It doesn’t matter who you are: the way people use (or misuse) their mobile phones can really grate on your nerves.
A Microsoft Safer Online Facebook poll reveals that many smartphone users don’t mind their mobile manners – but men and women both find people who constantly check their mobile phones to be the most annoying.
The frustrations don’t stop there. The following are the agreed-upon top five pet peeves:
* Checking phones constantly;
* Talking loudly;
* Using or not silencing phones when appropriate;
* Using phones during face-to-face conversation; and
* Delaying traffic by using phones.
Other mobile annoyances included accidentally pocket-dialing someone and simply losing their phones, opening the door to potential digital damage. Thirty-nine percent of respondents also agreed that they believe men and women equally practice mobile phone safety, but this may not be the reality.
“Although we’re all bothered by certain mobile phone behaviors, the more important point is knowing how to help protect one’s device and information from scammers, rogue software and the oversharing of digital details,” says Jacqueline Beauchere, chief online safety officer at Microsoft.
“We know from earlier research that men and women practice mobile safety very differently.”
So who does a better job protecting their personal information on mobile phones? According to the Microsoft Computing Safety Index (MCSI), men do a slightly better job using technical tools:
* 35% use a PIN or password to lock their mobile device compared with 33% of women;
* 35% use secured wireless networks versus 32% of women; and
* 32% keep their mobile devices up to date contrasted with 24% of women.
Yet men seem to experience more mobile pitfalls, receiving more e-mails from strangers asking for personal information (70% versus 65%), more rogue antivirus popups (66% versus 58%), and more online impersonation experiences (31% versus 26%).
Women tend to be more protective of their online reputations, taking additional steps to limit personal information online (40% versus 37%) and what strangers can see on social networking sites (40% versus 32%), as well as being more selective about what they text (34% versus 31%).
As always, protecting yourself online is paramount in today’s online world. Microsoft offers the following tips to help you stay safe when using your mobile devices – in turn, ensuring you don’t annoy your friends:
* Silence your mobile phone. Know when to put the phone away, and be present;
* Help protect your privacy online. Don’t overshare. Think before posting your whereabouts, and save vacation highlights and photos for your return;
* Use location-based services safely. Think carefully about turning on geotagging. Share your location only with people you trust. Pay attention to where and when you check in, and get permission before you check in your friends;
* Conduct financial transactions on a secure network. Don’t use “borrowed” or public WiFi hotspots; and
* Lock your mobile phone. Keep your info secret with a unique, four-digit PIN.