Ever wondered if your mobile data should be left on all the time, like a tireless digital companion? The answer isn’t a simple yes or no. It depends on your needs, data plan, and how much you value battery life. Constant connectivity is convenient, but it comes with potential downsides.
Should you risk it, or are there hidden costs to this always-on lifestyle? Let’s dive deeper to explore the pros and cons of a 24/7 data connection.
When should I turn mobile data on?
The best time to turn on your mobile data is when you need to use the internet, but you can’t access WiFi. Typically, we use mobile data to handle online needs that are more or less urgent but do not require an excessive amount of data.
Your mileage may vary, of course, and what counts as an excessive amount of data depends on how much mobile data you can afford.
Here are some of the typical tasks we would usually handle using mobile data in the absence of WiFi:
- Chatting on social media apps, such as FaceBook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter, etc.
- Sending and receiving iMessages on iPhones.
- Working on emails.
- Browsing the internet and visiting websites.
- Playing mobile games.
Depending on your data bundle and budget, you might either use mobile data for the following tasks or wait till you have a reliable WiFi connection:
- Video calling, e.g., Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, etc
- Streaming music, e.g., Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, etc
- Watching YouTube videos.
- Streaming television services, e.g., Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, etc.
- Downloading and updating apps.
- Online Drive and Cloud backups.
When carrying out bulk updates or backups, you should best wait till you have a reliable WiFi connection. App stores also recommend using WiFi when downloading or updating any app above 1GB.
What Happens if You Leave Your Mobile Data on All the Time?
Some of us might want to leave our mobile data turned on all of the time. There is the temptation never to miss a beat when it comes to all the social media notifications and news.
However, that would not be the best option, and it certainly wouldn’t be efficient. Here are some of the things that happen when you leave your mobile data turned on permanently.
Battery Drain
If you keep your mobile data turned on, it will deplete your battery faster than if you turn it off. This is due to a number of reasons.
First off, your phone will continually search for a signal. If you’re in a place where the signal is terrible, your phone will strain to find a signal and eventually use more battery while searching.
Furthermore, background data-consuming apps will deplete your battery. Each time an app delivers a push notification, it drains a small amount of your battery.
It’s the same if they update in the background – it puts more strain on your phone and, as a result, uses more energy. This also comes with the inconvenient effect of heating up your phone via its battery.
There’s a lot more you can do to extend the life of your battery, but switching off your mobile data is an excellent place to start.
Unnecessary Data Consumption
Some apps use mobile data in the background. Even if you aren’t actively using your phone, it will continue to consume your quota if you keep it turned on.
Allowing your apps to update using data makes things worse. You might unintentionally spend GBs more of data. It is, therefore, advisable to make such updates via WiFi connections.
It’s a good idea to keep track of your mobile data consumption to see how much you use every month and when it’s better to have your data switched on or off. You will figure out the most-effective package for you this way.
Privacy Concerns
Your carrier could track your location when your mobile data is turned on. Don’t forget the various apps which request access to your location services to perform their functions. Some of these apps actively broadcast your location to your followers. Admittedly though, they don’t try to hide that from you. Turning off your mobile data is a good idea to stay low-key or off the grid.
However, if you have no such concerns for privacy, feel free to disregard this.
Is It Best to Leave Mobile Data on or Off?
Some of us may prefer to keep our mobile data turned on at all times. There’s a strong urge to never miss a beat when it comes to all the social media notifications and news.
That, however, would not be the wisest solution, and it would surely not be the most efficient.
Cellular data does not run only when you’re actively using an app. Many applications have built-in permissions to update in the background even when you aren’t using them.
Therefore, if you haven’t disabled an app’s ability to update in the background and are not connected to WiFi, it might update over cellular data.
Mobile data may be turned on or off entirely using smartphones. This can be a useful technique if you’re used to utilizing data wherever you go and want to adopt a more mindful consumption strategy.
Turning your data off will save your battery and prevent your data from wasting in the background.
What happens if you switch off your phone’s data connection? You won’t incur charges because your cellular data will not upload or download to or from the Internet. On a WiFi network, you’ll still be able to connect to the Internet.
Smartphone addiction
Another reason you might want to switch your mobile data off is just to avoid distractions.
You might be doing something that requires your focus, such as reading, driving, meditating, praying, etc. In such situations, not only do you not need your data turned on, but having it on might constitute a distraction, so turning it off is recommended.
Smartphone addiction is something that a lot of people struggle with these days. As phones improve their abilities, our fascination with them grows, often to an unhealthy degree. Some of the negative side effects of smartphone addiction include:
- Ruined relationships
- A decline in interpersonal connections
- Loss in productivity
- Educational decline
- Disrupted brain development
- Poor memory
- Lower IQ
- Vehicle accidents
- Negligent parenting
- Failing health, etc.
We’re also significantly less inclined to smile at strangers while on our phones.
Should I Turn off Mobile Data When on WiFi?
Whether you should turn off mobile data when on WiFi depends on two things: Is your WiFi connection reliable? And do you value connection speed over data saving?
When you connect to a WiFi network, your internet connection no longer relies on your mobile data. Leaving it turned on would be redundant unless you’re using WiFi Assist (iOS) or Adaptive WiFi (Android). These are features that improve your mobile internet experience by using your mobile data if your WiFi connection happens to be weak or unreliable. Consequently, they can also consume a lot of data. If you consume a lot of data each month, you might consider turning it off.