Your Smartphone laziness is increasing somebody's Business

With fall in Internet prices and more accessibility to Internet, the sale of Smartphones has also already increased. However the trend shows that most users of Smartphones whether IT savvy or not is probably not using it the right way. In spite of wide-scale popularity of Cloud-based Picture sharing services (like, Google Photos, Amazon Photos, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and Video sharing services (like YouTube, Vimeo, Google Photos, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) only a handful of Smartphone users use the services in the most optimum way. Primarily WhatsApp and other messaging services have contributed to the larger problem of excessive data usage. 

Instead of sharing Picture Albums, Video Albums and other Pictures/Videos through the popular Cloud-based Picture and Video sharing services, most Smartphone users still continue to forward content through WhatsApp. Smartphone users also don't change their default Camera settings to reduce the resolution. My experience says that a minimal 3 - 5 Megapixel still Photo and an HD 30 fps video is more than sufficient to watch on Phones, Tabs and large screens at Home/Office. Higher Picture resolution is only required if you really want to print a large Picture (like a Banner). This not only leads to a lot of spamming but increases the Bandwidth requirements  and the Storage requirements of your Smartphone. 

A 16 GB Smartphone which was more than sufficient for regular use a few years ago is no more sufficient and most users right now seek for 64 GB to 128 GB Storage on Phone and a 4G / 20 Mbps Broadband connection to have a smooth viewing experience. Its still not too late. A simple change in your lazy habits of blind Media forwarding can make a lot of difference. 

Your Smartphone laziness is increasing somebody's business - Broadband Service Providers and Handset makers!

You may want to start with some few basic steps to change your daily habits -

1. Android is probably the most popular Mobile OS these days. If you have an Android Phone, you will then definitely have a Google Account. It is highly likely that all Photos and Videos on your Phone are getting synced to Google Photos.
2. Similar to Point 1 above your Photos / Videos may also be synced with any other popular service (the one's I mentioned at the beginning of my post).
3. Before forwarding large / multiple Photos / Videos on WhatsApp (or any other Messenger for that matter) think again! Instead of forwarding your Photos / Videos blindly create Albums on Google Photos (or any other similar service) and then click on share.
4. Google Photos gives you the option to share the link on WhatsApp. 
5. Google Photos also allows you to add other Contributors. So if a group of people have gone for a Picnic. One of the members can create a Shared Album, upload Photos / Videos and share the link with others over WhatsApp. Others can then join the Album and also upload the Photos / Video they clicked.

Example -

Scenario 1 (Incorrect Practice): I receive a Video of 10 MB on WhatsApp. If I forward it to 5 people and all of them view the Video, then the total Bandwidth and Storage used is:

Bandwidth - 10 MB download + 10 MB Upload + 5 x 10 MB Download = 70 MB (Download + Upload)

Storage - 70 MB

Scenario 1 (Correct Practice): I receive the link of a YouTube Video of 10 MB on WhatsApp. If I share the link on WhatsApp with 5 people and all of them view the Video, then the total Bandwidth and Storage used is:

Bandwidth - 6 x 10 MB Download = 60 MB (Download)

Storage - 0 MB (Since it is already available on YouTube)

The above few steps is just a guideline. You may use this practice even by sharing media content on YouTube, Facebook, etc and then sharing the link on WhatsApp rather than the actual media.

A little change in your Standard Operating Procedure can do a lot of difference.