Pets do weird things every so often… like laying on top of keyboards or sidling up next to computer monitors. If you’re not careful, your furry companions might accidentally cause a lot of damage to your technology. Some studies have indicated that pets cause around $3 billion worth of damage to technology annually—pretty shocking stuff. Let’s go over how you can minimize the chances of this happening to you.
How Do Pets Damage Our Computers?
The biggest culprits in terms of pet-caused damage to computers is likely going to be their fur, which is shed routinely and can often find itself on not just your furniture, but in your computer. Other issues stem from pets chewing on cords or destroying devices they get their paws on, like a cat eating a phone charger or a dog nabbing the television remote. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that a dog might pull a cabled device off a table without realizing what they are doing, either, causing damage to the device.
It really is remarkable just how much fur can get trapped inside a device. We bet that if you investigated your own, you’d be horrified by the state of its innards.
How You Can Protect Your Technology
Even if pets don’t mean to cause harm, you should still take measures to protect your technology from them. Here are a couple ways you can do this:
Keep Your Workspace Clean
The best thing you can do to keep your pets from getting into your technology is to keep your workspace clean. For example, if you don’t want your cat to set up shop on your laptop, maybe close it or move it somewhere they aren’t likely to lay on it. Pets like the warmth associated with running technology, so do yourself a favor and keep it off the floor whenever possible.
Bundle Your Cords
Cords can be quite tantalizing for your pets who might want to find something stringy to chew on—particularly cats and puppies. It’s dangerous for both your pets and for your technology, so make sure you keep your cords bundled and organized with a Velcro band. They’ll be less likely to chew on things that way.
Keep Liquids Away from Your PC
You might not consider keeping liquids away from your PC until you’ve had your entire cup of coffee spilled all over your keyboard by your cat, who just had to jump up on the computer desk while you were in that meeting. We recommend that you just keep liquids away from the computer as often as possible to avoid having your furry companions accidentally knocking them over or causing irreparable damage.
Pets are great… but they’re not great for technology. Do yourself a favor and take preventative measures for your tech to ensure your best friends don’t inadvertently become your technology’s worst enemies.
