Congratulations NSW and Victoria! We made it! The world is opening up and we get to leave our homes again. We all know that life outside of lockdown is a little bit different. We get to see people’s faces, sit down for a meal, maybe even go to an office again and regain some sort of work life balance. But some changes we'll need to be a bit more concious of.
By now we’re all used to using tech to help us out while we battled through this isolation, but with public interaction comes tech rules that we can all stand to refamiliarise ourselves with. Lets take a look at the rules and etiquette around your personal tech that you should remember while you're out in the wide world.
Remember to charge your phone
We have all gotten used to having a phone charger at our disposal at any given point. Sitting at your desk? Charger. Watching Netflix? Charger. Sitting on your kitchen floor eating Uber Eats directly from the bag? Charger.
In the outside world, chargers aren’t as easy to come by, so you’ll need to start planning ahead to conserve battery. If you’re heading out for the day or the night you’re going to need your phone to check-in, show your Covid passport, and of course order an Uber home when you remember why you like being home so much.
Most phones these days have fast charging so if you’re using the right cord and wall plug you should be able to top up quickly. But keep in mind that phone batteries tend to be that little bit more effective when connected to WiFi as opposed to one of the Gs - so you may find yourself running skint sooner than you expect.
Mobile data is a thing
For over 100 days your phone has been connected to WiFi most of the day, so we can hazard a guess that you haven't thought about your mobile data allowance all that much. You should think about it.
Now that you’ll be out there, your TikToking, streaming, and browsing are going to start eating into your data plan again. Australians use, on average 30GB of data per month so it is worth checking to see what your plan currently allows you and make sure that you have enough to keep you going. Without needing to resort to capped speeds or pay for extra GB.
These are the most popular SIM plans available at the moment with at least 30GB of data.
|
#1
|
Boost Mobile 
|
|
|
#2
|
Dodo 
|
|
|
#3
|
TPG 
|
Link not supplied
|
|
#4
|
Tangerine Telecom 
|
|
|
#5
|
Swoop 
|
|
|
#6
|
Dodo
|
|
|
#7
|
Vodafone 
|
|
|
#8
|
Exetel 
|
|
|
#9
|
Boost Mobile
|
|
|
#10
|
felix mobile 
|
Wear headphones if you’re in public
Boomboxes are not a thing anymore, so don’t subject the rest of us to whatever you’re blasting into your eardrums. If you want to watch something or listen on your commute please remember to put your headphones on.
Also take your headphones out sometimes
For every rule, there is an exception. If you’re out and about and know that you’re going to have to verbally interact with people, take the damn headphones out.
The sales person doesn’t want to have to compete with the Finding Emo podcast you’re listening to in order to help you out.
Convey actual emotions
Look, we all know that “hahaha” is code for “exhaled strongly through my nose” on the internet. However if you’re going to be present with people in the real world you need to remember to move your face a little bit to give them some cues.
You should also avoid communicating solely through internet references - not everyone understands what you mean when you say “good soup”.
Put your phone down
Phones and the internet have been our saving grace over the last couple of years. Honestly, where would we be without them? But now that we have the opportunity to connect with our friends and family face to face again, remember to put your phone down and be present. You can post the picture later - I promise.
Anula Wiwatowska
Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram
Related Articles
Related Topics
smartphone mobile data Headphones smart homePopular Topics
Android smartphone iPhone Apple Samsung Telstra Optus Vodafone Deals Oppo
