We know it’s good to keep things organised, right? Less is more! Minimalism is something that can help us in many different aspects of our life, including our life online. One mistake most of us make is that we focus on our physical space only, even though we spend a lot of time in our online space too. This is why I listed some tips on how to declutter your digital life.
Social Media
Social Media is somewhere a lot of people (especially bloggers) spend a lot of time! A good declutter helps you see things a bit clearer and probably helps you find the right purpose for each channel again.
- Twitter – Step one of my Twitter Declutter was to tackling your tweets. I used a programme called Tweet Archieve Eraser. You can select what tweets you want to delete and BOOM, gone! Cutting down to a more reasonable amount of tweets (and some mental breakdowns) will make your account look more professional and will make you feel a lot better about your Twitter too. Step two is to go through your following list. Unfollow every account that is inactive, doesn’t interest you anymore or people you simply don’t connect with anymore. Do they make you feel good or do they interest you? Keep them! No space for bad vibes online. Step three is to go through your DMs and delete all irrelevant and old conversations for a fresh start.
- Instagram – Decluttering your digital Instagram space is similar to your Twitter. Delete (or archive) photos you’re not happy with anymore, clean up your following list and go through your inbox to delete unwanted messages. Give it a fresh feel filled with positive accounts and no more online drama.
- Facebook – Going through your Facebook profile, you can start deleting posts and photos that don’t serve you anymore. Untag all the unflattering photos your friends have tagged you in. And last but not least, the friend list. I love how Facebook allows you to stay in contact with so many people you would forget about otherwise, but I’m sure there are some people in there you’d rather not see on your timeline anymore – so goodbye!
- YouTube – Go through all your YouTube subscriptions and unsubscribe of all channels that aren’t active or don’t line up with your mindset anymore. People change, channels change and sometimes the content isn’t for you anymore. It’s better to clear it out of your view.
- Folders – Easier said than done, but organizing your emails into folders has been such a lifesaver for me. I like having my emails organized, but always thought it was a job too big to start. Once I started, it turned out to be a lot easier than I thought! Create folders that link in with what emails you think are important enough to keep and delete all other emails. This also gives you an opportunity to set up your emails to keep them organised in the future.
- Subscriptions – I don’t know about you but whenever I get an email from a subscription list I don’t really want to be part of anymore (or never signed up for), I delete them instantly. And delete them again, and again, and again. Time to unsubscribe from all the lists you don’t want to be part of anymore! Avoid wasting time on them in the future.
Laptop/Computer
My laptop and computer are two very important digital places for me. I use them every day! Which makes it even more important to keep it tidy and organized.
- Desktop – Your desktop is probably the easiest thing to clean, which is why it’s a great place to start. Deleted all the icons that you don’t use often and organized them into one or two rows of things you actually use. Remember, less is more! Change a new screensaver and ta-da, done.
- Photos/Videos – Another big job, but very rewarding. Are you a person who simply dumps her photos onto your laptop or the cloud every now and then without properly organizing them? Start by finding a way to organize them. I organize them by year and then per trip, month or important event. I then go through all the photos and delete all the blurry and poorly taken ones. You can name them if that’s your thing, too! Afterwards, make sure to back them up on my cloud, just in case anything happens to your hard drive.
- Programmes – Keeping your laptop/computer run smoothly and not unnecessarily using space is important. Uninstall all programs and software that you don’t use anymore.
- Documents – Even seen documents named “akskfjakf”? My laptop was full of them. It’s bad, I know! Step one was to go through all your documents, deleting those that you don’t need anymore and renaming those that you do need. Step two was to organize them into folders. College documents, university documents, important documents, writing, my blog, etc. Make sure that if you ever need to find one again, it’s easy to locate. Just like your photos, it’s important to back these documents up on the cloud or a separate hard drive.
- Bookmarks – Your internet browser has probably a lot of saved websites “just in case”. To make your browser feel fresh again, it’s important to go through all these websites and delete those who you’ll never use. Only keep those which are relevant and organize them into folders where possible.
- Bin – After doing all this, make sure to empty your bin to clear up more space. This will allow your computer to run faster again.
Smartphone
Another digital space we spend a lot of time: our smartphones. We wake up with them and we go to bed with them. It’s easy to clutter your phone with apps, photos and messages that you don’t need. Making it a clear space again can do wonders for your mindset.
- Apps – Go through all the apps you have installed on your phone and delete every app you haven’t used in a while. Then, organize the apps that you do use. Another tip is to delete every app of your phone and start fresh. Only download an app if you really need it. This way, you’ll only have apps that you need and use. Also, make sure to update all apps and update the software on your phone.
- Photos/Videos – Go through all the photos and videos on your phone and delete what you don’t want anymore. Make sure to back up your photos on your laptop/computer and then delete them. You can keep a few if you like to keep the memories, but who needs 2000+ photos on their phones?
- Messages – Go through your Whatsapp, Imessage and Facebook Messages to delete old conversations and clean up a lot of space on your phone. I had no idea how much of my storage was used to store photos on messages!
- Notifications – If you’re decluttering your digital space in order to create more rest in your life, the notifications on your phone are a big one too. Go to the notification settings on your phone and turn off all notifications that are unnecessary. I only have notifications for messages and calls. I turned all social media notifications off and I feel so much calmer since.
Your Online Appearance
Your online appearance is important! Everybody can just google someone’s name and find out a lot – A LOT – of things about you, especially if you don’t keep an eye out for it yourself. This is especially important if you’re planning on going for job interviews or are looking to get new clients!
- Google your name – Future employers or clients will most likely throw your name in a search engine and see what pops up. If things pop up that you would rather keep hidden, find out how to delete it. I came across multiple accounts on websites I’d made as a teenager and forgot about – I closed those accounts and deleted them. Make sure your own website/portfolio ranks high on Google through proper SEO.
- Personal Social Media – Even after cleaning up your social media accounts, if they are personal, you may want to keep them private. My Facebook account is private and I have a private Twitter account. All the accounts I use for business are business only. I’m conscious about what I post on there to keep a clean and proper image about myself.
- Be careful – Don’t share everything online. It’s tough to get some stuff deleted from the internet, so be careful with what you post. If you want to rant about something, call a friend or buy a journal – don’t go to your public Twitter or Facebook.
It’s a long list, but after having gone through it myself I feel so much better about my online space. I hope it’s helpful! Let me know what online space you’re doing to clean out next!
