Debunking Myths

Verbatim with experts

Charging phone overnight is bad:

Most personal electronic devices today: phones, laptops, and even electric cars use lithium-ion batteries. Charging the phone overnight will likely keep your phone in full charge mode longer and thus could cause more wear on your battery. This is the reason why some of the latest smart phones automatically optimize your phone’s charging schedule based on your usage pattern. This is in order to reduce the time the battery is fully charged and thus extend the lifespan of the battery.

Closing background apps make the systems go faster:

When you have an app running in the background of a device, the operating system will suspend the app but still keep it in memory. Most of the time, an app running in the background will compete for resources that other apps that are running on your phone need so it will slow down your system. However, keeping apps in the background is not all bad- by keeping the apps backgrounded in the memory, it actually makes the app reload much faster the next time you open the app.

Using incognito mode makes you invisible:

Incognito mode is a browser feature that cleans up your cookies, browsing history, login information and other local data after you close the browser. By clearing up the cookies after each browsing session, it also makes it more difficult for websites to track your activities across web sessions. However, using incognito mode does not make you invisible across the network. Your IP address, operating system, and browser can still be saved on their servers indefinitely.

TV makes your eyes sore:

I’m not so sure that “TV makes your eyes sore” is a myth. People sometimes get eye strain when watching TV, and there are suggestions for avoiding it. Sometimes people say you’ll RUIN your eyes by watching too much TV. Many years ago, some cathode-ray TV sets emitted a lot of radiation, and it was recommended not to sit too close to the TV, but today’s plasma and LED screens emit very little radiation, so that’s not really a concern.

We only use 10% of our brain:

For the rest of the population, only using 10% of your brain is not normal or common. Interestingly, there IS a person who had a brain only about 10% of the size of a normal brain, who was otherwise normal.

Better to study in the night or the morning

Articles found that on average, people’s best cognitive period starts around 11 AM and extends into the evening. That said, I would think that it’s going to vary by individual. Not to mention, “life happens”—given all the other things that students of all ages have going on—sports, band practice, part-time work, —the best time to study is when you can find the time.

Text by Divij Motwani