I was reading Most Don’t Password Protect Their Smartphones – Here’s Why You Should at ReadWriteWeb. Sure, protect your privacy, ensure you security. I, however, have a point of view on the password entry to smartphones that is more nuanced.
When you’re trotting around the globe in your 20s and 30s with you mobile phone in hand, you can ignore the fact that you are a mortal being. At my age, not so much. So I selectively protect my phone, depending on where I am.
It only takes a moment to turn on password protection, or to turn it off.
I turn it on when I’m in situations where there are lots of people and I might lose it or mislay it or even have it stolen.
I turn it off when I’m driving somewhere alone, or when I’m out walking alone. If something happens to me while I’m away from home alone, I want my emergency numbers and my contact list to be accessible on my phone. I’m trading one kind of security for another kind of security.