Memorial Day: How to Take Care of Your Gadgets on Memorial Day Weekend
Thinking of enjoying your Memorial Day long weekend at the beach? Thinking of bringing your laptop, smartphone and tablet along with you? Think again.
While you're sipping on your pina colada on the beach, your device is sweating, corroding and they're screaming for you to take them home. Here are a few tips and tricks to help prevent losing that brand new thousand dollar laptop to the heat.
Don't bring your gadgets to the beach:
Salty water and sand would make any gadget break a sweat. Especially salty water, since it does double damage to electronics. Salt in the water is highly conductive, meaning it will short circuit everything in a puff of smoke if it touches the insides of your device.
Sand is even worse, with today's tight tolerances, sand particles can get lodged into the most uncomfortable of places and make it nearly impossible to clean unless you are prepared for open heart surgery.
Humans are also a big nasty to gadgets, our sweat is highly acidic and very corrosive. Being on the beach, I'm sure that gadget of yours is huddled in a fetal position hoping you'd take it out of your sweaty pocket once in a while.
Keep your devices in your bag at all times if possible, or bring a ziplock bag. Nothing breaths a sigh of relief to a gadget when they're safe in a protective environment. If you really need to use your iPhone at the beach, make sure to get a sweet summer case for it. Preferably waterproof.
Keep the heat on you, not your gadget:
Unlike humans, gadgets actually get heat damage and they can't simply walk it off. A day in the sun could seriously damage gadgets, since they're all colored in shades of dark grey or black.
Furthermore, ultraviolet light damages screens and other exposed transitors which line your screen. You won't notice it immediately, but the colors will slowly fade, and everything will start turning yellow. Have you ever used a gadget for a while and then switched to a brand new gadget? The screen isn't that much better. It's best to leave the sun tanning to yourself, and give your device a break. So keep your gadgets in a shaded place, or in your bag.
Enjoy and unwind, leave your gadget at home:
It's the long weekend, and in our constantly connected world, it's good to disconnect once in a while. Let loose, unwind and step away from your computer. Stretch those legs of yours once in a while. So leave the gadgets at home, where they're happy to be and go outside, enjoy the weather. You're more at risk of dropping that expensive iPad and cracking its delicate glass screen than you are getting injured playing beach volley ball.