Digital Clutter Creep

How do you spend your time?

Time is an interesting concept. We can spend it, save it, or waste it.

My recent computer issues forced me to spend a great deal of time fixing my mistake. But also offered me the opportunity to examine how much time I was in front of a computer screen for work and leisure.

Your desktop, laptop, tablet, and smart phone all count as a computer screen for my purposes/definition. Turns out it was quite a bit of time each day.

For me that is a combination of digital and temporal clutter. How often have you gone on Facebook to do a quick check on a friend or family member and realize an hour has passed when you log off? Or maybe clicked a link your friend sent you of a YouTube video and are still watching related content a half hour later? The examples are endless across social media platforms. Even checking your email can be a giant time suck from your day.

I mention these examples not to be judgmental. I mention them because I have done them myself without really thinking about it. If you value your time like I do, it is important to review where the hours go each day.

Email is one of my clutter issues. I would sign up for a newsletter on a topic of interest and continue with it even after losing interest over time. The delete key easily removing the newsletter from my inbox. Consider that over multiple newsletters and many months equals wasted time. Part of my solution to my digital clutter when migrating information over to my newer laptop was to ruthlessly unsubscribe from newsletters to clear up my inbox. Simple I know. Yet it took a computer device failure to look critically at my email and how much time I spent with it. Digital clutter creep if you will.

I challenge you to take a step back and examine where your time goes each day.