Digital spaces can be likened to physical ones as in our homes. We spend so much time in them, yet we deliberately need to make time to attend to their upkeep. Corners might be full of clutter; drawers are disorganized; and our deliberate cleaning often leads to the purging of things we no longer use or need.
Just as a cleaner home does a lot of good for everyday life, a decluttered digital space results in many benefits, too. It affords us a chance to secure our online presence, organize our electronic files, and clear online space for content we truly need. The task can feel overwhelming just by looking at the files on your desktop. But won’t organized files save you time and increase your productivity? The beginning of 2025 is a good occasion to commence your digital decluttering process. Check out our suggestions below.
- Downloads review. Open this folder and see if it has files you downloaded in 2022 or even earlier. How about similar file names that end with different version numbers? The Downloads folder can contain really heavy files. Review these by date, relevance, size, and file name. If you have the habit of repeatedly downloading regular work templates that are often used but hard to locate, this digital decluttering task can be a good start for you.
- Unsubscribe. Whether you have 6,000 or six unread e-mails, the chances of receiving one you do not need are high. There are e-mails from specific senders you never really read or notifications you do not really pay attention to. Unsubscribing from e-mail subscription lists can be a tedious process. Some companies require you to answer questions before they let you go. Some links to unsubscribe do not fully load right away so you would give up and not cut ties with the sender. But receiving e-mails from one to two companies can make a big dent in your goal to reclaim your inbox and free up valuable space.
- Less versions of you. Just how many accounts do you have on Facebook? Do you really have to have three, as there are posts only for family, for work, and that account you can’t even remember? Reducing your online presence can lead to fewer notifications (and distractions). Decide what you really want to maintain and use the security settings to manage what content can be seen by whom.
- Apps you don’t tap. Inspect your phone’s array of apps. We’re pretty sure that you can identify at least one game or productivity app you no longer use. Free up that real estate! Securely delete apps by ensuring all your data stored in the app is removed as well, advises Brooke Nelson Alexander of readersdigest.com. In her interview with experts for the article “Deleting an App? Do These 3 Things First—or Risk Getting Hacked,” she tells readers to find the option to delete stored data in the options under privacy, account settings, or security. If you are unable to find these, contact the company directly and express in writing that you want your data deleted and receive a confirmation when it’s done. Alexander also distinguishes the options for removing apps: deleting apps from home screens keeps them in your app library, while deleting an app directly gets rid of it from your device.
- Dig deeper. Folders can be deceiving. Opening these gives an opportunity to part with files that are too old, too heavy, and really outdated. Establish a system to organize files through their names by including dates, department names, or functions. And please finally bless “New Folder,” “New Folder 1,” and “New Folder 2” with names. It will save you time when you are looking for their content later on.
Too many to mention. Let’s face it: We have just too many photos, videos, notes, and voice recordings we need to purge from our devices. This is the time to reflect on just how many selfies you want to keep, or look for videos accidentally recorded because you pressed the record button by mistake. It’s time to accept that a couple of notes on your phone contain a single letter or phrase, or that you took screenshots to serve as reminders of errands or products you wanted to buy. Creating space will help you assess if you truly need a new external drive, more cloud storage space, or a new phone with bigger storage.