We all know the drill: January is “new year, new me” time as we make resolutions that are bound to be discarded before the clocks go forward.
Small changes are more likely to stick, particularly when it comes to using technology. With that in mind, here are a few tech resolutions to get you started.
Be security smart
Our lives these days are lived through our phones, so we should treat them with a bit more care and attention. And, likewise, we should be careful of how we use them and the services they provide.
That means not going for the obvious PIN codes for a start, and avoiding reusing passwords. If you can’t remember unique passwords or passphrases, try a password manager, preferably one that uses a separate passcode or password to your phone’s regular passcode.
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BitWarden offers a free option, as do Proton Pass and NordPass, while Dashlane and 1Password have a number of pricing options for personal plans.
Be mindful of who is looking over your shoulder when you are putting your passcode into your phone in a public place; treat your phone’s passcode as you would your bank card pin.
On iPhones, enable Stolen Device Protection, which implements another layer of security when your device is outside familiar locations. That means certain functions can only be unlocked using FaceID or TouchID rather than your passcode, including accessing stored passwords and payment information.
Others will have a security delay invoked, preventing you from changing your Apple ID password for an hour for example, and then requiring FaceID or TouchID to do so. It could buy you some time to lock down your phone if the worst happens.
Cut down on notifications
Every app on our phone wants to grab – and keep – our attention. Notifications are one way they do that and, while some are useful – your bank’s alerts on transactions, for example – there are plenty that are just noise for the sake of it.
Not only do they keep pulling you back to your phone for often spurious reasons, but notification fatigue means you run the risk of missing an important alert.
Think twice before you give your apps permission to bombard you with notifications. If in doubt, ask yourself: is it essential? More often than not, the answer is no. In which case, save yourself – and your phone – from unnecessary pings.
Respect your data
Stop handing over data to every service that asks. When a data breach happens, people often focus on the financial information that may have been compromised. However, it is far easier to cancel a card than it is to change your personal data.
Next time you sign up for an account, think about whether it is essential that they have your main email address or your real birthday. Often, services will ask for a wide range of data, and it is not always necessary.
Close accounts you no longer need, request that services delete your data if you are sure you will no longer use a platform, and create a throwaway email or alias for services you are unsure will be a long-term partnership.
Declutter
We are all guilty of it: signing up for accounts and downloading apps, only for them to sit unused and unwanted when the novelty wears off. Not only are they cluttering up your phone, but they are also taking up space in the cloud, and potentially costing you money in the long run by forcing you to buy more and more storage to house your phone’s data.
Make 2026 the year to take back control.
Carry out a regular audit of what is on your phone, and remove any unneeded software. And going forward, think about what you are downloading to avoid filling it up again. Not only should you delete any apps you no longer need or use, you should also delete any accounts associated with them.
Another way to cut your cloud storage bill is to prune your digital photos and videos. There’s a strong chance that, among the precious family memories and fun nights out, there are rejected selfies, blurry videos and more memes than you could ever want.
Delete the videos first if you want to make a real dent in your phone’s clutter. You can go day by day, dealing with the memories from each day as they pop up, or tackle a month of photos at a time.
Apps such as Picnic make it easier by categorising the photos for you – by day, by month or by type such as screenshots, screen recordings or portraits – and allowing you to swipe on photos to delete them or save them. Some features are behind a subscription, but you can build up a good number of daily swipes by logging in each day to delete some unneeded photos.
The same thing goes for messages on your phone. Delete email and unneeded text messages as they are dealt with, and if you are drowning under the weight of newsletters and marketing emails, start unsubscribing to a few a day to lighten the load on your inbox.
And stick to it, even if they try to tempt you with offers of discounts or sway your decision with a plaintive email that includes a picture of a pensive-looking Chris Hemsworth (we are looking at you, Centr).
Get familiar with AI …
Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be here to stay as the tech platforms gradually integrate it into their apps and services. It is in our phones, our home appliances, even our cars. We may not want it; we may not need it but tech companies are determined to lure us into adopting the next generation technology, even if it doesn’t always do what it is supposed to.
In the face of such determination, perhaps it is better to know what we are dealing with.
Familiarising ourselves with the technology is one way to try to avoid the worst of its pitfalls. Plus if it does manage to stick around, at least you have the advantage of knowing how to use it to do your job more efficiently.
... but use it wisely
One of the chief concerns around AI is its use of power and the data centres that will be required to support the more complex technology.
If what you are looking for could be answered by a (non-AI enabled) search engine query, save yourself the environmental angst and go the more traditional web route.
Make health tech work for you
Health tech is moving from passive devices that monitor our activity and sleep to more proactive technology that can help us identify any potential health issues and deal with them before they become an urgent issue.
But the same advice still stands: don’t get hung up on the data. Free yourself from the pressure of meeting milestones and hitting manufactured milestones to feel good. And listen to your own body too.
Break the smartphone grip
With that in mind, it is a good time to dial back the screen time and phone interaction.
There are screen time settings and digital wellness tools that can help you put a bit of distance between you and the smartphone screen, but it requires a level of discipline that not all of us have.
Devices that lock out your phone can be more effective, although they have the distinct disadvantage of not being free. Brick, for example, will lock out distractions on your smartphone, requiring you to tap your phone on an NFC tag to open up access to restricted apps. That means making a choice, and often hauling yourself out of comfort to do it.
Sustainable tech
Electronic waste is a real issue and, with the growing number of devices that we own, the problem is only getting worse.
Smartphone makers have caught on and are now making their devices more durable and supporting them with software and security updates for longer. Look after your device and you could keep it for five years or more, saving you some money into the bargain.
When the devices eventually reach the end of their lifespan, make sure to recycle them properly to ensure that any useful elements inside can be recovered and reused, reducing the need to mine or create new materials.
So much technology has become cheap these days, meaning that we often buy without putting too much thought into it. Inevitably though, these devices end up as electronic waste, discarded as easily as they were bought.
Buying good quality technology that will be supported by its manufacturer for a decent length of time will not only save you money in the long run, it will also stop adding to the ever-growing pile of waste technology.
