#digital clutter

Then digital documents became all the rage. We were sold on the idea that going digital would save so many trees. Maybe it even did for a time. All the banks and government agencies and what-nots convinced us to sign up to receive digital copies instead of paper ones. Maybe some of them didn't even give us a choice. I didn't mind. I was on board. Keeping paper copies was cumbersome, took up physical space. 3-hole punching everything was tedious. Keeping paper in filing cabinets was so old-fashioned.

But I'm so over it!

Digital documents still take up space. Not physical space but space on my phone, in my email Inbox, on my external hard drive, in the "cloud". In my head! 🧠

Digital documents create digital clutter, except unlike physical clutter you don't see it. You're only aware of it when you get the dreaded "you have run out of space" message. I don't know about you but this state of constantly fighting to maintain a couple of gB of space gives me chronic low-level anxiety. That can't be good for my health.

And they said that digital documents would be searchable. They're not. They lied.

Plus, Idk, I'm just better with paper documents that I can physically handle and look at. I find it easier to look at and understand and do whatever mental work I am trying to do with the information on multiple sheets of physical paper, as opposed to trying to look at multiple windows of documents open on my computer screen. I'm not sure how to explain it but maybe you understand. It's the clicking and scrolling back and forth and losing the spot you're trying to look at that does my head in. Spreading the documents out on the kitchen table armed with a pen, highlighter and sticky tabs is so much easier for me 📑

It's well known that having a cluttered environment can make it much more difficult to focus and to complete tasks. Not to mention the overall negative effect on our health. But what about that same clutter coming from a digital device?

We've all felt that feeling of being "burned out" after spending hours working on our computer or even just scrolling on our phones. It's even worse when we have to work with multiple digital devices at once. Each having its own little way of interfacing with the outside world. Draining.

Then, we find ourselves mindlessly scrolling on one social media app, then we switch to the next, then the next. What about short-form videos? Email? Text messages?

We do this to numb ourselves. To bring ourselves some form of comfort. Despite this, these activities are doing nothing but damaging our psyches. Slowly eating away at our mental healthy and capacity.

How Digital Hoarding impacts our Health and the Environment [Infographic]

→ http://ecogreenlove.com/?p=14294

Digital hoarding, meaning letting our digital content pile up, can have negative consequences on our wellbeing, on our cybersecurity, and on the environment.

It’s time to look inward — in your inbox, cloud storage, desktop, phones, etc. — and ask yourself, “Am I a digital hoarder?” Consider the following points and also tips to declutter your digital life for the better.

How Digital Hoarding impacts our Health and the Environment [Infographic]

→ http://ecogreenlove.com/?p=14294

Digital hoarding, meaning letting our digital content pile up, can have negative consequences on our wellbeing, on our cybersecurity, and on the environment.

It’s time to look inward — in your inbox, cloud storage, desktop, phones, etc. — and ask yourself, “Am I a digital hoarder?” Consider the following points and also tips to declutter your digital life for the better.

How #DigitalHoarding impacts our Health and the Environment [Infographic] via @norton #digitalclutter #wellbeing #health #environment

Whether you hang onto items too long yourself or are a self-proclaimed neat freak, on some level we all have a relationship with clutter. Our captivation with the concept has even spun out a few franchises. Thanks to TLC’s “Hoarders,” the Marie Kondo craze, and “The Home Edit” frenzy, there’s no shortage of resources for how to tidy up our physical surroundings. But what about where we spend a…