12 Silly Things You Can Do With Your Smartphone

1. Install any nasty stuff on it

Google Play and App Store are full of useless, annoying, and sometimes even harmful applications. For example, "cleaners", "optimizers", antiviruses, endless widgets and launchers. They only clog the device's memory and consume battery power.

Do not install anything on your smartphone other than those applications that you use regularly.

And even more so, do not download the programs that you are offered on suspicious sites with green buttons "download for free". If you have Android, take a look at the settings and make sure that the option "Allow installation of applications from unknown sources" is unchecked.

2. Stare at the screen while walking

Walking around the streets staring at your smartphone is simply dangerous. You can easily get hit by a car bump into a wall or fall into the fountain in the mall. Or slip and stretch your ankle.

Some US cities even banned correspondence on the goTexting While Walking Is Dangerous. Here’s How to Stop

, An Efficient Walking Safety Service for Distracted Mobile Users at the legislative level.

Do you really want to put your life and health in danger just to like another wacky photo in your feed?

3. Lay your smartphone on the table when meeting

When you are at a business meeting, a date or just a get-together with friends, there is no need to defiantly put your smartphone on the table. There are several reasons for this.

ResearchCan you connect with me now? How the presence of mobile communication technology influences face-to-face conversation quality show that such a gesture makes the interlocutors treat you with dislike. They may get the impression that you cannot give up your device even at the table. Or just brag about it.

The presence of the smartphone in the field of view reducesThe iPhone Effect: The Quality of In-Person Social Interactions in the Presence of Mobile Devices empathy level, making the conversation more intense. And even decreases your cognitiveBrain Drain: The Mere Presence of One's Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity ability, so it becomes more difficult to maintain a conversation.

There is also a purely practical side. If you put your smartphone face down, as is fashionable now, then you can scratch it.

4. Discharge the battery to zero

There is a myth that a smartphone battery should be used until it is completely discharged, and only then connect it to the power supply. This supposedly extends battery life. But this is not the case.

It is harmful to discharge the battery to the end, because after such tricks the smartphone may simply stop turning on.

Charge your smartphone when it's convenient for you, but don't let the battery level drop below 20%, that's all.

5. Sticking a wet smartphone into rice

There is a bike on the Internet: if your smartphone gets wet, put it in a bowl of rice and it will remain functional.

This clever life hack most likely appeared on the Internet in 2007, when one of the users of the MacRumors portal was advisedI dropped my iPhone in water thus saving his first iPhone.

This is actually a stupid idea. Gazelle and The Verge conducted two independent experimentsGazelle's Guide to Water Damage: The Truth About Rice, the Galaxy and Everything, Can rice actually save your wet phone? and found out that rice won't help. And it will hurt if small particles get into the case.

Therefore, if you wet your smartphone, use instruction A life hacker, and do not stage stupid experiments.

6. Clean the screen with unsuitable products

There are many of thingsthat you definitely should not wipe your smartphone with. These are window cleaners, household chemicals, alcohol, vinegar, soap and other similar things. All of them can damage the oleophobic coating or corrode the screen and scratch the glass.

So even if your smartphone is very dirty, clean it gently. This will require special screen or microfiber cloths, some distilled water (just to slightly dampen the cloth), and an electronics cleaner.

7. Leave your phone on the couch

You are reading something very interesting (most likely a Lifehacker) from your smartphone, comfortably sitting on the couch. Suddenly, you have to leave your home to feed the cat. The animal is full, you return to the room, flop on the sofa and feel a crunch. Yes, it was your stylish flagship.

Sitting on the device will most likely damage it greatly: glass and ceramic cases are covered with huge cracks from this, and metal ones bend.

Therefore, do not throw smartphones and tablets on the sofa. After all, just because a coffee table is called a coffee table doesn't mean that gadgets cannot be put on it.

8. Touch your smartphone to your face and lips

Our smartphones are not very clean. A typical mobile phone carries the orderAre we aware how contaminated our mobile phones with nosocomial pathogens? 25,000 bacteria per square inch. It turns out that smartphones are dirtierThe dirty truththan a toilet handle that is cleaned at least every five days.

People take it with them to the toilet, gym, public transport and wherever, and then they put this thing on the dining table. Even E. coli and staphylococcus can be found on smartphonesMobile phones carry owners ’bacterial’ fingerprint ’, Contamination of UK mobile phones and hands revealed.

So if you don't want to make money stomach upset or worse, try not to touch your face and mucous membranes after holding the phone. And you don't have to kiss the screen with that awesome photo of your friend, no matter how much you love her.

9. Leaving your smartphone on the beach

It's not even that it can be stolen. The danger is a little less obvious - overheating. The device heats up in excessively bright sunlight. This may dim the screen. Or deteriorate (or even explode) the lithium-ion battery. The plastic case can even melt in extreme heat.

This applies not only to the beach. It is highly undesirable to leave equipment, for example, in the back seat of a car or on a sun-drenched windowsill.

10. Take your smartphone with you to the toilet

In the toilet, you will once again grab your smartphone with dirty hands. In addition, sitting on the toilet with a phone for a long time can lead to the occurrence of hemorrhoids.

Also, if you handle it very carelessly, you can drop your smartphone into the toilet. Or in the sink when you wash your hands. This happens more often than you think.

11. Put your smartphone in the freezer

There is a myth on the webHow to Reset a Cell Phone Battery in the Freezerthat if you put your smartphone (or just the battery from it) in the freezer for a day, it will prolong the battery life. This is wildness.

Rechargeable batteries and batteries are rated for use at room temperature.

Strong cooling is harmfulRefrigerating or Freezing Batteries battery as well as overheating.

12. Taking selfies in the wrong places

ResearchSelfies: A boon or bane? report that from 2011 to 2017, 259 people died in the world while trying to take a risky selfie. Most accidents with photography enthusiasts occurred in India, followed by Russia, the United States and Pakistan.

Mostly people take extreme selfiesThe ‘selfie’ phenomenon: reducing the risk of harm while using smartphones during international travel during tourist trips: on high bridges and buildings, during thunderstorms or in the presence of dangerous wild animals. But more often than not, photographers simply drown while filming on the beach, when they are washed away by the wave. Also accidents happenDeath in a flash: selfie and the lack of self-awareness with those who click the camera while driving or standing on the roadway.