Page 22 - How to be Cyber Safe + Savvy

CHAPTER 2: Connecting Devices With Confidence
Take Control of Your Settings
The devices we use now to com- municate are different from that old rotary phone. They offer a huge range of choices for how we can produce, share, and store data. The good news is that all these choices give us control over what data we disclose when we go online. The chal- lenge lies in making sense of these options, especially since instructions for how to do so can be scarce.
Get to know your settings
Take control of your data online in
the “Settings” section of your device’s main menu. Settings are the controls for managing the operations and connections our devices can execute. Learning about on-device settings will make you ready to understand and
put to use the lessons in data care that follow with regard to connections, online accounts, and digital media.
Adjust the default settings
Every internet-connected device gen- erates and transmits personal
data derived from what we
do and where we go online.
— enable sharing more data about our private lives and online choices than the devices require to work properly.
Since smartphones account for more than half of all web traffic, we will fo-
You can choose to share more or less of this data by adjust- ing the settings that deter- mine how a device interacts with apps loaded onto the device, as well as online net- works available for connec- tion. In almost every case, the “default” settings — how de- vices are set up to work when you take them out of the box
APPLE DEVICE SETTINGS ICON
cus on settings for these de- vices. The terms and choices you will learn as you arrange settings on your smartphone, though, resemble those associated with computers, watches, smart speakers, and even internet-connected home appliances. Acquiring command of settings choices on a smartphone should give you confidence to delve into settings on these other de- vices as well.
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ANDROID DEVICE SETTINGS ICON