When I hear the words spring cleaning, I imagine cleaning out my kitchen pantry, scrubbing the floor, and giving away old clothes that no longer serve me. I find decluttering to be very cathartic, and in a studio apartment, I am constantly in a state of decluttering. Adding in any new items into my space can make it feel cluttered. I have talked in the past on the benefits of the KonMari Method of decluttering from Marie Kondo, but what if you could apply the KonMari method to your digital self? I am talking about a digital spring cleaning!
If you are anything like me, your digital files can start piling up pretty quickly. On more than one occasion I have had someone walk up behind me while I am working, take one look at all the files on my desktop, and exclaim, “OH MY GOD HOW DO YOU WORK LIKE THAT?!” I am a bit of a digital hoarder, though this is usually more from laziness than an attachment to the files.
So this spring I am undertaking a new form of digital minimalism, cleaning up my digital self and making myself more organized. Here are my top tips for performing a digital spring cleaning.
Start with your phone
This is two-fold: decluttering the amount of content on the phone, as well as cleaning the actual phone itself. Seriously, when was the last time you cleaned your phone? Do you know how many germs are on here?! I like to use a UV sanitizer like this as an easy way to clean my phone on a daily basis.
Next, go through and clean out old phone numbers. Anthropologist Robert Dunbar states that each person can realistically only manage 150 relationships. If you are anything like me, you have been transferring your phone number between devices for over a decade. I have so many phone numbers on my phone that I will never speak to again. You probably don’t need every phone number that is currently clogging up your device. Use social media for the people whose lives you want to follow but you can’t imagine speaking to one-on-one.
Second, clean out old photos on your phone. I am incredibly guilty of never sorting through my photos. Heck, the POINT of taking photos is to document memories, but how often do I go back and look at them? Hint, the answer is very rarely. Now, this isn’t to say you should delete photos just because they are old. Instead, get rid of photos that ‘no longer bring you joy’ (ala Marie Kondo). You don’t need those 42 selfies you took when trying to get the angle just right, or all the screenshots you took but never revisited. Only keep things on your phone that are meaningful to you.
Clean your email inbox and bookmarks
Nothing stresses me out more than seeing 15,000 unread emails on the mail icon. Heck, I have 2 abandoned email addresses no longer use purely due to the amount of spam that was piling up and I didn’t want to clean out my mailbox. This is a problem.
One of my friends has an “Inbox 0” policy. She had multiple different folders in her inbox, and as soon as an email arrives she sorts it into its respective folder. Anything that isn’t important enough to be in a folder is deleted. If you want to start this, but ALREADY have thousands of emails you don’t want to sort through, create a “Historical” folder and put the mail in there and start from scratch. While you are at it, every time you get a piece of spam or a newsletter you no longer want to be a part of, hit “unsubscribe.” It may be daunting at first, but over time you can widdle down your inbox to the emails that are actually important.
While you are at it, tackle the bookmarks on your browser. Your interests evolve over time, and chances are you haven’t revisited those bookmarks from 7 years ago. Go through and delete those bookmarks you never plan to revisit.
Clean Your Desktop
Don’t be like me. My desktop is a constant menagerie of screenshots and folders which looks cluttered and can be anxiety-producing. Go through and clean out your desktop so when you open it up you have an organized workspace to maximize productivity.
Update Your Passwords
When is the last time you updated your passwords? In a world of hackathons and stealing people’s information, you do NOT want to use the same password for every account. Go through and update your passwords. As opposed to using similar passwords, I recommend using similar patterns. For example. always using a 10 digit code with the same numbers but varying the terminology per site. For instance for social media sites using SOCIal5821 and for email using EMAIl5821. Categorizing sites is a simple way to remember your password but still make it harder to be hacked.
Clean Your Social Media Profiles
This section is 3-fold:
Clean Your Friends List
How many people do you really need on your social media channels? Especially for Facebook, you probably don’t need 2,000 friends. Chances are you can’t even remember who some of these people are. For Facebook, cull the list to people who you value hearing from. Conversely, for sites like Instagram go through and unfollow people/pages you are no longer interested in. Your interests evolve and that is okay.
Clean Your Content
Go through and clean out old content. Employers often check social media channels before deciding to hire someone. Make sure these are no posts you would be embarrassed by if a future employer saw your page. If you have time, go a step further and curate your content in order to brand yourself for an external audience. If someone looks you up online, what is the image they are seeing?
Clean Your LinkedIn Profile
Not enough people use LinkedIn well. Go through and clean your profile and add details to your jobs (check out these tips!). If you have media and photos related to your past work experiences, add them to your profile to make yourself a more dynamic applicant.
Delete Unused Apps and Subscriptions
Have you ever gotten a bill from an app you forgot you subscribed to? This happens to me far more often than I would like to admit. Chances are you don’t need all the applicants on your phone. That app you downloaded at a party 2 years ago and haven’t used since? Delete it. Not only does this free up memory space on your phone, but it takes away unnecessary distraction and makes for a more positive user experience.
Set Your Digital Intentions
Digital Media can be addictive. Those dopamine boosts you get whenever someone likes your social media posts? Your brain is hardwired to crave affirmation, but digital media shouldn’t control your life. You set your limits
Take some time to set your digital intentions. I recommend doing a life audit to track how much time you are spending online and using that to guide you going forward. I love my phone, I listen to podcasts and audiobooks, have an online business, and I use it to connect with my friends and family. But make sure you are using your technology as a choice, as opposed to just a way to pass time,
Backup Your Computer
Last but not least….back up your computer. As someone who lost a significant chunk of their senior thesis by not backing up her computer, this is the hill I will die on. After you make all of these changes, go through and back up your phone and computer for some peace of mind.
What digital decluttering recommendations do you have? Let me know in the comments!
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