©InfoImagine you've just lost your mobile phone. What do you do next? Each year many thousands of people are faced with this sudden crisis. What can someone do now that will make life easier if it does happen? Think through the processes, drawing on the group’s past experiences. Create a checklist of actions to take or points to cover. For example:
- having the number to report it lost or stolen to the phone company
- knowing whether you have to pay for calls made from the lost or stolen phone
- backing up your contact numbers, photos and other personal data in more than one form
- knowing how to transfer data to a new phone (or back to an old one)
- knowing how to get your number transferred to a new phone
- knowing who else you need to tell
- knowing how to cope without a phone if there's a delay in getting a new one.
Think about emotional as well as practical issues. Some people struggle to cope with such a setback. What can you personally do now that will help you keep calm? Is it possible to change your attitude to your phone now, so you don't panic if you lose it? Talk about perspective.
Note that this exercise is all about coping if it happens. Preventive action – valuable though it is – is not the focus here.
The point of a checklist isn't just to draw it up. It needs to be followed. So once a checklist is devised be sure to work through it, taking action and checking off the items. Before the end of term, share what you have managed to do from the list.