Saturday morning I turned on my laptop, to do the necessary things I had to do in the morning and after I finished the tasks I had for that day, I thought I'd look for a doc I saved as I needed that for my research. Looking though my folder, I had to realize I have so many things saved in there over time and didn't even realize they are there. At that point it was obvious that the only smart thing I could do was to take some time and clean the folder. So I started deleting, deleting, deleting and after 10 minutes, I got rid of 100s of screenshots, photos, collages, PDF files and so on. Those were outdated things I did not need anymore, but how could I know I did not need them, when I didn't even realize I had them.
Digital hoarding (also known as e-hoarding, e-clutter, data hoarding, digital pack-rattery or cyber hoarding) is defined by researchers as an emerging sub-type of hoarding disorder characterized by individuals collecting excessive digital material which lead to those individuals experiencing stress and disorganization. Digital hoarding takes place in electronic environments where information is stored digitally.
Several studies suggest the main influential factors of digital hoarding are related to a number of issues and personal reasons which includes reduced costs for storing data, individuals lacking time to curate accumulated data, the perceived lifespan of data and emotional attachment to digital assets. The studies conducted to examine digital hoarding are limited in scope as this is an emerging area of study. There is a lack of agreement among researchers about whether digital hoarding is a condition to be treated rather than a normal human activity. source
So the term digital hoarder exists, I knew that a long time ago and was thinking, am I a digital hoarder?
After going through the definition and reading up on what they mean by it, I can assure you, I'm not a digital hoarder. Hoarders are usually attached to their things and can't let go of them. I'm not like that, so I asked myself, how on earth I got myself in this situation? Why do I have so many digital things stored? And the answer is simple. This is also a form of procrastination. You download something as you think you need it, but then never make time to read it or study it. The classical and well known "later". But when is later? Later is when you make it happen, if you make it happen. If you don't make it happen, then later becomes never.
I was thinking of how we live these days. Everything is digitized, most of the things are automated, so we are storing a lot of data, one way or another. From confirmation emails to notifications, you name it. Not to mention the tons of garbage emails we get because some platforms are selling our details to third parties.
Do you ever go over the tons of garbage you are storing to make sure you get rid of the things you don't need? Do you delete emails you don't need anymore? Or store them for later, in case you need them?
What about bookmarks? 😂 Yeah, bookmarks! I had to realize I'm a bookmark hoarder on Twitter. I used to hate Twitter as it's a very toxic environment (especially crypto Twitter), but then I realized if you follow the right crowd and know how to avoid toxicity, something good can come out of it eventually.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not following the so called celebrities or influencers, to see what they are trying to force us to wear or what they think about how I have to wear my hair to be trendy. That is sheer stupidity and waste of time. But I like to follow a few people who seem to know what they are talking about and some news outlets too.
So after my folder cleaning, I thought it would be nice to go over my Twitter bookmarks and do a proper cleanup there too. Oh boy! I had to scroll through a lot of bookmarks and had to realize I have a bunch of threads I saved to learn from them later and never actually did. This is not hoarding, this is procrastination at the highest level and I'm not proud of it at all.
The thing is, being flooded with all kinds of notifications and not having proper data management, can backfire easily and fast.
Privacy. Absolute myth. No such thing.
Said Harrison Ford in Paranoia. Then later on, Lucas Till had a smart advice for him.
You should really trash your emails when you're done reading them.
Someone's always listening Jock. Always.
Tells Liam Hemsworth to Harrison Ford in the same movie, after the latter realizes he's been taped.
Today we witnessed a hack, which most likely caused some damage. It's not really clear how much yet, but some people most likely got hurt. With proper management, this should have never happened, but it happened.
As safety always comes first, no matter how busy you are, you should always make time to put things in order and do proper data management. This was a wake up call for me, so I made cleaning and evaluating things a priority. Space is limited anyway, so some cleaning and revising from time to time is welcome anyway.
So what about you? Are you a hoarder or an excessive bookmarker? Is your data safe? Do you trash the emails you don't need anymore? I'm not going to ask about further cleaning as that's too technical, but you most likely know what I mean.
If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:
- Communities Explained - Newbie Guide
- Cross Posting And Reposting Explained, Using PeakD
- Hive Is Not For Me
- How To Pump Your Reputation Fast - Newbie Guide
- Tips And Tricks & Useful Hive Tools For Newbies
- More Useful Tools On Hive - Newbie Guide
- Community List And Why It Is Important To Post In The Right Community
- Witnesses And Proposals Explained - Newbie Guide
- To Stake, Or Not To Stake - Newbie Guide
- Tags And Tagging - Newbie Guide
- Newbie Expectations And Reality
