Technology is advancing at a rapid pace, bringing new innovations and possibilities, but also perpetuating misconceptions and myths. In the world of smartphones, social media, artificial intelligence, and more, it can be challenging to separate fact from fiction.
This article aims to shed light on 7 prevalent tech myths, examine the claims, and reveal the truth behind them. By demystifying these myths, we hope to provide clarity on these topics, which have led to much debate and confusion.
Whether you’re a tech enthusiast looking to expand your knowledge or simply curious about the veracity of commonly held beliefs about technology, this exploration of 10 myths will give you a more accurate perspective on the state of tech today.
1. Incognito Mode Is Totally Private
Using incognito or private browsing mode in your web browser gives a false sense of full privacy. While it does erase browsing history and cookies after you close all incognito tabs, your activity is still visible in other ways.
For example, websites can use “browser fingerprinting” to identify your specific device and browser even in incognito mode. This works by detecting your browser configuration, extensions, operating system and other characteristics to create a unique fingerprint tied to you.
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Websites track this browser fingerprint across multiple sessions to associate web activity with individual users and devices. So you can still be tracked during private browsing through fingerprinting.
Additionally, your internet service provider can see the sites you access, no matter what browser mode you use. To achieve fuller privacy, use a VPN to encrypt traffic or switch to privacy-focused browsers like Brave that block more tracking techniques.
For the most anonymity, Tor browser remains the gold standard by routing connections through encrypted layers to hide your digital footprint.
The key point is that standard private browsing modes still allow some tracking. For true privacy, specific tools and settings are needed to minimize the identifiable information leaked during web surfing.
2. You’re Not a Bigshot, Hence Not a Target for Cybercrime
It’s easy to think you aren’t important enough to be targeted for cybercrime. But even everyday internet users have valuable personal data that criminals want to steal. This private information is leveraged for identity theft and other fraud.
For example, credit card numbers used in online shopping and other personal identification details found across the internet are prime targets. Criminals scrape and collect this data through automated attacks on websites and networks.
And with frequent major data breaches exposing user information, your data is likely being bought and sold on the dark web for illegal purposes. So while you may feel “small” individually, cybercriminals cast a wide net to steal as much sensitive data as possible.
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To better protect yourself, use unique passwords across all accounts so one breached password doesn’t unlock everything. Password managers make this easier. Also, enroll in ID theft monitoring to be alerted if your personal information appears on the dark web.
Earlier this year, Google rolled out a “Monitoring the Dark Web” feature to Google One subscribers. This feature alerts users if their personal information, such as email-ID, name, birthdate, phone number, and even passwords, have been leaked on the dark web. It also identifies the source of the data leak.
In cybercrime today, a “small fish” user can still have their data caught in the criminals’ wide nets. Taking proactive measures greatly reduces your risk of becoming an identity theft victim down the road.
3. My Battery Develops a ‘Memory’
In the past, nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries could develop “memory” where they failed to charge fully due to repeated partial charge cycles. This led to the myth of needing to fully drain batteries to “reset” them.
However, today’s lithium-ion batteries in phones and devices do not experience this memory effect. What does degrade over time is battery capacity – or how long a full charge lasts before needing to be recharged.
Through prolonged usage and hundreds of charging cycles, lithium-ion batteries slowly lose their maximum capacity. An older battery with capacity loss may only charge to 80%, while a brand new battery can still reach 100%.
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Rather than developing memory, lithium-ion batteries simply wear out through regular use. Charging overnight with slower chargers instead of fast chargers can help extend the overall lifespan. But loss of capacity over a few years is inevitable, regardless of charging habits.
So in short – the idea of batteries needing periodic full discharges no longer applies thanks to how lithium-ion batteries work. Capacity diminishes gradually over time, not from remembered partial charge cycles the way past NiCad batteries operated.
The memory effect and full discharge myth should be discarded when it comes to caring for modern batteries.
4. You Should Charge a Phone Only From 0%
Many smartphone owners still subscribe to some persistent myths about how to charge and maintain their phone batteries for optimal lifespan. One of the most common is that letting your phone drain completely down to 0% on occasion will help “recalibrate” the battery charge accuracy or extend its overall lifespan over time.
