Always Connected on Every Device is Not Healthy

Last night I was thinking about the causes of data breaches, ransomware attacks, data collection, data brokers, and compromises of personal identification.

They all have one thing in common.

We are always connected to something online through WIFI or a cellular network. It doesn't matter if it's your smartphone, TV, computer, refrigerator, home assistant speakers, or even our thermostat. Modern appliances and communication tools are constantly giving up information about something in out lives.

In turn, expensive monthly reoccurring charge companies and applications became a necessity in 'protecting' our data such as VPN's, Antivirus software, and personal data monitoring services. This is simply shelling out more money for a service that isn't needed because of our own behavior.

But what if we simply disconnected the device when they're not in use? Turn off your WIFI and cellular data on your smartphone or switch to using a 'dumbphone'? Turn off WIFI on your computer or laptop if you don't need it to perform an offline task. Turn off your WIFI connection on your tablet if you're reading an e-book you downloaded. Watch a movie from DVD, Blu-ray disk, or from a personal digital library you have access to.

It all makes sense.

Think about this. When we had to use a phone line to access the internet from a dial up connection, we only went online when needed. If we were connected to your dial up ISP and didn't show signs of using the service, the ISP disconnected the service until we signed in again. It was pretty much the same if we used our cell phone to call or text when we had paid-per-use or had an allotted minute / text plan per month. We weren't wasteful and weren't always connected. Therefore we didn't have data brokers and data miners always trying to access and steal our data. If a device wasn't connected online, they couldn't access it.

For consumers, the need to constantly stay connected to the internet really isn't warranted, but thanks to social media applications, it created the need or want to be. For people who work in business or run their own business, there may be times of need, but this is always questionable as well from an standpoint of urgency or individual situation.

So, the next time you want to watch Netflix, scroll your favorite social media app on your smartphone, or need to type up something in Microsoft Word, think about what your need actually is.