Nomophobia is the extreme fear of being without your phone. It’s no fun. We are so much engrossed, involved and dependent on our mobile, that such situations are very obvious. Especially with physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat and chest tightness. Of course, plenty of people without nomophobia still get queasy at the prospect of losing their phone.
Actually, these mobile devices are extensions of ourselves, and we feel their absences keenly. They also contain a wealth of personal data. What if that data falls into the wrong hands? That alone is reason to feel anxious.
There are a lot of protective measures we need to follow to protect our mobile and its precious data:
1. Create a strong passcode, complicated pattern, eye scanner (retina recognition) or finger touch for your phone opening.
2. Add a PIN to your SIM card to protect it. The only way to protect the information on your SIM card is through the SIM PIN. One can enter the wrong PIN for your SIM card only three times, after which the SIM stops working and one lose access to your mobile network.
3. Google Map can also help when your phone is lost. After logging your Gmail account, you can track mobile location.
4. Always download Anti-Theft App on your mobile. Anti-theft alarm makes your device inoperable to the thief even after he restarts the phone or kills the app. The alarm continues to ring until the right password is entered. There are a lot of such apps in the market.
5. Few Apps give “Remove Access” option. Do that the moment you realize your mobile is lost.
6. Few apps are authorized with an App password; we recommend revoking its App Password so that no one can access your Google Account from that device.
Take immediate steps to find your device once you realize it is missing. Mark it as lost, and if necessary, erase the data on it. Protect your personal data in real time. If you can’t find your device and it contains, say, credit card numbers, cancel these cards. Change your email passwords along with passwords for important apps/websites such as banks and credit cards. Remove the phone as a trusted device for multi-factor authentication. The best practice is to perform frequent data backups of your mobile.