However, modern lithium-ion batteries actually become permanently damaged when drained fully to zero percent too often. The components inside the battery are in a constant state of decay, so deep discharges put more stain and wear on those internal pieces, leading them to hold less and less charge over time.
Instead, experts recommend only partially draining your phone battery to about 20-30% before charging again. This avoids putting unnecessary strain on the battery while still allowing regular partial discharges that maintain accurate charge estimates.
When you do plug in to charge, let the phone charge fully up to about 80%, which happens quickly on most modern fast-charging phones. Then unplug and repeat this partial charge cycle, rather than continuing to trickle small amounts into an already full battery.
This 30-80% strategy can significantly increase overall battery lifespan by avoiding unnecessary strain at both empty and completely full states.
5. Charging Phones Overnight Overloads the Battery
Similarly, many fear that leaving a phone plugged in to charge overnight will lead to an overloaded, overheated battery at risk of damage or fire.
But modern phone batteries stop accepting a charge when they actually reach 100%, meaning they won’t dangerously overload. Your phone is smart enough to protect its battery and stop current flow when it is full.
The only risk of overnight charging comes if you put the phone under a pillow or in another enclosed, hot area where heat dissipation is limited.
The battery will indeed get hotter than normal while charging continuously for 8+ hours. So avoid dangerous placement overnight, but otherwise feel free to charge to full and unplug in the morning without worrying about battery overload issues.
6. 5G Towers Can Make You Sick
With new 5G wireless networks rolling out across the world, a vocal minority of conspiracy theory groups have attempted to tie the new technology to a host of health dangers, from basic illness to spontaneous human combustion.
However, all scientific studies to date have found no validated connection between 5G networks and negative health outcomes in populations.
The radio frequencies used for 5G have been utilized in cell networks for decades without issue. And both the towers themselves and independent global health organizations see no cause for concern specific to these new networks.
The conspiracy theories seem to stem from general technophobia and scientific illiteracy in fringe groups more than any actual evidence of danger or even an established mechanism for how such low-power radio waves could cause illness in humans.
Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) state that emissions from cell towers do not pose any known threat to those living or working nearby.
The WHO also compared common activities like driving a car or riding a bike, which carry far greater health risks on a daily basis than any unconfirmed danger from passing radio frequencies in one’s vicinity. They conclude that everyday risks are thousands of times more dangerous than any electromagnetic emissions from a cell tower, 5G or otherwise.
7. The Cloud Is in the Sky
A surprisingly persistent myth about cloud computing is that the “cloud” refers to actual clouds in the sky where data is stored. This leads some to believe that stormy weather might interfere with cloud-based services. However, the terminology is metaphorical, not literal.
The phrase “cloud computing” traces back to old network diagram flowcharts that used a cloud image to represent the fuzzy, ambiguous nature of the internet infrastructure. So when tech experts state that data is stored “in the cloud”, they mean on remote servers accessed over the internet, not amongst the water droplets in the atmosphere!
Services like Gmail, Netflix, OneDrive, and Amazon’s AWS platform are all hosted in massive data centers run by companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. The contents of your online email inbox, streamed movies, or other files stored on the cloud are kept in secured, weatherproof facilities full of servers.
Cloud computing services rely on terrestrial internet connections, not fickle weather patterns in the sky overhead.
So while the metaphor of a cloud captures the internet’s hazy, dispersed quality, your ability to access important documents or stream video from the cloud won’t ever be thwarted by clearing skies or storms. As long as you maintain an internet connection, the safety of data in the cloud is assured regardless of actual meteorological conditions.
As we’ve explored, many persistent myths and misconceptions still surround new technologies like 5G networks, phone charging, and cloud computing. However, relying on scientific evidence and expert guidance helps clarify the reality behind these common tech myths.
What other widespread tech myths or rumors have you heard that deserve closer scrutiny? Share your experiences debunking tech misinformation by leaving a comment below.
Getting feedback from readers can help identify areas where better science communication is needed to overcome unfounded fears or clarify how new innovations actually work.
