SAFE BY DESIGN · EPISODE 19

The Tablet Everyone Uses

Most homes have one device that belongs to nobody and everybody. The useful question is what it quietly holds on to.

At quarter to eight on a Monday, the family tablet had already done three jobs. It lives in a blue case against the fruit bowl, and nobody owns it, which means everybody does. Dev had checked the traffic on it. Tara's cooking video was still paused from yesterday. Now Arjun needed it for his online spelling worksheet.

He had typed three words when something slid down over the page: a new-email notice from Anita at Sunline Cafe, one of Riya's clients, sending menu proofs and asking for approval before lunch.

Arjun read it out loud, slowly. “Mumma, Anita wants you to approve the final file. Shall I press open?”

It was a kind offer. It was also the moment Riya remembered a note she had written weeks ago, on the afternoon of the free upgrade: sort out the tablet.