone has to be on the same page. Set digital chores to yourself and yours, including:

  • Cleaning Cache information weekly
  • Updating firewalls and antiviruses monthly
  • Backing up family photos
  • Deleting unwanted files from cloud storage
  • Updating the Wifi password regularly

Keep a clean machine

Make sure you assign the chores above to yourself, too. Update your software regularly, delete files and apps you’re not using anymore, keep all devices and connections password protected, and update those passwords regularly.

Passwords and Privacy

This is a good time to find out everything you need to know about your social media privacy and security, explore our other Facebook privacy blogs, and make sure you are safe online.

Use the Tools at your Disposal

With so many amazing apps, courses and programs available to use online (many of them completely free) there is really no reason NOT to make the most of them. From gardening to studying to work and even boosting your creativity, and staying fit, there is an app for that. You may as well use it! Goodness, you may even find true love.

Optimize your Time by Going Online

Life is short and we live in an age where you can choose to let your tech give you more time to do the things that really matter to you. How? By doing the borning, time-consuming stuff online. Use your online shopping apps to avoid hours in the store (and avoid that impulse buy at the counter!). Use your automated programs, calendars and time trackers to help you get things done. Use your Google assistant to stay on top of things.

Digital Detox

Coming back to keeping it human… there are so many wonderful things you can do online, you can just about run your entire life digitally, and we love that! But we still love “real life” too. Make sure you take some time out every week to pack the devices away, turn off, tune out, and spend some quality time with the important people in your life. We promise it will be worth it.