Guide to Digital Decluttering
By: Míša Loumová
Tags: Decluttering, Digital, Minimalism, Productivity

Our path to minimalism usually starts with decluttering our material belongings. But what about your digital track?

Photo by Adrià Tormo on Unsplash

We are spending much, actually too much time online. (If you don’t believe me, check your screentime of the last week right now.) And it won’t help you to get a clearer mind sitting in a minimalistic black and white room with no deco on your desk while having thirty tabs open (omg, where is this music coming from?!) and storing thousands of selfies on your device from the good old days when you were 13.

As wannabe minimalists, we want to consume less. We are trying to buy less. And when we buy something, it should be of good quality and last for long. Let’s try to reflect that also in our behavior online — to consume less and focus on high-quality content in our digital environments.

1. Social media

Are you familiar with the Konmari method? This method is used to declutter your material belongings based on the question “Does it spark joy?”.

Think about what social media actually brings you joy. A real, pure joy. Which puts you in a good mood and where you can laugh. Where you are not coming back to count the likes you got and how many people viewed your post.

Have you identified such a social media platform? Great, keep using it. If not, it probably doesn’t add any value to your life, right?

2. Consumption

In our minimalist journey, we are trying to consume less. To own fewer things, so we can focus on the important parts of our lives. To have more time to spend with our friends and on our own. To become more creative.

Think about your consumption behavior online. Are you watching three YouTube videos while eating breakfast, listening to a few podcasts while commuting, checking your Instagram feed while sitting on the toilet, and finishing the day with some Netflix series?

It sounds like a digital version of over-consumption, doesn’t it?

Think about the following — which of these activities do add value to your life and which of them only distract you from things that are really important to you? Let’s declutter our accounts, subscriptions, and email newsletters.

Photo by Ugur Akdemir on Unsplash

3. Applications

Now we will focus on the software we use. This point is not any different from the two previous points. Have a look at your devices and check how many applications you have installed. How many of them do you use on daily basis?

Have you ever downloaded and installed an app that you never used? Do you really need three different apps for photo editing? Do you still have that public transportation app of a city you have been to one year ago?

And by the way… How many tabs do you have open in your browser right now?

4. Notifications

Now, when you decided which apps you would like to keep — think about which of these applications should have the privilege of screaming at you. Which of them are allowed to get your attention whenever something happens?

Are likes really so important that they can interrupt you in whatever you are doing? Do you need to know immediately when a clothing piece you saved as a favorite is on sale?

Set your priorities. Navigate to the application settings and decide which notifications you will allow.

5. Storage

Okay, this one is hard. Yes, I’m guilty of this one. I do indeed own external storage containing a mess. A huge mess. Folders with hundreds of selfies where I picked only one to post. Blurred photos of everyday things that my thirteen years old self took thinking they were artistic. Movies in bad quality. Even some school documents? To be honest? No idea.

If this one sounds like a lot of work, you can start with small steps — go through the pictures you saved on Instagram or through your browser bookmarks.

Keep the valuable links, funny photos, or some beautiful mementos. Let’s get rid of the useless stuff.

6. Contacts

Let’s have a look at your contact list. Are there any numbers you will probably never contact again? Facebook friends you don’t know or you won’t chat with? What about old WhatsApp groups that have been created only for a one time purpose?

The same method can be used for the accounts you follow on social media. Make it a place where you want to be — get rid of negative vibes or people who have triggered you and disrupt your peace of mind. There is no need to follow them.

Photo by Shashank Sahay on Unsplash

7. Projects

This last point affects all the content creators and creatives between us. (This issue is also very well known to software developers — most of us have more or less private repositories on GitHub with old code we forgot about.)

Do you still keep the materials of failed or uncompleted projects? Be absolutely honest with you — will you ever continue working on that thing? If not, you already know what you should do.