Digital Purge

Part of the reason I started this blog was to have a place where I could write about my pursuit of an uncluttered life. I started out with my bedroom feeling so crowded with "stuff" that I wasn't really getting to enjoy any of it. So last summer I did a major purge of old papers, clothes, and random acquired objects, as well as doing my annual clean-out and re-shelve of my books. Over my winter break I cleared out old CDs and more random acquired objects. And I gotta say, this process of simplifying feels great. I feel like almost all of the objects I now have in my room (at home; the dorm room is a whole separate beast) have a purpose for being there; they are all things that provide pleasure or some other utility.

However, I realized that I haven't written much about purging digital clutter. In today's highly technological age, it's just as easy to find your computer crammed with unnecessary documents and programs as it is to find a Dunkin' Donuts in New England (for non-New Englanders, pick a business in your area that's on every street corner). Technological data is pervasive.

In some regards, that's terribly convenient for aspiring "unclutterers" like myself-- digitizing data and even memories is an effective way to ditch physical clutter (like my efforts to reduce my CD collection by moving the ones that I want to keep onto my computer in mp3 format). However, all that being said, collecting too much stuff in digital format is also qualifies as clutter.

Oh sure, it may be way less noticeable-- after all, it's still on your hard drive, and even if you have an external drive you probably still only have three physical objects. But have you ever tried to find a particular document that you needed, only to have it take upwards of half an hour because you got bogged down while looking? Or looked for an email but-- even with the help of Gmail's wonderful search capabilities-- gotten lost in the maelstrom that is your inbox?

Don't worry about it-- you're in good company here. My computer's hard drive is incredibly full, and I hardly know where to begin cleaning it out. Last summer I went through my "My Documents" folder and organized everything, deleting the things that were obviously no longer necessary and arranging the remaining documents by topic. That made a big difference in my ability to locate these items. I've also made some strides toward simplifying my email inbox, getting it down to a "baseline-zero" level (more on that later), unsubscribing from most newsletters, and deleting some old and totally unnecessary emails.

However, there's still a long way to go. I expect I will write again soon on the downside of Google and more topics related to technological simplification. In the meantime, let me just leave off on the idea that technological simplification can be just as psychologically rewarding as physical simplification. Same basic principle-- everything's easier to find, and it leaves more space for what you truly enjoy.