Ah summer time…where the living is easy – ya know, minus all the bills, the late hours at work even though your mouth is watering from the smell of BBQ next door, and the fact that you’re no longer in college and can spend summers getting your tan on.

Summer time… that wonderful season where beach trips, outdoor concerts, hikes and day drinking are a plenty and are appropriately squeezed into your busy schedule (mostly because various pop and country songs tell you that’s how you are supposed to be living). “Six-Pack Summer” by Phil Vassar anyone? No? Take a listen. 

So as you get ready to trade in fuzzy blankets for beach towels and Sauvignon Blanc for sangria, please do us all a favor and make sure you don’t commit one of these top five summer tech crimes.

Bringing Siri to the Beach

We get it. Siri is quite the gal. After all, she can give you directions to the beach, text your friends to let them know where you have set up camp, and tell you how to find a nearby hotdog stand. But do yourself and your fellow beachgoers a favor, and don’t save room in the car for Siri. Simply put, cell phones (along with screaming babies) do not belong at the beach.

A beach trip is a time to kick back, remove yourself from outside distractions (such as e-mail, BBM and Siri) and take in some much needed Vitamin D. Nobody near you wants to hear you blab to your mom about how unbearable the 100-degree weather is, and your fellow beach buddies would certainly like to have a real conversation with you without you frantically checking your phone every minute for the latest tweets (Wasn’t Snooki supposed to be at Jones Beach this weekend, like you?!). Relish the sun and remember a time when you were not so dependent on your right-hand lady.

Whipping Out the iPad at a BBQ

Alright, alright. It’s pretty cool you have an iPad, because let’s face it: you can manage every facet of your life from one single tablet. But I’m pretty sure I didn’t invite iPad to my summer BBQ. There is nothing worse than being that guy or girl at the Memorial Day or July 4th bash, frenetically searching for a spot with no sun glare to check the latest sports scores, respond to client emails or show party guests countless pictures of his/her adorable grandchildren. Trust us: all grandchildren are adorable and even if they aren’t we sure aren’t going to tell you that.

Even worse is the guy who starts a riveting discussion about politics, sports or science and decides to whip out his iPad to prove to a doubtful guest that “Mount Everest does indeed grow just over an inch every year.”

And don’t get us started on that individual whose chief job is to pontificate, talk about glory days and then whip out the tablet to show guests past accomplishments which are so meticulously documented in a slide show. The party is BYOB not BYOT (as in tablet), so leave that sun adversary at home.

Blasting Your Car Stereo While Stuck in Traffic

As anyone on the East Coast can corroborate – especially those that frequently make the drive to Long Island or the Hamptons – summer traffic can be brutal, and is only exacerbated by the fact that you are dying to enjoy a few hours of sun after being cramped in a natural light-deprived office cubicle for 60 hours a week. Actually it can be worse, especially when that jerk of a driver in the lane next to you is blasting … wait a minute this can’t be right, but oh yes it is… “Journey” at deafening sounds.

Just as there is train etiquette for those taking a commuter train to work each day – such as no talking on your cell in your seat during rush hour and no taking the middle seat when you can comfortably leave space between you and another passenger – there is highway etiquette in the summer as well when traffic is merciless and windows are wide open.

Please keep your volume at a reasonable sound. And if that’s difficult to do, roll up your windows, crank up the A/C and give others peace of mind on that time-suck of a drive.

Incessantly Tweeting/Facebooking Summer Clichés

Fine. You caught me. I did it when I started this article, but let’s set the record straight right now that continual tweets or Facebook status updates that read “Summer loving,” “Under the boardwalk,” “Southbeach, bringing the heat” or “It's a smile, It's a kiss, It's a sip of wine ... It's summertime” are beyond trite; they’re just annoying.

Kudos on being able to remember the lyrics to a Sublime song or being able to quote some of the greatest summer songs ever written, but naming Facebook photo albums after these songs and relentlessly posting these sayings is enough to make anyone de-friend or unfollow you.

And if you are that person who takes to Twitter and Facebook each millisecond of summer to document all your fun, from tweeting that you are in the Hamptons sunbathing to sending a status that you are stuck in traffic trying to get to a Jay Z concert, step away from your phone and keyboard. We are all out there enjoying summer and believe us, we know you are too. We don’t need hundreds of social media updates for us to rest assured that you are having an incredible summer season.

Watching TV, Playing Wii and Browsing eBay for Deals on Winter Equipment

Technology has done wonders for us during the winter time – a time when many of us would prefer to hibernate and drown our sun deficiencies in a batch of freshly baked brownies. In other words, tech gismos like Wii, Xbox, Netflix, satellite TV and sites like eBay, LivingSocial and Groupon have kept us from suffering from incurable boredom.

But now, the sun is out, seasonal depressions have waned and the outdoors offers a multitude of activities that don’t require you to have to use a browser, box or button. We can think of no greater crime than letting technology keep you indoors this summer so put the Wii behind the tennis racket, set your DRV and take it all outside. And the only deals you should be browsing online are for Bahamas getaways and horseback riding trails.

Are you an offender of any of the above summer tech crimes? Ah don’t sweat it; you join almost every member of the TMC team to some degree or another. But with summer still officially a few weeks away, here’s hoping you can avoid getting charged this season. Oh and here’s hoping the living really is easy this summer!