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As we move through the decades of life, most of us eventually take on the task of downsizing—or at least housecleaning—our physical footprint. We cull our closets, sort through our libraries, dig into the cupboards, and let go of things that no longer suit our current life situations—or that the kids don’t want.
Lurking in our electronic devices, however, is a less visible but equally important task: digital housecleaning. Emails from years ago, endless photos and videos, and outdated documents clog up our computers and phones.
Apple is only too happy to support digital hoarding by increasing its monthly cloud storage fees to accommodate ever-larger digital footprints. That was a big motivation for me to get deleting one rainy weekend. It was high time to start cleaning up my cloud. After several afternoons hitting that delete button, I’m now paying just $1.14/month for extra cloud space.
While revisiting the past can be emotional—and time-consuming—it’s ultimately satisfying to sort through and reduce what has expired. What remains are the best of the photos, the most meaningful emails, and the most valuable documents.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Susan Albers-Bowling says digital clutter can trigger high levels of stress and anxiety.
“It’s just as toxic to your mental health as physical clutter can be.”
And who needs any additional stress these days?
So how do we keep what’s important—and move away from the urge to save every digital scrap?
Dedicating even a few hours can help you get started:
• Emails: Delete anything personal you haven’t looked at in the past two years, and anything that’s lost its relevance.
• Texts/Messages: Just delete them. Screenshot important bits instead of keeping entire threads.
• Photos: Use apps that remove duplicates—they can free up a lot of space. Many offer free one-week trials.
• Phone Contacts: Still holding onto the names of people who have passed—one way or another? Honour their memory in other ways.
• Apps: Ask yourself: Are you using it? If not, it’s just draining storage.
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