Like most people today, you no doubt use a mobile device as part of everyday life. You might use your smartphone for everything from communication with friends and family to online shopping. You might use a tablet for workplace operations, gaming, or other purposes. If you use a mobile device out in public, though, you risk one particular issue: damaging your device.

Dropping a smart device in the street is almost certain to cause some kind of mechanical fault. If you have ‘butter fingers’ and spend a fair amount of time dropping your phone, investing in an anti-shock screen protector like this could go a long way to resolving the issue(s) faced. But like many additional support utilities, many ‘anti shock’ protectors provide little to no security.

Many times, these shields provide minimal protection from impact damage. For example, it might only protect the body of the device. This might mean that the glass – the most likely part of a smart device to break upon impact – is still liable to be damaged. That naturally means you might have a more secure body, meaning fewer performance issues, but a bare screen that runs the risk of damage.

That is important to note, too, because there is a difference between a shock screen protector and a shock body protector.

What is more important? The body or the screen?

If you invest in a body protector, then it means that dropping your device is less likely to cause performance jolts. Drop any kind of hardware often enough, and parts inside are liable to become broken, loose, and lacking in efficiency. This can lead to issues like the smart device not working properly, failing to load entirely, or being extremely slow to use.

Yes, this can be annoying – but most smart devices today are designed to be more robust than ever. This is unlike an old CD music player, where even dropping it once can lead to music skipping and the CD reader breaking. By contrast, though, while the smart device is designed to be durable, they are often designed with glass that is easy to smash.

A broken glass screen might not inhibit performance speed, but it will limit how you can use your device. It might mean that part of the screen is not visible or that the phone becomes a usage hazard due to sharp glass.

With that in mind, having a glass-based screen protector is a more sensible choice. This is much more likely to ensure that the glass does not shatter.

Factor this into the price of repairing glass on a phone screen. This can be far more expensive than having basic body damage repaired. In terms of pure savings and longevity, it makes sense to use an anti-shock screen protector over an anti-shock body protector.

In terms of whether or not they work, though, it depends on the quality. In screen protection, if you buy cheap, you will most likely have to buy twice. Pay a little more for a quality protector, though, and you are far less likely to run into a damaged phone screen that costs you usage, time, and money.