On November 12, I spoke at the Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation’s 10x10 event at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
The format was simple: 10 speakers, 10 topics, 10 minutes each. My topic was “What’s Next in Tech: The Trends Changing How We Live and Work.”
I’m the tech reporter at KTLA 5 in Los Angeles, host of the nationally syndicated Rich On Tech radio show and writer of the Rich On Tech newsletter. My goal across all of them is pretty simple: help you understand technology and make it work for you.
Over the years, I’ve answered thousands of questions from listeners and viewers. It doesn’t really matter whether someone uses a Mac or PC, iPhone or Android. The same concerns come up again and again: passwords, scams, privacy and the fear of losing something important.
Those questions also give us clues about where technology needs to go next.
So instead of spending my 10 minutes predicting flying cars or the next big gadget, I focused on 10 practical lessons you can use right now, and what each one tells us about the future.
1. Use a password manager
You need a unique, strong password for every account you create. The reason is simple. If one company gets hacked and your password is exposed, criminals will often try that same password on your other accounts.
The problem is that nobody can realistically create and remember dozens or hundreds of complicated passwords.
That’s why I recommend a password manager. I like Bitwarden. Think of it as an encrypted notebook that creates, stores and autofills your passwords. You only need to remember the main password that unlocks it, and you can typically use Face ID, a fingerprint or another biometric to make accessing it easier.
It takes a little work to get everything set up, but once you do, it makes life much easier.
In the future, passwords will increasingly disappear. Passkeys and biometrics are already moving us toward a world where signing in can be both safer and easier.
2. Turn on two-factor authentication
A password is one way of proving you are you. Two-factor authentication adds another check.
Start with your most important accounts, especially email and banking, and then turn it on anywhere else that supports it.
Whenever possible, I prefer an authenticator app instead of text messages. I like Proton Authenticator. It generates one-time codes directly on your device and avoids some of the vulnerabilities associated with text messages and phone numbers.
And one important rule: never give one of these codes to someone who calls, texts or emails asking for it.
In the future, keeping our accounts safe shouldn’t require us to become security experts. Protection needs to become simpler and more automatic.
3. Freeze your credit
We hear about data breaches constantly. Once your personal information is stolen and ends up circulating online or on the dark web, you can’t exactly pull it back.
One of the best ways to fight back is to freeze your credit.
Equifax, Experian and TransUnion let you place a credit freeze for free. It makes it much harder for someone to open a new credit account in your name. When you legitimately need to apply for credit, you can temporarily lift the freeze online.
A credit freeze won’t prevent every form of identity theft, but it creates an important layer of protection.
In the future, as more of our personal information gets exposed, we’re going to need stronger and simpler ways to control our digital identities.
4. Learn to spot a scam
Scammers are relentless, and artificial intelligence is making their tricks more convincing.
My number one rule is this: if something feels urgent, pause.
Don’t call a tech support number you found through a random search result. Don’t give someone remote access to your computer. Don’t click a link in an unexpected text or email.
Instead, go directly to the company’s website, open its official app or call the number printed on your statement or card.
AI voice cloning is another reason to be cautious. Consider having a family code word that only you and the people closest to you know. If someone calls claiming to be a loved one in an emergency, ask for it. Better yet, hang up and call that person back using a number you already know.
In the future, scams will become harder to spot. Knowing who is really contacting us will become more important than ever.
People tell me all the time that they’re getting too much spam. My first question is always: where is it going?
If it’s going into your spam folder, that’s actually good. Your email provider is doing its job.
If junk is making it into your inbox, report it as spam. If it’s from a legitimate company or mailing list you recognize, it’s generally safe to unsubscribe.
But don’t click an unsubscribe link in a completely unsolicited or suspicious email. That can sometimes confirm to the sender that your email address is active.
For even more privacy, look in your email settings for an option that blocks remote images. Some marketing emails contain tracking pixels that can tell the sender when you opened a message.
In the future, AI will make it easier than ever to flood our inboxes with content. Smarter filters will become increasingly important for protecting something valuable: our attention.
Apps love your location because location data can be valuable.
Start by deleting apps you don’t use anymore. Then review the permissions for the apps that remain, especially access to your location, camera, microphone and photos.
On an iPhone, you can review location access under Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services. On Samsung phones, look under Settings, Location, App permissions.
Use some common sense here. A maps app probably needs your precise location. A simple game probably doesn’t.
And when an app doesn’t need to know exactly where you are, consider giving it approximate location instead.
In the future, our devices will collect even more information about us. Privacy controls need to become much easier to understand and manage.
7. Clean up your photos
Our photo collections are a mess.
We take thousands of pictures and rarely go back through them. Then one day we run out of storage and wonder how it happened.
Make photo cleanup a habit. At the end of the day, week or month, go through what you’ve taken. Delete screenshots you don’t need, duplicates, blurry pictures and obvious mistakes.
Large videos are especially useful targets if you need to reclaim storage quickly.
Just remember that services like iCloud Photos sync your photo library. If you delete a picture on your iPhone, you can also be deleting it from your other devices.
There are apps that can help with cleanup, including Flic and Clever Cleaner, while Files by Google has useful cleanup tools on Android.
In the future, AI should make this much easier by automatically organizing our collections and helping us find the photos that actually matter.
8. Back up what matters
I get heartbreaking emails that basically say the same thing: “Rich, I lost everything. How do I get it back?”
Sometimes the answer is that you can’t.
The time to think about a backup is before your phone disappears or your computer fails.
Cloud storage is one option. An external hard drive is another. Windows has File History. Macs have Time Machine. You can even keep things simple and manually copy your most important files to another drive.
Whatever method you use, check it occasionally. Make sure the files are actually there and that you can open them.
I recently went through the process of making sure my own Google Photos collection was backed up. It took some work, but I felt a whole lot better when it was finished.
In the future, backups should become almost invisible. When a device is lost, stolen or fails, getting everything back should be easy.
9. Keep your devices updated
Phones, computers, apps, cars and smart home gadgets all run software now, which means they all need updates.
Updates fix security vulnerabilities, squash bugs and add new features.
I understand why people put them off. Updates sometimes move things around or change something you were perfectly comfortable with.
But don’t let that stop you from installing important updates.
Security threats keep changing, and your devices have to keep up.
In the future, as more everyday objects become connected, automatic updates will be essential to keeping them secure.
10. Be careful what you let AI do
This may be the biggest change coming next.
We’re moving from AI chatbots that answer questions to AI agents that can actually take action on our behalf.
Instead of asking a chatbot how to accomplish something, you’ll increasingly be able to give an AI a task and let it work on that task for you.
That can be incredibly useful, but it also means paying close attention to permissions.
Give an AI agent only the access it needs. Make sure it asks for your approval before sending messages, spending money or making important changes on your behalf.
AI is going to become an increasingly powerful personal assistant. The important part is making sure you remain in control.
And one bonus tip: get a digital photo frame
This is still one of my favorite pieces of technology and one of my favorite gifts.
Aura has been a longtime favorite of mine, and Amazon’s Alexa photo frame is another option I’ve been impressed with.
A digital frame takes all those pictures sitting unseen on your phone and puts them back into your life. Even better, you can send photos directly to a family member’s frame and keep it updated from anywhere.
For all the talk about artificial intelligence, robots and what technology will look like years from now, that’s ultimately the kind of future I want.
Simpler. Safer. More trustworthy.
Technology should require less troubleshooting and give us more time to actually enjoy our lives.
The best technology doesn’t just impress us. It’s useful, brings us closer together and maybe even makes us smile.
