Small StepsRecently I’ve been working to declutter both my physical and digital items. One thing that travel reminds us of is that we don’t need as much stuff as we think day-to-day. It’s easy to slide back into old habits when you return home. Falling into the latest trends, fast fashion, and indulgence. But I really want to fight against that as my sabbatical is coming to an end. I don’t want to bring clutter into the next stage of my life.
To start, I sorted physical items, such as clothes, electronics, and random things I’ve collected over the years. But eventually it was time to tackle the digital mess from the last decade.
What is a Digital Declutter?
A digital declutter is the process of organizing and tidying up your digital life. This is done by removing unnecessary files, apps, emails, subscriptions, and other digital clutter that can accumulate over time. It’s essentially a spring cleaning for your computer, phone, and other devices.
Why is a Digital Declutter Important?
Improve Organization & Productivity: A digital declutter can help improve your organization and productivity. Come up with a file storage system that works well for you. Then you’ll always know where a file should be and where to put future relevant data.
Reduce Storage Space: In the process you’ll increase your storage space. This will save you the money and hassle of buying additional storage space either through a subscription or physical hard-drives.
Reduce Stress: Eliminate digital clutter – particularly those pesky files all over your desktop. This gives you a fresh and clean environment to work and focus.
What I’ve Discovered during my Digital Declutter
One thing I noticed while decluttering – and truthfully – even on my trips. Is that I take way too many pictures. I’ll see a tree that I like or a flower, I’ll take 20 shots of the same mountain top. I ultimately know why I do this. I’m trying to preserve the memory since I’m worried I won’t remember much of my trips at all. I have memory problems already and feel like I easily forget pieces of my trips or places that I’ve been. So I know that I take these pictures as a precautionary act of preservation.
However, while going through these photos – so many of them are meaningless. Yes, I may have thought the flowers looked really pretty in the park. But, I don’t need 5 pictures of them. I found this trend occurring over and over with thousands of pictures being removed from my camera roll. The same thing with screenshots I took of my itinerary. Boarding passes, and random articles or Reddit posts I thought were helpful or agreed with.
During my declutter I got rid of anything that I found for validation when in a negative headspace. Organized screenshots with travel locations I was interested in for the future, and deleted all logistical items that were no longer needed. My camera roll went down over 20GB through this process so far. But I have a lot more to go!
It got me thinking – how do I live in the moment and stop taking so many photos – and why do we take so many pictures to begin with?
Why do we take so many Pictures?
Smartphones with high-end cameras make it easier than ever and extremely convenient to take pictures whenever we want. On top of that – we don’t have limited film to worry about that requires more intentional shots. The limited storage space we have is plentiful and we can easily purchase more at the click of a button. Add social media and the culture of sharing. FOMO and validation-seeking and we have the perfect recipe for heavily documented lives. Others may pursue more creative endeavors or take pictures for their business and marketing. No matter what their purpose, it’s easy to drown in the hundreds of thousands of pictures and moments we capture of our lives if we don’t learn how to live life with intention.
How do I Live in the Moment?
Oftentimes I feel like I’m having so much fun what I want to experience it again in a photo or video. But then I focus so much on taking photos that I experience it through my phone lens. Instead of with my eyes as I’m so fixated on taking the perfect shots. I also feel sometimes I’m building up the moment more when doing this. But the camera can only capture so much. The most beautiful sunsets, the northern lights, the great barrier reef – my camera doesn’t do them justice. Excluding professional and hobby photographers here.
Fixating on Capturing the Moment
At one point, I was beating myself up over the fact I didn’t bring a go pro with me to the great barrier reef. Instead I have mediocre pictures from my phone taken in a water-proof bag. But at the end of the day it’s the experience that matters and not the pictures I took of it. Eventually, I might forget some specific moments – and a picture may help to remind me and bring me back to that moment.
But if I’m so fixated on those pictures – I won’t really be experiencing the moment. So that alone makes it harder to remember! As with anything in life, it’s all about balance. What I have realized is the best way to live in the moment is to put my phone away. Slow down and take in the sights, smells and feelings of where I am. If I want to take a picture – I will – but leave it to only a couple. I don’t need 50 pictures for every thing I do and everything I see. I know that can be easier said then done. Trust me. But on my next trip I want to be more intentional with what I save in my mind and my digital mind. This way the most important moments can be remembered and documented.
How can you start your Digital Declutter?
I would start with whatever is the easiest or most interesting for you to get started. Like Marie Kondo, leave anything sentimental or full of memories to the end. A common place to start would be at the aforementioned desktop. That is an immediate gratification once you are done and see your unobstructed background image again.
Getting Started: Delete unused files on your desktop and organize anything without a home into folders. I’d recommend leaving your recycle bin “full” for at least a few days in case you deleted something by mistake.
Clean up your Email
Unsubscribe & Organize your Inbox: Another simple process is unsubscribing from unwanted or forgotten email lists. Some services will help you with this. Gmail also has a button that comes in handy to unsubscribe from most with ease. Other emails you may need to open and scroll all the way to the bottom to find the unsubscribe link.
Next up – and this can be daunting – work on sorting your emails. I like to sort by date or sender. Then bulk delete any marketing emails, while moving any personal emails into their proper folders.
Tackle The Big Hitters
Clean up your phone: Delete unused apps, organize photos and videos, and clear out your text messages. This can take some time! So do this when you would otherwise be browsing the web or scrolling social media.
I like to write out the years and months I have for all the photos on my phone. For instance, my Google photos is 2016-2024. So I will be 1-12 for each year on a notepad. Then go through a month at a time and cross it off my list. It helps me see what I have gone through and feel a sense of accomplishment as I cross off each month. As I said, I take way too many pictures, so it takes me a long time to sort them. But I know in the end I’m not going to miss a picture of a tree with a cool branch.
Review your social media: Unfollow accounts you don’t engage with, delete old posts, and streamline your online presence. This helps to bring more control over what you engage with and let into your life and mind. Our interests evolve over time so it’s likely you aren’t as interested in the same content you used to be.
Clean up your Cloud
Clean up your cloud storage: Delete unnecessary files and organize your cloud storage for easy access. This can also save you some money on any storage subscription packages you may have.
Back up important files: Before deleting anything, make sure you have a backup of important documents and photos. Pay attention to recommendations for holding onto financial files and keep anything you are on the fence about. You can always declutter again in the future. For example, my student loans were paid off almost a decade ago. But I like to keep the “paid in full” confirmations just in case! I worked hard for those!
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, I learned a valuable lesson while sorting through a decade of the snapshots from my life. It is that I can appreciate the moments I felt were worthy of capturing because they brought me joy. But that I don’t need to carry each moment of happiness with me into the future. My past happiness and moments of joy don’t all require thorough documentation as if happiness is a limited resource. Instead, I want to be more intentional with the moments I do capture. The special ones or places – that I can look back on and appreciate. Reduce the never-ending scrolling through moments and hyper-fixation on a perfect capture. Instead, experiencing the trip and enjoying the moment as it is in front of me (with a picture here-and-there).
I hope you will also take steps towards a digital declutter and towards finding your balance between capturing moments and living them. For more content like this, check out my blog.