As we welcome 2025, many of us may be thinking about making New Year’s resolutions to live life more fully and joyfully.
Technology can be intimidating, but it can also be a way to help make our lives less stressful. Make a commitment to seamlessly integrate technology into your everyday life and to use it wisely. Technology can be your ally in this new year. Here are seven resolutions to consider.
>> Be prudent about online purchases: During the post-holiday season, internet sales of every kind abound to make our lives better. Many tempting offers might call out to you, but be sure to only shop from secure websites. Look for the padlock icon and the “https://” at the beginning of a website address. And be sure to make online purchases through secure payment methods. This will help prevent the new year from getting off to a bad start.
>> Protect yourself from fraud: Accept the reality that there will always be those who might try to steal your personal information or money. Here’s a simple way to protect yourself that does not require any special technical skills: If you receive an email from someone you do not know, do not click on any links in that email. There may also be occasions when you recognize a sender’s name or organization, including your bank or a government agency, but you might not recognize the email address. If it is not a familiar email address, do not click on it. Delete it immediately.
>> Help keiki and kupuna: Hawaii’s keiki and rapidly growing kupuna population are especially vulnerable to fraud. Make a commitment to help keiki and kupuna be cyber-safe. After you’ve helped yourself, make sure the computer operating system and applications of others are updated. This is important because updates could contain security patches to protect devices. Installing and regularly updating antivirus software will also help guard their computers, tablets and other devices from being infected with malware or viruses.
>> Stop settling for mediocre: As digital devices become more sophisticated and enable us to share more data with family and friends, we also need corresponding bandwidth. In practical terms, this means you can email and receive attachments such as high-resolution photos, videos and other files from friends, family or colleagues that use a lot of data. Even storing files in the cloud requires more bandwidth. Optimizing your internet service will save you time by sending or receiving information at faster speeds. This eliminates the frustration of buffering that can make you feel like your life isn’t going anywhere. This is especially important if everyone in your home is online at the same time.
>> Make your home environment conducive to work: Remote working seems to have become a permanent part of our lives, even into 2025. Since the pandemic, many Hawaii employees have been allowed to continue to work from home for part of the week. Interacting with co-workers and customers through virtual meetings and accessing company shared drives all require more bandwidth. Consider talking to your employer to make sure your home environment is as productive as your work environment.
>> Stay connected but remain vigilant: We all enjoy being connected. We want to trust others and build rapport with them. However, it is important to limit what you share with others online and through social media. Avoid posting or sharing sensitive personal information that could be used to impersonate you. Multifactor authentication requires at least two passwords to access your accounts to guard against identity theft and prevent others from gaining access to your information.
>> Take time to watch a good movie: Stream a good movie on your computer or home monitor. It’s an easy, inexpensive way to de-stress after a hard day or week. But watching a movie that freezes or goes into buffering mode can make the experience less enjoyable. Be sure to invest in the fastest internet speeds you can afford. You deserve it!
Jay Garces is manager of Technology Architecture for Hawaiian Telcom. Reach him at jay.garces@hawaiiantel.com.
