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The coronavirus pandemic is full of nasty technological surprises.

We encountered a problem constant shortage of hardware, like game consoles and graphics cards. Apple announced a big change to its data apps this year. Scan iPhones for child pornography, which critics labeled it a privacy violation. And many of us trying to order high-quality face masks to protect ourselves from the coronavirus have had to swim in an ocean of fakes.

Yet all of this had a silver lining: valuable lessons for improving our relationship with technology for years to come, such as being more informed online shoppers and taking control of our personal data.

Think of it as New Year’s resolutions, but for tech. Here are my top recommendations.

Solution 1: Invest in infrastructure first.

The epidemic, which has driven many white-collar professionals to work from home, has shown that many of us have slow internet connections. This underlined how little we tend to invest in our technology infrastructure, such as network equipment and broadband services that strengthen internet connectivity for our devices.

When people spend money on technology, they usually buy gadgets first and foremost. Electronic devices such as video streaming sticks were among Black Friday’s bestsellers, according to a study. Research report published last month by Adobe.

But we must spend on infrastructure before devices. According to a survey conducted this year, one-fifth of consumers have had their router for more than four years. Consumer Reports. According to wireless experts, that’s pretty close as we have to upgrade our Wi-Fi routers every three to five years. The new routers introduce new Wi-Fi standards that improve speeds and techniques to reduce network congestion, making it easier for multiple devices in a home, such as laptops and game consoles, to achieve a stable internet connection.

If your router is fairly new and your connection is below average, check with your internet service provider. The broadband plan you subscribed to years ago may no longer be sufficient, so consider investing in a faster plan. Shoot at around 40 megabits per second if you have a lot of video streaming in your home and playing online games.

Resolution #2: Check before clicking the buy button.

If you’ve ever tried to purchase a high-quality face mask online during the pandemic, you’ve probably encountered a lot of fakes. Counterfeiters flooded the market with poorly constructed masks. still ongoing problem today.

While counterfeit products online have been a problem for a long time, the pandemic has made the problem with masks potentially life-threatening. Amazon and other retailers have policies to ban sellers of fake masks, but new sellers with fake masks are popping up all the time. It has become a mole hitting game.

Lesson? Always check before clicking the buy button. Read buyer reviews. Check the seller and research their reputation if it’s an unknown brand. some online tools such as fake point can scan a product page to look for signs of counterfeit products and fake reviews.

Be especially careful when purchasing anything that could affect someone’s health, including vitamins and dog food. When in doubt, purchase these items from a reputable brick-and-mortar store.

Solution #3: Practice trusting yourself with your digital data.

For a long time he advocate of digital privacypresented one of the biggest technological surprises of the year.

company in August announced a software update with a twist. The software included a tool to scan iPhones for code linked to a known child pornography database. When a set of matches is detected, an Apple employee can review the photos before notifying the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Apple’s positive intention to prevent the spread of child abuse images was quickly overshadowed. invasive effects content flagging system, which goes against the company’s pro-privacy image. In response to backlash, Apple delayed the release of the software feature and announced that the technology could be disabled if people choose to back up their images to iCloud.

The episode reminded us that when we use cloud services, our data is at the whims of a technology company. Lesson? We should consider changing the way we manage our data so that we can be more independent from big companies and their cloud services.

Security experts say taking a hybrid approach to our data is the best way forward. This includes backing up our data to the cloud as well as storing it on devices such as physical drives and miniature USB sticks. Having such a local backup allows you to access important files even if there is an internet outage. And if you’re dissatisfied with a cloud service or tired of paying subscription fees, you have an easy exit as you already have a copy of your information.

According to Acronis, a data protection firm, only 17 percent of people take the hybrid approach. Don’t delay: The longer you wait to create local backups of your data, the harder it is to get it out of a cloud service if you decide to leave.

Solution #4: Skip online sales activities.

Last month, many customers trying to seize the opportunity during Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday quickly learned that something had gone wrong.

Many items we usually buy at a discount, such as new Wi-Fi routers and cheap laptops, were either on sale or out of stock. This was largely the result of a global chip shortage and disrupted supply chainshas battered the manufacture and shipping of products around the world.

waiting until Black Friday to splurge was seldom smart, but the pandemic-induced famine has made this clearer than ever. Deals pop up all year, often better and sometimes better than the promotions on Black Friday.

The tricky part is knowing when cool stuff is cheaper. There are many ways to discover discounts, such as the sites below that alert you to discounts. Our sister publication Wirecutter tracks opportunities on his own Twitter account and for example the website.

automated tools like camel camelIt can also help you track promotions for certain products, a website that lets you link products sold on Amazon and set up email alerts for a price drop. In the future, you can avoid the holiday shopping spree and potentially skip Black Friday.