Technology Decluttering

When we think of decluttering, we typically gravitate to the obvious, what we can see. While this is all and well, we also should be considering our technology and decluttering our digital lives. It is shocking how built up and full our inboxes, storage and albums can get. Especially for those who travel, have social lives, and especially those of us with kids! Why take one photo when you can take 15! We are all trying to get that perfect shot, yet we tend to forget to sort out the others that didn’t quite make the cut.

Here are some ideas to consider cleaning up and decluttering your digital life.

Unsubscribe from email lists.

Ever wonder why you always seem to have a bunch of emails that go unread? It is because we are usually subscribed to so many unnecessary email lists. From promotional emails for businesses, to stores offering the latest sales to new product launches and just straight up spam. Take a moment to try and sort through your emails and see what you actually want to be subscribed to. This can also help with budgeting. If we don’t see that store is having a sale, we are less likely to all of a sudden “need” to take advantage of it. Personally, I have had to train myself to only shop when I need something, so seeing my favourite stores having sales, (a little too often might I add) doesn’t help my urge to go back to my shopaholic ways.

Clear out photos. In Snapchat too.

Our phones only have so much space to house our ever growing photo albums. And iCloud seems to be more limited on what is available to store for free, and now there are subscription options to expand this space. Minimum once a month, some of us need to try to do this weekly, clear off your phone. Put things on a hard drive or large USB stick to ensure your memories don’t get lost or accidently deleted. The more often we do this, the less difficult it becomes with things being copied or duplicated, creating even more of a hassle with storing and sorting. And don’t forget about other apps like Snapchat that store all of your more silly and embarrassing memories that we might rather forget about.

Unfollow those who don’t bring you joy.

This one can be tricky, because sometimes those who don’t bring us joy, were friends or even family members. There are options to mute these individuals, or truly, who cares, just unfollow them. Social media is already such a toxic space that we should be using them for inspiration and enjoyment, rather than witnessing negativity or simply getting annoyed. The braggadocios ones will likely never change, so move on. I try to do a follow review every few months to see if I truly enjoy who I am following, and it’s refreshing to clean out the whiney or cringe accounts.

Clean off your desktop. Move files to drives.

When I had an office job, I was constantly working on numerous tasks at the same time. When I was actually needing quick access to these things, I saved them to my desktop so everything was right there in front of me. But as I completed these tasks or they were no longer needing to be in my face, I filed them away in organized file folders. This has now transferred to my home business filing system and the many family photo albums I keep saved digital copies of.

Sort and file emails.

Admit it, as we all have done it, you open an email and read the contents and then move on. And that email sits in your inbox….forever! I, for one, love a clean inbox with zero unread emails. It stems back to my corporate days where email was the main form of communication and I had to stay on top of my inbox to monitor and manage my team and daily tasks. I would feel unaccomplished and still do, if I have unread messages. While I may be a bit extreme with this, a weekly clean up of your inbox is not impossible and starting a new week with a fresh, clear inbox will never not feel good.

Turn off notifications from apps.

Unnecessary app notifications are the most distracting thing to hit our smart phones. Reminders are one thing, but do you really need to see every time someone comments on something, especially on the things you’re not even associated with? Notifications can easily be turned off, but can also get as detailed as being notified for every little useless thing. Do yourself a favor and be very selective on what prompts your attention.

We are living in a digital age where we are easily distracted from what is actually happening around us. Let’s do ourselves a solid and limit, where we can, what we allow technology to steal our time from.

Melanie xoxox