Are You a Digital Hoarder?
I don't know. Maybe there's something wrong with me. Maybe. I have an amazing ability to allow the most insignificant things to get right under my skin like a painful sliver that just won't pull out. The big things? Eh', they generally roll right off my shoulders, but when it comes to things not being neat and orderly, I've been known to launch into a toddler like tizzy. Internally only, of course. But still...
All of this time I thought it must only one with co-workers who have fallen into the habit of not neatly organizing their digital files and deleting things they don't need anymore, cluttering up shared computers, but they're not the only ones. Turns out that "digital hoarding" is a real thing and about half of Americans "suffer" from it.
SWNS Digital conducted a survey and asked people how often they remove digital files they no longer need from their phone, tablet, and computer and an incredible 52 percent of people have never deleted a single thing from any of their devices. Ever.
But wait, there's more...33 percent of people have photos and such on their devices that are over 10 years old. When you let stuff pile up for that long tackling things can feel a bit daunting. According to SWNS Digital, "three in five have seriously considered taking the time to go through and clear out these files, but still can’t manage to pull the trigger."
David Ellis, vice president, product marketing, Western Digital says, "With the staggering volume of photos, videos and documents created every second, there are challenges with storing and managing all these digital files, which we refer to as a state of ‘digital chaos.’
My unsolicited advice? Invest in an external hard drive and dump your stuff into it once a week, and then clear the stuff from your other electronic devices. Not only will this free up space on your devices, but it will keep all your things safe (I keep my external hard drive in my safe) in case your phone, tablet, or other device is lost, stolen, or ruined.
[via SWNS Digital]