3 common smartphone myths you probably thought were true
Our smartphones are often the first thing we touch in the morning, and they come with us wherever we go. You probably think about your phone a lot, whether you like it or not.
It is therefore logical that there are all kinds of telephone myths in our culture. People suspect that their phones listen to them, believe that folk tales about how to make them work faster, and maybe even wonder if they can start fires. Here are three common myths on phones, verified to the facts for precision.
Your phone cannot explode a service station
It is an extremely old myth, about as old as the mobile phones themselves. It is also widespread enough for this day, some service stations have panels warning people not to use their phone during supplies. The idea is that your phone could make a spark that could ignite fuel vapors.
It apparently never happened, however. The Petroleum Institute said on their website that they “did not docume a single incident caused by a cell phone”. And if that is not enough, television Mythbusters I tried to explode a service station with a mobile phone in 2003 – they could not manage it.
This does not mean that it is a great idea to watch your phone while filling up with the car. It is always a good idea to pay attention during the supply process, if only to make sure that you do not accidentally pour fuel on the ground (or yourself). If your phone rings, however, you can answer without worrying about starting an explosion.
Your phone doesn’t always listen to you
Many people believe that phones are constantly listening to our conversations and use this information to spread us on social networks. Most people have a kind of story that convinces them, this is the case – they mentioned a particular product in a conversation only to see an ad for this on Instagram the next day, for example. This is an intuitive explanation of the very real privacy invasions that we all live, but no researcher has ever demonstrated in a conclusive manner that this happens.
Consumer Reports said in 2018 that “the researchers found no evidence of such a shackle” and that there is still no final study showing that this is the case. If it is true that Android and iOS phones listen to their trigger words (“Hey Google” or “Siri”), there is no evidence that they record everything and send transcriptions. The frontier electronic foundation, a non -profit organization that absolutely Shout noisily on this problem if they could find evidence, says the real problem is even worse:
Generally, the data does not come from your microphone – this comes from the shaded market of the “data broker” and the giant announcements platforms that follow you on the web, then make very educated assumptions on your purchasing habits.
It is understandable that you are paranoid – the advertising can be strangely precise. But technological companies are more than capable of disturbing advertisements without recording your daily conversations.
The fence applications do not improve performance or save battery life
Your phone is about to die to manually close all the applications you have left open. It seems quite intuitive, but it is not really useful – and it could actually slow down.
Closing of applications on your phone does not work in the same way as on a computer, which I mentioned in an article on battery myths. Android and iPhone operating systems suspend applications that are not actively open. These applications are essentially suspended, which means that closing them does not release resources.
You don’t have to believe me. Neither Google nor Apple suggest ending applications to save battery or system resources on their websites. Craig Federighi, Please software engineering at Apple, said publicly that the end of applications does not help the battery life. If anything, closing applications can make matters worse, as your phone will have to completely recharge the application the next time you will launch it.
If you are concerned about the conservation of battery life, there is a better option: battery saving mode on your phone. It is in the system plateau of the two operating systems, and it deactivates the background processes. You will get notifications a little more slowly, but your battery will last much longer. Try this the next time you will need a little more life on your phone instead of losing your applications to close the time.
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