Managing digital clutter is the next big challenge, especially for productivity. Tech transforms our everyday digital lives. We post and save many details about our lives online. But when clutter accumulates, we lack the tools and education to manage it properly. Not addressing it can have unwanted consequences, leaving us feeling unhappy and vulnerable due to a lack of control — it turns out that 77% (from 1000 sample size) of American adults feel this way and know it’s an underlying issue.
Not knowing where your files are or what you’ve already shared (and accidentally shared) can have many repercussions for productivity and mental well-being. Managing digital clutter can be stressful if you don’t know where to start, what tools you have available to help, or when it’s become a problem/you don’t know how to fix it. That’s where tech comes into play, but with so many options and paywalls behind helpful tools and services, finding the right solution to manage it becomes challenging and all the while more confusing when you have multiple devices, like a handy Chromebook, tablet, computer, or phone, that require decluttering. Most importantly, you should understand what you can do and how tech can/can’t help us.
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What are the main consequences of digital clutter?
Digital clutter leads to many issues with productivity, well-being, and even hardware/software quality. When you leave it unchecked, there are consequences you should expect to face, the common ones being:
- Enables digital hoarding
- Adds to decision fatigue
- Brings distractions and stress to the virtual workspace
- Takes time and money to deal with it
- Cybersecurity risks
- Impedes device performance
Not addressing digital clutter could lead to mistakes
Source: Pixabay
When you allow your virtual workspace to pile up, it’s easy to create duplicate folders and outdated documents with similar names, taking up space. Unfortunately, sending the wrong one can be consequential. Imagine working with a sensitive data pool; the file you sent to your colleague to analyze it was outdated or incorrect. It’s an embarrassing mistake, but it can also cost time and money for your organization to correct. Not addressing digital clutter can slow you down, making you unhappy with your productivity output.
It’s mentally taxing to sort through disorganized files
Decluttering takes a lot of time and effort (especially if you manually do this yourself), and it becomes more difficult if you have clutter built on multiple devices. Spending too much time sorting a large number of files can hinder your productivity, causing decision fatigue. Eventually, this leads to procrastination behaviors — or making poor decisions (a common consequence of decision fatigue) about what we should or shouldn’t keep.
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Decluttering your digital mess requires a routine
One leading cause of digital clutter is digital hoarding. Digital hoarding is a serious issue. According to BBC, digital hoarding is defined as:
“accumulation of digital files to the point of loss of perspective, which eventually results in stress and disorganisation”
It’s sometimes described as a subtype of hoarding disorder, but most of all, it stems from the idea that deleting something could make us anxious. You will often see this behavior when people feel stressed about deleting their emails, resulting in filled inboxes. One of the best ways to tackle this issue is simply to do it before it goes out of control. That mainly requires setting aside time and creating a routine (choosing specified days or setting up a biweekly/monthly schedule to clean out every active device). In this situation, tech can make this process more manageable, but it still can’t do it all for you — you still have to select what’s important/worth keeping and plan around it.
Source: Lucas Gouveia/Android Police | Davidovici/Shutterstock-Pixelsquid/Shutterstock
With so many third-party apps requiring a subscription plan, selecting which option is right for you can be overwhelming. If you are looking for cloud storage, you must also be careful about choosing your storage plan, simply because it’s tempting to sweep the problem under the rug if you pay for it.
Otherwise, consider cost-saving solutions to confront the issue, like setting up automatic filters for spam emails, using password management tools to keep your passwords in one secure place, limiting the apps you use, and cleaning up duplicate files, temporary files, and general bookkeeping of what’s being shared. It’s a lot of work, but it’s not so bad if you set up a schedule and use a task manager for assistance. Improving our habits goes a long way, and tech helps get us there once we’ve picked the right tools.
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How to delete old files, apps & media on your Android phone
Want to free up some storage space and declutter your phone? Here’s how you can get rid of all the junk
It’s a cybersecurity risk when you don’t know what you left unprotected
Whether you realize it (or not), you could have duplicates of personal files lying on your desktop and cloud storage folder, which may include written passwords, saved accounts, and unencrypted emails/messages containing personal info like your phone number, where you live, and family details. Anyone with unauthorized access could copy this information. The worst part is that you might be oblivious about things you’ve shared because they’re now hidden behind your digital mess.
Cybercriminals have become better at stealing information. You see this with believable phishing scams and AI-generated content to make threats untraceable for the victim. Even if you are careful, you can still be exploited. For example, unsecured websites you visit and share information with can become compromised — which means you could become a victim of a data breach/leak. You raise those risks when you stop keeping track and use the same password and email for multiple accounts or repeat the cycle by signing up for more services and sharing even more information.
It’s also easy to lose track if you don’t manage everything yourself. Losing track of what you put out there — even documents you upload, shared links, public access to photos, and conversing with AI chatbots — can become problematic. This can happen if you leave digital clutter unchecked and forget what you’ve left out in the open by not dejunking unprotected documents and removing old accounts.
Start by managing your virtual workspace
The answer isn’t to continuously buy a new phone or hard drive to store more files. Nor do we need to upgrade our storage plans to keep old files sitting there for years. If you are tired of the notification spam and junk files found on your system, you can be proactive and clean it. Once you’ve decluttered your device from all the distractions, consider setting up a separate, isolated profile containing only work-related content. That way, you can remove your personal data and have better control over it.
