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Archives — Your Best Friend for Dealing with Digital Clutter
I finally upgraded my personal computer after an honorable 7-year run from my old MacBook Air, and as I was setting up my new laptop, I realized that the majority of space on my computer is taken up by stuff that I may never look at again. It’s stuff that’s around just in case. Examples include work files from previous jobs that I keep just in case I want to refer to an old project, scans of receipts just in case I have an issue under warranty, videos that I keep just in case I ever want to watch clips from that Roots concert from 10 years ago, and even photos from events with people that I don’t really know just in case one of them becomes POTUS one day (is that weird?). It’s all stuff that I could probably delete and never miss…but…but…who knows what the future holds! What if I need it one day? 😱
The issue with keeping all this stuff isn’t that I don’t have space for it. I do…at least now that I’ve upgraded my computer. Instead, the problem is that it all adds digital clutter that occasionally creeps into my mental space and obstructs my workflow. When I search through files, photos, notes, etc., it’s extra stuff that I have to weed through — things that I randomly encounter and wonder, “Why do I have this? Do I really need it?”
