Digital Spring Cleaning

Five easy things you can do to refresh your devices

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It’s spring time in the northern hemisphere. That means that people are scrubbing their bathrooms and re-organizing their closets. It’s the timeless art of spring cleaning!

While we should probably keep up with our cleaning year-round, it’s a helpful reminder to take stock of what aspects of our life could use a healthy refresh.

I’ll admit that I’m not the tidiest person when it comes to household chores. But, I am pretty good about doing a digital spring cleaning each year. What do I mean by digital spring cleaning? I’m talking about giving some love to our devices so they can continue to serve us for the rest of the year.

Here are 5 easy things you can do to make your digital spaces feel as clean as your physical spaces this season (or any season!)

1. Delete Your Phone Apps

2. Clear Your Desktop or Download folders

3. Unsubscribe

4. Audit Your Notifications

5. Physically Clean Your Gadgets

Delete Your Phone Apps

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When was the last time you deleted apps on your phone? You and I both know that there are plenty of apps just sitting there that you haven’t opened in months.

You might not think it’s a big deal. Our phones have plenty of storage these days, why should I delete anything? It all lives in a limitless cloud of storage right? Sure, your phone may be powerful enough to handle all those apps. But it’s your brain that could use a break.

According to research from ThinkwithGoogle, the average smartphone user has 35 apps installed on their phone. This tends to be the time of year when my number bloats up past that average. Apps used around the holidays may still be lingering. The March Madness app really only gets about three weeks of utility. I’m sure you’ll be surprised by some of the apps that you could have sworn you deleted months ago.

Remember that you can pretty easily re-download these whenever you need to. It’s just about regaining the mental clarity and keeping tabs on what is actually stored on your phone. Why scroll through that many apps when you don’t have to?

Clear Your Desktop or Download folders

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I’ve written about the dangers of becoming a “digital hoarder”. Your brain doesn’t need all the stimulation. You wouldn’t leave hundreds of files scattered all around your physical desk, so why do you do it on your virtual desktop?

Everyone will have their own system for organizing files on their local machine. But in my experience, most people let files accumulate on their desktop or the catch-all “downloads” folder.

Take a few minutes to minimize all the windows on your computer to actually see what that desktop looks like. Some files may be useful to keep there, but I encourage your to place them in folders to keep things organized. Even if some of the folders have vague labels, you can re-organize them later.

There is a good chance that you don’t still need all those downloaded files that were important in that particular moment. Odd jpegs, duplicate PDFs, who knows what else you’ll find in there. Yes, there are apps that can help you with this cleanup process, but I find it satisfying to go through all the files myself.

Unsubscribe

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I highly recommend going through all of your email subscriptions as part of your digital spring cleaning process. If your inbox is feeling out of control, it may be time to start unsubscribing and deleting old email messages.

Yes, I understand the irony of a guy who sends a newsletter telling you to unsubscribe to things! I hope I provide enough value to survive the purge, but I completely understand if I don’t make the cut.

Software solutions like unroll.me can be helpful if you’re too overwhelmed to go it alone. Just be sure to take stock of what is bringing value and joy to your inbox and what’s just getting deleted each week.

I know that the email inbox is a sacred space for some folks. Whether you’re the inbox zero type or you never delete anything, just find a system that works for you. And each spring be sure to re-evaluate it to see if it’s still working.

Audit Your Notifications

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I’m pretty brutal when it comes to notifications. I’ve even written that they should die entirely.

Most notifications are a total distraction. It can take up to 23 minutes to recover from a distracting notification that derails our concentration. Some of this information may be valuable to you, but do you need it shoved into your face at all hours?

No one is saying that you should remove all notifications from your device (although that may be a fun experiment to start with!). I am saying that you need to perform a notification audit?

It’s pretty simple. Just evaluate each notification as it comes in. Think about it from a few different angles. Is this information that brings me joy or necessary knowledge? If no, definitely delete it. If yes, does it need to shown in a notification? If yes again, what is the appropriate frequency of this notification?

Some notifications may be perfect to receive just once in the morning or once at night. Things like social media messages or requests could fit this criteria. While something like a meeting reminder may be useless if it only pops up at the end of a day when the meeting has already taken place.

I suggest either eliminating all notifications in one fell swoop, and then adding back as needed. Or just remove them one by one until you feel like you have a healthy handle on how often your device requests your attention.

Physically Clean Your Gadgets

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This is an easy one that bridges the gap between the physical and digital realms of spring cleaning.

Let’s be real, your devices are likely disgusting. When was the last time you cleaned the screen on your laptop? How about your keyboard?

I’m totally victim to it myself. You’re just so concerned about using your devices to get work done, you look past their cosmetic imperfections.

Here’s a good tip. Spend some time working outdoors like I often do. Sometimes the angle of the sun will make you notice dust and fingerprints on your devices that may have been invisible under the indoor light.

Just be sure to use the correct cleaning products. Obviously don’t get your keyboard overly wet. Use a wipe that is designed for laptop screens to decrease the chances of smudging. Invest in some quality cleaning products that you know are designed for the specific job.

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There you have it, 5 easy things you should do for your digital spring cleaning! Did I miss anything? Which one of these steps do you find yourself neglecting most often? (it’s the physical cleanliness for me!)

Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!