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veryone seems obsessed with smartphones. Everywhere you go people are zombies glued to their phones. Even my young boys are consistently (it feels like constantly) asking for permission to “please borrow” our phones. (Hey, at least they are polite in their ask! But most times I still say, “No.”) My oldest son has a passion for photography and he insists that my phone takes the best pictures and slow-motion videos. These videos are most often stunts performed by my middle child (if you are cringing or worried about possible injury—I am too!). And while I like them working together to create these masterpieces, I still remember a time when technology had nothing to do with kids playing together. Personally, I relish the role of disliking video, Snapchatting, texting, calling and basically all things smartphones. I am the uncle teasing his college-aged nieces and nephews about having a phone that has a permanent mark in their back pocket and interrupts our big family suppers with its beeps and dings coming in. And I am that husband that asks his wife to “return to us” during family car rides when she is happily texting the other soccer moms. However, in a strange yin-andyang type of way, on a daily basis, I also find myself oddly drawn to my Android device as well. If you get lost or want to find a quicker route home you just click on the GPS app. A few nights ago our county issued
The Thirtyseven4 Virus Research Team received over 8.5 million mobile malware samples in 2016. That was more than a 50 percent increase from the previous year. an early morning tornado warning. My weather app notified us a full 10 minutes prior to the citywide tornado sirens. And even last night as we hosted a birthday dinner for my mom, when the time came to turn down the lights and sing Happy Birthday, I had already paired my phone with our Bluetooth speakers for a Happy Birthday tune DanceRemix-style. It was epic! Like them or hate them, smartphone usage continues to be on the rise. Recent studies have actually shown that 50 percent of Americans utilize smartphones as their primary source to get their digital content. The use of smartphones has surpassed tablets, computers and other electronic devices. This statistic just further proves my point that “everyone is obsessed with smartphones.” In fact, the one place in my mind that I’ve always thought was safe from the distractions of phones was church. However, have you ever noticed (and maybe you are one of them, which is a-okay!) how many people reach for
their phone when the pastor is about to get into the heart of his sermon and asks the congregation to take out their Bibles? Access to any version of the Bible from the palm of your hand is amazing! Most churches nowadays even have online giving and check-in from their own customized mobile church app. After all, without being up-to-date with the latest mobile app technologies, churches risk losing Millennials and a whole future generation who are used to purchasing with a click of their phone. Since smartphones are (and I will be intentionally misquoting Dr. Seuss) “from there to here, and here to there, [smartphones] are everywhere,” let’s take a fresh look at mobile security risks, terminology and statistics that not only challenge church goers but all mobile users.
Terminology: CHARGEWARE—Chargeware are malicious programs targeting mobile devices that trick users into April 2017 | 5