How to: Protect your cell phone from the wrath of kids
By Aimee Heckel
This isn’t a problem your mom had to deal with — how to help your cell phone survive in the sticky, clumsy, enthusiastic hands of your kids.
For better or for worse, cell phones have changed the dynamics of families. Your kid is freaking out in the grocery store, so you give him a game on your phone. It seems younger and younger kids are getting their own phones, too.
The catch? Those suckers are expensive. An iPhone can cost close to $500.
Here are some ways to help your cell phone survive the inevitable drops and bumps inflicted by your kids (never you, though, of course!):
1. Protect your bank account: Set up a password to open your phone and to make any purchases on iTunes. Otherwise, you might end up with $200 in SpongeBob game upgrades.
Money-saving tip: Did you know you can get 3 percent Cash Back from ShopAtHome.com for your iTunes purchases?
2. Protect the shell: Get a high-quality case. OtterBox has a reputation for making the best cell phone cases out there. OtterBox makes cases that are drop-proof, waterproof, crush-proof and dust-proof.
The downside is that these shields of armor come with their own steep price tag, too. An iPhone5 OtterBox Armor Series case costs around $100.
Money-saving tip: Get free shipping on orders over $69.95. Make sure you take advantage of the OtterBox coupons, too. ShopAtHome.com offers 15 different coupons to choose from, plus 5 percent Cash Back.
3. Protect your phone from the water. We’re not saying it’s a guaranteed fact of life your kid will throw your phone in the pool, lake, dog bowl, pool or toilet, but we are saying we don’t know any parents who have not had to deal with this scenario.
In fact, 60,000 phone users damage their phone every day by dropping it in water, according to DryBox. That equals tens of millions of dripping wet phones every year.
Wondering what to do if your phone gets dunked?
- Turn your phone off and remove the battery as soon as you retrieve it from the toilet bowl.
- Trying to dry it with a hair dryer rarely works and it can actually cause more damage from overheating.
- Don’t plug it in or try to turn it on.
- Consider bringing it to a DryBox Rescue System, a machine that can dry your phone in a special “drying chamber” in 25 minutes. The system claims to remove moisture down to the molecular level. DryBox says it’s growing quickly and hopes to have a box at all office supply and convenience stores soon. Learn more and find out if there is a DryBox station near you at dryboxrescue.com.
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