Summer is a very hot month of the year for a lot of people (especially if you live in Florida, like myself). Unfortunately, technology and heat don't get along. Much like a vehicle, excessive heat can damage parts and cause technology to fail.
One of the main causes of heat damage to technology in the summer is forgetfulness (Even I'm guilty of this one).You'll be going somewhere, and when you park your car under the gleaming sun to go to class or work for a few hours you forget your iPod, Laptop, or even your Smartphone in your car. What kind of effects can this have?
Firstly, battery damage. If your battery is still alright when you get back, you may notice that your battery life has gotten significantly worse. For a smartphone or android device in which you can replace the battery, this may not be such a big deal. For an iPod or iPhone, however, the battery is built in. You're stuck with what you've got. Laptop batteries can be costly, as well.
Another big issue: it can cause is heat cracking. This issue is specific to touch screen devices. Essentially, there will be clearly noticeable cracks along screen, which don't make it quite all the way down to the actual screen, but cosmetically look terrible on the device.
Lastly, and the most troublesome problem, damage to the internal components. If your device was on while you weren't around and the heat gets to it, there's a high possibility it could have damaged some of the internal components. Apple and Android have recently come out with heat sensors in their newer devices that shut down the functioning parts of the device which the heat could severely hurt when this happens (This does NOT protect the battery, just the internal components hopefully), but otherwise, functioning processors and other modules could fry under the extreme heat. If the device is off, make sure you leave it off until it has cooled either by bringing it to a cool enviornment, or running the A/C and waiting a good 30 minutes or so while it cools off.
Overheating devices that are running in a house can cause chip creep which may cause your computer's RAM or Processor to come unseated. If you're not sure of what those terms mean, RAM is memory the computer needs to function. Without RAM, your computer won't boot up; same with the Processor. the processor is what processes all the information on your computer, and tells it where to go. In layman's terms, it does the loading. When these things come unseated, there is not a connection to the motherboard, which acts like a set of highways for data to travel along from one place to another. Without a way to communicate between these two extremely important components, the computer cannot function. Always make sure the room the computer is operating in is not too hot, especially if you're going to be doing any system heavy work, PC gaming, or if you plan to leave your computer running for a long period of time. A good amount of cooling in the computer itsself is always a good way to ensure it does well with battling high tempuratures as well.
So, make sure you don't forget your devices in your vehicle, and have fun this summer season!
-Written by Preston M.
