We place a heavy emphasis on the act of tangible decluttering, through actions that tidy up our physical spaces such as organizing, vacuuming, sweeping, dusting, etc. However, we often neglect and fail to prioritize the act of digital decluttering. No matter how organized you might be, there is always room for improvement. Not only does digital clutter affect your mental state, but it can also slow down your phone or computer, and no one needs that to hinder their routine. It’s essential to do everything in our power to reduce the noise in our virtual environment.

All in all, a clean and clear digital space makes for a clean and clear cognitive space! Our lives are perpetually logged into our devices, so a clean desktop is just as important as a clean desk.

For one thing, perhaps one of the most common anxiety-inducing forms of digital clutter is the classic inundated email inbox. The first step is accepting the fact that the 1,873 unreal emails sitting in your inbox are not ALL important, or even applicable for that matter. Set aside some time to scavenge through these. Pick through potentially important messages and delete unnecessary ones, and also take note of spam emails and newsletters and unsubscribe from them if you can–for your future peace of mind. This task can be exceptionally intimidating, so to avoid discouragement and exhaustion, break it up into time intervals. Do a little every day for a week. Eventually, you will be able to breathe again on Gmail, Outlook, or whatever platform you use.

The organization of files shouldn’t stop at your email. Your computer disk is begging you to go through the data on your desktop, in your downloads, and other miscellaneous folders. With the files you don’t delete, work on grouping them into specific folders to make it easier to find them. While you’re at it, make sure that these individual files are appropriately named so you can easily find your data files. We’re all guilty of re-downloading the same templates and documents several times, and we don’t realize that those appear as individual downloads every time. Therefore, you could easily have six or seven versions of the same document on your computer, labeled “document (1).pdf,” “document (2).pdf,” “document (3).pdf,” and so forth. Spare yourself this waste of space, and narrow them these files down to their single original documents.

Photos, in particular, are treasured mementos that we refuse to delete or get rid of, even though we have the option to transfer them to a flash drive. We are frequently too lazy to do so, and would rather keep them stored on our computer for easy access. Separate these photos by year, to make nostalgia that much more orderly.

Decluttering your digital space includes sweeping through sources on your digital interfaces, or social platforms, like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. We can all attest to the fact that we scroll past content that doesn’t satisfy us, or “spark joy,” as Marie Kondo says, on a daily basis. Whether it’s content that makes us feel inferior, upset, irritated, or just merely unhappy, it’s unnecessary negativity that disrupts your regular flow of internet consumption. Take care of yourself by unfollowing accounts, people, and platforms that don’t improve your way of life.

Mental and physical health are both equally important, as are both types of decluttering: tangible and digital. Make it a priority to designate a small portion of time every day to make these significant changes that will improve your entire life.

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