The COVID-19 pandemic has increased people's dependence on the internet. Referring to the We Are Social report, there were 204.7 million internet users in Indonesia as of January 2022. This number increased 1.03 percent compared to the previous year.
The increasingly massive use of the internet has an impact on increasing digital waste. Accumulating digital waste can sometimes make you feel cramped and irritated because it can reduce the speed of your device. So, if that's the case, then it's time for you to do digital decluttering.
Digital decluttering means cleaning our devices or gadgets, such as computers, cellphones, tablets and others, from all applications and files that are no longer needed. Apart from that, digital decluttering can also be done by deleting browser history, deleting data in applications, and arranging the documents or applications you have so that they are neatly arranged.
Digital decluttering generally aims to make the performance of electronic devices more optimal so that it has an impact on increasing a person's productivity. Then, more broadly, digital decluttering is important to do because it will bring a number of benefits such as the following:
- Increase storage space by deleting unimportant files.
- Eliminates distractions when you are focused on work, such as messy files.
- Helps users find files more easily because they have been neatly arranged beforehand.
- Indirectly, it has a good psychological impact on a person.
How to Do Digital Decluttering
Minimalist living specialist writer, Courtney Carver, shares tips for doing digital decluttering effectively and efficiently. Cleaning is carried out regularly with various different agendas.
1. Digital Decluttering Every Week
Seeing a messy desktop when you start work can affect your mood throughout the day. Therefore, save all files in one folder on the desktop.
Backing up files in cloud- based storage will help reduce the risk of losing files that you consider important. Apart from that, it also makes it easier for you to share files with other people.
Various emails may come in every day and some of them require a reply on the spot. So, for the rest, you can respond or delete them once a week. You can also unsubscribe from unimportant emails.
This will avoid a pile of emails on your account which can make it difficult for you to receive emails because the memory is full and difficult to find important emails because of a messy inbox .
This step is quite simple but is often overlooked. However, deleting files in the trash directly will increase storage space. Because files that go to the trash will only be completely deleted in the next 30 days.
Stay away from all digital activities 24 hours a week or if you find it difficult you can start with half a day. This will help you to think about how you use your device during this time and what improvements can be made.
To be more aware of the use of your gadgets and devices during this time and avoid dependence, you can try taking time off from your gadgets and devices, you know! Avoid digital activities for half the day, for example, and do other activities that you can do without a device. That way, you can be more mindful of your activities.
2. Digital Decluttering Every Month
This monthly habit will keep your device free of files you no longer use and may also remind you of files you've downloaded but forgotten about.
Take a look at your applications folder and uninstall some applications that you no longer use. This will help speed up the performance of your device or gadget.
3. Digital Decluttering Once Every Three Months
Delete any photos or videos that are duplicates, that are of poor quality, or that you don't want to keep. You can also copy photos to your hard disk or online storage such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Then, you can name the folder according to the time you took it.
You can stop following several accounts that are no longer relevant or have been annoying.
4. Digital Decluttering Every Year
This is not mandatory, but it is enough to help you know the performance of your device and what steps you need to take in the future. For example, whether the battery performance is starting to weaken or the speed is decreasing. Ask the official shop where you bought the tool for the right solution.