By Aswin Anilkumar
The modern era has been called the Era of Smartphones, and perhaps rightly so. From telling us the time to playing videos and games and helping us communicate with loved ones a continent away, smartphones are playing a role in almost every aspect of our lives. Smartphones are a relatively recent phenomenon, with the first Apple iPhone introduced as recently as 2007. Yet, the scale and breakneck speed with which smartphones have captured markets and imaginations is terrifying. Everybody, from urban commuters in New York and London to the poorest slum-dwellers in Mumbai seem to own a smartphone.
However, recent scandals have brought to public notice a pertinent question: “Is the data these smartphones collect truly safe? How much more can we let our smartphones rule our lives?”
Smartphones and child psychology
Times have changed. Instead of racing cars and action figurines, children these days ask for smartphones on their birthdays. Numerous studies exist today describing the effects of smartphones on an adult’s ability to concentrate, we can only imagine the effect it can have on a developing brain.
Leading psychologists agree that unfettered access to smartphones may severely impair social skills, including the ability to express emotions well and the ability to concentrate. Reward mechanisms of most mobile games imbibe in children poor delay-of-gratification skills, leading to severe problems later as adults.
But the most insidious of the smartphone’s problems might be the unfettered access corporations have to a growing child’s mind. In today’s hyper-competitive advertising space, consumer loyalties are difficult to turn. Hence, companies have begun competing for advertising space, targeting increasingly younger demographics – to try and ‘get to consumers’ before anyone else. These children once grown, will identify consumer brands with their own childhood, and stay a loyal consumer. The advertising data provided by a child’s use of the smartphone is thus of immense value to a corporation and leads to the child imbibing irresponsible spending habits.
Data collection
Most applications, apart from providing us with a basic service, collect a lot more data than we realize. According to one infographic, more than 90 percent of apps on the iOS store, and 83 percent of apps on the Android store exhibit the so-called ‘risky behaviour’ – location tracking, the accessing of contacts and/or sharing data with third-party advertising networks.
Another problem would be newer sensors on smartphones such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, which don’t require any permission to access data. Hence most apps have free access to data from both sensors, leading to a host of privacy concerns. For instance, tiny movements and values recorded by both sensors when data is entered may seem incomprehensible to the human eye, but machines may be trained using machine-learning techniques to interpret the data. For example, TouchLogger, an app built by researchers with a similar objective, was able to discern over 70 percent of key taps entered correctly.
Protecting your smartphone
‘Prevention is better than cure’, or so the saying goes. The best line of defence against data theft is not to store sensitive information on your smartphone, but to store it on a secure hard drive. In addition, a high-quality anti-virus software is a must for any smartphone device. When you install applications, only consider trusted sources such as Google Play, instead of downloading unknown APKs. At the same time, you must prepare for the worst, with data-wiping software ready to erase your phone in the event of theft.
Considering how well-integrated smartphones are in our lives today, not taking prudent measures to guard your data, could mean the digital equivalent of losing your wallet.
Featured Image Source: Pexels
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