We may be well into 2019 now, but it doesn’t need to be January for you to make resolutions.

As technology becomes more accessible and more integral part of our everyday lives, we can get into unhealthy routines surrounding how we use it.

A few small tweaks in the settings of your phone, tablet or computer can make a huge improvement to your life.

Here are some tech resolutions you can make to improve your lifestyle:

 

MAKE A TO-DO LIST

In a world of mobile phones and apps, a pen and paper just doesn’t cut it anymore.

To-do list services are easily editable, quick to create and automatically sync across all your devices to get your life in order in 2019.

There are plenty of to-do applications out there as well, so you’ll be able to find something for whatever level of planning you require.

 

CONTROL YOUR INBOX

You don’t have to be glued to your emails, but organising your emails and keeping on top of your inbox is the perfect way to boost productivity.

best way to improve your inbox is by setting up some automatic filters and rules. These allow messages to be organised for you.

Creating a filter for emails from a specific domain or person easily highlights messages you may need to reply to.

The start of a new year is also a good time to unsubscribe from spammy mailing lists that you probably have cluttering your inbox after a few days offline.

Gmail, Apple’s Mail app and Microsoft Outlook make unsubscribing from mailing lists easy: there’s a button at the top of emails they recognise as being sent en-masse that let you unsubscribe with ease.

 

GET A PASSWORD MANAGER

The passwords you use are probably terrible and not protecting your data as best as they could.

The most relied upon passwords in 2018 were 123456, password, 123456789, 12345678 and 12345.

A password manager can solve all your password problems by storing all of your passwords in one place and can help you create stronger, more complex passwords.

 

LIMIT APP USAGE

Both Google’s Android Pie and Apple’s iOS 12 now include digital wellness features.

These allow you to properly monitor how much you use your phone or tablet. You can see how many times a device is unlocked in a day, the number of notifications you’re sent and how long each app is used for.

Once you know and are horrified by how long you spend scrolling through timelines, you can set timers to help limit your idle scrolling.

 

EMBRACE YOUR BROWSER

Chrome, Firefox, and Safari all let you add extensions for your most used apps.

These extensions can help turn your browser into a powerful tool to manage your everyday life.

You can even get extensions for most of the above points, such as password managers and app limiters.

 

READ TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Keeping tabs on the terms and conditions of new and existing accounts helps you make a decision about whether you are happy to keep using a service.

When installing new apps or creating new accounts, it also helps to understand how much information you’re really giving away.

Reading terms and conditions keeps you informed and gives you the knowledge to tailor your experience with a company, solution or service.

 

STOP DELAYING UPDATES

How many times have you clicked ‘remind me tomorrow’ or ‘not now’ when update notifications pop up?

Keeping your devices up-to-date is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself against new security risks and privacy threats.

The next time an update reminder pops up, get excited rather than delaying them for a later date.