Check And Change The Defaults

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Life has so much to be going on with eh, so much easier to just go with the defaults and keep trundling on.

Technology defaults, sure, whatever app company.
Relationship defaults, I dunno, this is what's meant to happen, no?
Society defaults, yeah, I s'pose it's what we all do.
Behaviour defaults, um I've always been like this, isn't everyone?

We just accept what we're given and move on.
Don't.

The first time you exhibit some behaviour, fall in love, install an app, or get asked to move on, stop, check the defaults, and if needed, change them to suit yourself.

It's a right royal pain to have to do it every single time, but believe me it'll make your life so much easier in the long run. 

With tech the default settings should be off (they won't be). Check them all to see that they are off, or what you want. Every time the app / tech updates (including new device, full system update, new connection etc) check the defaults as they will have likely changed. Turn them off, or to what you want.

Always question societal defaults, when you perceive them. Social defaults are very hard to see as we swim in them, it's like asking a fish to describe water, it just is. However eddies and changes in flow can be felt and that's normally akin to someone trying to change, or bashing up against, the defaults.

We can see social defaults best when we look how they have, in the past, changed, e.g. 
  • 1960s: The Dorian Society formed in Wellington as a social club for gay men, creating a legal sub-committee in 1963 that led to the establishment of the early Homosexual Law Reform Society.
  • 1970s: Inspired by international movements like the Stonewall riots, the Gay Liberation Front emerged in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, demanding visibility and social change. Early political bills introduced in 1974 failed to pass.
  • 1985: MP Fran Wilde introduced a private member's Homosexual Law Reform Bill, which deeply polarised AoNZ* amid intense public debate and the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
  • 1986: On July 9, 1986, Parliament narrowly passed the Homosexual Law Reform Act (49 to 44 votes), decriminalising consensual sexual activity between men aged 16 and over and removing state-sanctioned criminal penalties.
  • 1993: The Human Rights Act 1993 explicitly banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
  • 2004–2013: Civil unions were legally recognized in 2004, paving the way for the historic legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2013 through the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act.
That was people seeing and feeling a default and then changing it - bloody obvious eh. What social defaults do we have now that we need to see, feel, and change so that in 50 years time someone else can write a similar post to above and have everyone sigh, "Well, yeah, that's bloody obvious".

Finally, there's the defaults we have inside ourselves, eek. These are tough as our default behaviours are both inherent within us and learnt/picked up at an early stage. For a very long time my default behaviour was to hide within myself when challenged, I'm still a wee bit of a soft princess but not anywhere like I was. It was a self defence mechanism both born within me and learnt around my early teens - my default when I perceived an 'attack'. It has taken many many years, a few burnt bridges, and the support of good people around the world for me to see/feel my default, learn that it wasn't helping, and to change it. Bloody hard work, would've been a lot easier to just leave it turned on and ... ah see, and what?

There's other defaults I'm sure, but if you can find, review, amend your tech defaults (the easiest for everyone), and your own defaults, the relationship and social ones will come. But hey, your defaults so you do it in any order you want.

The default effect, a concept within the study of nudge theory, explains the tendency for an agent to generally accept the default option in a strategic interaction. The default option is the course of action that the agent, or chooser, will obtain if he or she does not specify a particular course of action. The default effect has broad applications for firms attempting to "nudge" their customers in the direction of the firm's optimal outcome. Experiments and observational studies show that making an option a default increases the likelihood that such an option is chosen. There are two broad classes of defaults: mass defaults and personalised defaults. Setting or changing defaults has been proposed and applied by firms as an effective way of influencing behaviour—for example, with respect to setting air-conditioner temperature settings, giving consent to receive e-mail marketing, or automatic subscription renewals.


To help get you going here's 10 mobile device defaults to look at right now:
  1. Lock Screen Previews:
    Stop notifications from showing private text content when your phone is locked.
    • iOS: Settings > Notifications > Show Previews > Change to When Unlocked.
    • Android: Settings > Notifications > Notifications on lock screen > Change to Hide silent and conversations or Don't show.
  2. Precise Location Access:
    Block apps from tracking your exact coordinates when a general city region is enough.
    • iOS: Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > select the app > toggle off Precise Location.
    • Android: Settings > Apps > select the app > Permissions > Location > toggle off Use precise location.
  3. Cross-App Tracking: Stop advertising companies from tracking your browsing habits across different apps and websites.
    • iOS: Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking > toggle off Allow Apps to Request to Track.
    • Android: Settings > Privacy > Ads > select Delete advertising ID.
  4. Lock Screen Control Access: Prevent thieves from turning on Airplane Mode or disabling Wi-Fi while your phone is locked.
    • iOS: Settings > Face ID & Passcode > scroll to Allow Access When Locked > toggle off Control Centre.
    • Android: Settings > Privacy > Notifications on lock screen > toggle off Show device controls.
  5. Microphone and Camera Access: Review the list of apps that have permanent background access to your sensors.
    • iOS: Settings > Privacy & Security > select Microphone or Camera to audit the list.
    • Android: Settings > Security & Privacy > Privacy Controls > Permission manager.
  6. Background App Refresh: Stop apps from constantly draining your battery and data when you are not using them.
    • iOS: Settings > General > Background App Refresh > turn off or restrict to Wi-Fi.
    • Android: Settings > Apps > select the app > Mobile data > toggle off Allow background data usage.
  7. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Scanning: Block your phone from constantly searching for nearby signals even when Wi-Fi is off.
    • iOS: Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > toggle off Networking & Wireless.
    • Android: Settings > Location > Location services > toggle off Wi-Fi scanning and Bluetooth scanning.
  8. Diagnostic Data Sharing: Stop your phone from sending usage logs and data to manufacturers.
    • iOS: Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements > toggle off Share iPhone Analytics.
    • Android: Settings > Privacy > Usage & diagnostics > toggle off.
  9. Auto-Join Public Wi-Fi: Prevent your phone from automatically linking to unencrypted, dangerous public hotspots.
    • iOS: Settings > Wi-Fi > Auto-Join Hotspot > change to Ask to Join.
    • Android: Settings > Network & internet > Internet > Network preferences > toggle off Turn on Wi-Fi automatically.
  10. Default Web Browser: Switch your default browser from Safari or Chrome to a privacy-focused alternative like Vivaldi or DuckDuckGo.
    • iOS: Settings > scroll to your preferred browser app > tap Default Browser App > select it.
    • Android: Settings > Apps > Default apps > Browser app > select your choice.

* The use of "AoNZ" when referring to Aotearoa New Zealand, and not just "NZ" is a default that is changing. I see it more and I'm happy to be a small cog in that change.


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