Millions of people are doing Dry January right now.
They're cutting the one thing they know isn't good for them because they want to feel better, work better, and stop pretending “I’ll start Monday” is a real plan.
Your school has a Dry January list too.
It’s just made of technology habits instead of cocktails.
And your staff knows exactly which ones they are. Everyone knows they’re risky or inefficient. Everyone still does them because “it’s fine” and “we’re busy.”
Until it’s not fine.
Here are six bad tech habits to quit cold turkey this month — and what to do instead.
Habit #1: Clicking “Remind Me Later” on Updates
That little button has caused more school tech problems than any hacker ever could.
No one wants a device rebooting during class. We get it.
But those updates don’t just add features. They patch security holes the bad guys are actively exploiting.
“Later” turns into weeks. Weeks turn into months.
And now your teacher laptops, office computers, and student devices are all running software with known vulnerabilities.
When cyberattacks hit schools, this is often why.
WannaCry?
It crippled organizations worldwide — including educational systems — because victims hadn’t installed a patch released two months earlier.
Quit it:
Schedule updates for after school hours or let your IT partner push them automatically.
No interruptions. No surprises. No unlocked doors for attackers.
Habit #2: The One Password That Works Everywhere
Every school has at least one staff member with a favorite password.
It “meets requirements.” It feels strong. It works everywhere:
- Student information systems
- Curriculum platforms
- Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
- The PTA fundraising site
- That random education webinar login from 2021
Here’s the reality:
Data breaches happen constantly.
That random site from three years ago?
Its password database got leaked, and now your username/password combo is being sold online.
Hackers don’t have to guess your SIS password.
They already have it.
They just try it everywhere and wait for something to open.
This is called credential stuffing, and it’s one of the top attack methods targeting schools right now.
Quit it:
Use a password manager. LastPass, 1Password, Bitwarden — pick one.
You remember one strong master password. It remembers everything else.
Setup: a few minutes
Benefits: enormous
Habit #3: Sharing Passwords Over Text or Email
“Hey, can you send me the login for the shared account?”
“Sure! It’s admin@school.org, password is ReadingRocks2024!”
Sent via:
- Text
- Slack
- Teams
- Sticky notes
Problem solved in 30 seconds.
Except… now that message lives forever:
- In inboxes
- In backups
- In archives
- In screenshots
- In places no one remembers
If a single staff email account gets compromised, an attacker can search for:
“password”
“login”
“admin”
…and instantly collect everything.
Quit it:
Use the secure sharing feature inside your password manager.
People get access without seeing the actual password.
You can revoke access anytime.
If you must share manually, do it across two different channels and change it immediately afterward.
Habit #4: Making Everyone an Admin Because “It’s Easier”
Someone needed to install something once.
A teacher needed to adjust a setting.
An office staff member needed temporary access to a tool.
Instead of setting proper permissions, you simply made them an admin.
Now half the staff has full admin rights because “it was easier.”
Admin access means people can:
- Install software
- Disable security tools
- Change critical settings
- Delete important files
And if their account is ever phished?
The attacker gets all of those privileges too.
Ransomware loves admin accounts.
Quit it:
Use the principle of least privilege:
People get access to exactly what they need — no more.
A few minutes setting roles now prevents weeks of disaster recovery later.
Habit #5: “Temporary” Fixes That Became Permanent
Something broke years ago.
You found a workaround.
“We’ll fix it later.”
It’s now 2024, and that workaround is:
“How we do things around here.”
Maybe it takes three extra steps.
Maybe everyone has to remember the trick.
Maybe only one staff member knows how to reset it if it fails.
Temporary fixes become permanent problems.
And they don’t scale.
They don’t survive turnover.
They don’t survive software updates.
They definitely don’t survive summer upgrades.
Quit it:
Just make a list of every workaround your staff uses.
You don’t have to fix it — if you could have, you already would have.
Give the list to us.
We’ll fix them permanently and save your staff a huge amount of lost time and frustration.
Habit #6: The Spreadsheet That Runs Your Entire School
You know the one.
- Twelve tabs
- Hidden columns
- Formulas that look like alien languages
- No one fully understands how it works
- The person who built it retired in 2021
If that file corrupts… what’s Plan B?
If the one person who “knows its quirks” leaves… then what?
That spreadsheet is a single point of failure wearing a school hoodie.
And spreadsheets don’t:
- Have audit trails
- Handle multiple users well
- Provide real backups
- Scale with growing enrollment
- Play nicely with other systems
Quit it:
Document what the spreadsheet actually does — not the formulas, but the school processes it manages.
Then migrate to actual tools built for the job:
- SIS modules
- Resource scheduling tools
- Classroom management systems
- Inventory tools
- Proper databases
Spreadsheets make great tools.
They make terrible platforms.
Why These Habits Are So Hard to Break
You already knew most of these weren’t great ideas.
You’re not careless.
You’re busy.
Schools run at full speed.
Technology shortcuts happen because:
- The consequences stay invisible until they’re catastrophic
- The “right” way feels slower in the moment
- Everyone else is doing the same thing
- Good habits require setup; bad habits require none
Dry January works because it creates awareness.
This is the same thing — but for school technology.
How Schools Actually Break These Habits (Without Relying on Willpower)
Schools don’t succeed by “trying harder.”
They succeed by changing the environment so the easy thing is the safe thing.
For example:
- Password managers eliminate insecure sharing
- Updates get pushed automatically
- Admin rights are controlled centrally
- Workarounds get replaced with real solutions
- Critical spreadsheets get migrated to proper systems
The right habits become automatic.
The wrong habits get designed out of the workflow.
That’s what a good IT partner does:
They don’t tell you what not to do — they build systems that make the right thing effortless.
Ready to Quit the Tech Habits Quietly Holding Your School Back?
Book a School Tech “Bad Habit Audit.”
In just 15 minutes, we’ll learn about your school, identify the habits causing the biggest issues, and give you a roadmap to eliminate them for good.
No judgment.
No jargon.
Just a cleaner, safer, faster, calmer school year.
Schedule your 15-minute discovery call here
Because some habits really are worth quitting cold turkey.
And January is a great time to start.
