10 Misconceptions About Devices We Continue to Believe

Is it true that it’s dangerous to leave a phone charging for the entire night? The answer is no, it’s not. And this isn’t the only myth about devices that we share with other people all the time. It’s about time we figured out which “facts” about devices we should stop believing and passing on to our friends.

At Bright Side, we’ve chosen the 10 most common misconceptions about the way devices work and will tell you why you should stop believing them.

Myth № 1: The more megapixels a camera has, the better pictures it takes.

Megapixels don’t influence the quality or beauty of photographs, they only influence the size of the photo. But there are a lot of other reasons why pictures can be of worse or better in quality like the optics, the sensor size, and the skills of the photographer.

Myth № 2: You can’t leave a phone charging for the entire night because this damages the battery.

Modern phones have lithium-ion batteries, and they stop charging when they are fully charged. But even when this happens, the device still draws a little amount of power. So the only reason you should disconnect your phone when it’s done charging is to save a little money.

Myth № 3: Good reception means good sound quality.

Even if the reception indicator is full, it doesn’t mean that the connection will be perfect. The indicator only shows the strength of the signal which you are receiving from the nearest radio tower — it doesn’t represent the connection quality or the speed of the internet. If there are a lot of other phones using the same tower, you may have trouble with the connection even if the indicator is full.

Myth № 4: Mac computers can’t catch viruses.

There is no operating system completely immune to viruses. But there are a few theories on why Mac computers have fewer viruses. Firstly, viruses are created for the most popular computer system which happens to be Windows, not Mac OS. Secondly, Mac OS has fewer weak spots, but this doesn’t mean that it’s entirely immune. Mac computers can still get infected, it just takes more effort to come across such a virus.

Myth № 5: The incognito mode protects your data.

Many users simply don’t read everything that the browser window says when they enable the “incognito” mode. In fact, it only deletes the data that is stored locally. Any outside source (like visited websites or Internet providers) can still track your activity.

Myth № 6: The “Refresh” button makes tasks work faster.

The “Refresh” button that we push on the desktop or in the browser of a computer just refreshes all the icons according to the latest changes. For example, say you changed the name of a folder, but you still can see the old one. When you push “Refresh”, the folder name changes to the new one. Sometimes, the 1-2 seconds which you spend to push the button is enough time for the computer to work as fast as it usually does, so it might seem like it is actually working faster.

Myth № 7: You can use only the original chargers.

Original devices can charge your gadgets faster but high-quality alternative chargers don’t present any threat to your phone or computer. Cheap fake chargers can damage your device, so if you want to save some money and buy a non-original charger, pay extra attention to the price and the manufacturer, and also to what determines the speed of charging: the current power source.

Myth № 8: You should always disconnect the USB correctly.

If you are working with a USB-drive and you don’t need to put something on it, you can simply disconnect it without pushing extra buttons. When you choose the “safe remove” option, the system just checks that all changes are saved and that nothing is being transferred to the USB-drive.

Myth № 9: You can’t charge your phone until the battery is completely drained.

This doesn’t work for the modern lithium-ion batteries. In fact, such devices are best kept from 40 to 80 % battery charge, which means you shouldn’t wait until the battery is completely drained.

Myth № 10: Airport scanners damage memory cards.

X-ray scanners in the airport can damage the film of a non-digital camera, but they don’t damage or delete the data from memory cards.

How many of these myths did you think were true? Perhaps you know other useful facts about our favorite devices that you can share with us in the comment section below!