digital clutter | STUFFology 101

Avadian photo 2021 NAPA Wine Country Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga

Declutter Your Smartphone

July 26, 2021/in De-Clutter/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

When is the last time you looked at the condition of your smartphone?

Did you run the Device Care feature (in Settings for Android) to clear the clutter and help it work more efficiently?

Digital Memories Grow Rapidly

Wherever I go, I take pictures. I also shoot videos. I am pleasantly surprised by people’s reactions to the people-and-nature photos and videos I post to social media. While I use my own smartphone and then spent (too much) time trying to get them high-resolution videos, I’m clearing the temporal clutter in my life. I use their cameras to shoot most of the pictures and videos. Meanwhile, I use my phone only for the must-have (a subjective call) images and video, saving gigabytes of space and time.

Years ago, in the days of pre-digital photography, we dropped off our rolls of film to be developed at a Fotomat booth or mailed them. We were careful about capturing the ideal shot as our hobby could grow quite expensive. Back then, I read that a National Geographic photographer could take as many as 10,000 photos for every one featured in the magazine. WOW!

Gigabytes of Too-Much Data

Today, the ease of digital photography and immediate feedback, makes it easier to quickly delete poor images as we continually improve our photography skills.

Friend, Manish Mamtani, an IT/Finance professional, parlayed his photography hobby into an internationally recognized following with photos featured around the world including at the White House and in NatGeo.

Those of us who enjoy taking pictures or shooting videos have likely accumulated tens of thousands if not 100,000 or more photos on our hard drives not to mention the seemingly endless gigabytes of photos and videos on our cards inserted in our smartphones.

Before I travel, I try to leave with at least half of my phone and card space available for new-photo and video opportunities. I am always surprised by the person who hands me a smartphone that doesn’t save the images or videos I shoot because there’s no more space left on their memory card or phone. They quickly delete and ask me to retake the images but by then the magic has passed.

Keep Control of Your Data

Take control of your smartphone files. Beyond your photos and videos, look also at your text messages, especially, those with images or videos. Also, review your emails and delete as many as you can.

Declutter.

When you’re finished, be sure to run the Device Care feature, again.

Digital Clutter Creep

June 7, 2021/in Digital Stuff/by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

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.

Digital Clutter Causes Computer Confusion

May 24, 2021/in Cluttergories/by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

How much do you rely on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smart phone? More than you may realize since they are heavily integrated into how we live day to day. The lines between work and leisure are blurred. And any of these devices have quick access to family and friends via social media.

I am old school with respect to technology. I use a desktop computer with a regular sized alpha-numeric keyboard, and a large, easy to read screen. Much like your car, it requires routine maintenance. Similarly, it will not last indefinitely, as much as we might want it to. Worse, the rapid pace of technological change quickly makes these items obsolete, or at least incompatible with the newest software for a given device.

What does that have to do with clutter? That depends on you and your preferred device. I strongly dislike the smaller screens of a smart phone, or tablet. And am less than enthusiastic about the usually compressed keyboard of a laptop. Hence my preference for my older desktop. But I allowed digital clutter to accumulate, causing unforeseen issues with my favorite device. That is, my desktop experienced Digital Clutter Confusion.

The wide variety of cloud storage options should give us the ability to work across devices when technology fails, but only if we use them. I am sorry to say that I had not kept up to date with my important files and am still dealing with the fallout for my lack of diligence.

You may have noticed a gap in blog posts for STUFFology101.com. That is my fault, and I sincerely apologize. Most of my information for the website is on my desktop. When my hard drive began to fail, I had difficulties accessing the information I needed to even login to the site. As with so many things in life, I learned the hard way to run regular backups and keep important passwords on physical paper in a safe location.

Equally important is keeping your software up to date, and ensuring your firewall, anti-virus, and/or malware programs are running and current. Self-evident I know, but random things happen in life. I have again learned the hard way that one should double check such things before you work or play on any device. Here is a handy list of computer maintenance tips you can reference to keep your device operating smoothly.

The benefit of computer or other technology problems we experience is discovering solutions that prevent them from occurring again. For me, I had time to reflect on my reliance on one specific piece of technology, my desktop. AND take a hard look at how much time I spent online working on a project or playing on social media. Too much screen time is a bad thing. More on that topic for a future post.

Luckily for me, I have recovered my important data. I have saved it to my cloud storage and a new portable external hard drive (just in case). Like physical clutter, I encourage you to take a moment TODAY to clear out those files you no longer need and lessen the digital clutter on that device. Hopefully, you learn from my mistake and avoid the inconvenience and frustration of device failure.

Less TV for More of What Matters

January 25, 2021/in Digital Stuff/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

Being a mindful user of the abundant digital offerings, including the vast choices of streaming TV, enables us to reduce the digital clutter in our lives.

These days, while we wait for the vaccine to take effect via lower-reported numbers of COVID-infected people, we remain homebound. TV is the go-to escape to fill our hours yearning for outside activities.

If we choose consciously, we can find things that matter more than spending hours binge-watching Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Roku, and more.

If we take time to consider how we fill the hours of our lives, we will find other activities that provide more meaning. We can start doing those things we always wanted to do but never had time for. In focusing our attention on these other activities, we will rid ourselves of the mental clutter crowding our minds and make space for the things that matter.

Consider the books you want to read. Spend more time talking with family members without being distracted by TV or your smartphone. If family and friends are not near, take time to call them or have a ZOOM chat.

It will be almost six years since I gave up my DIRECTTV television subscription. Netflix would have gone the way of Blockbuster with customers like me.

Times Change

How do I feel today about what I wrote in Letting Go to Welcome In, six years ago?

With travel plans cancelled during COVID, I spend more time at home doing the things I had planned to do… later.

Beyond reading and writing a LOT, I watch some TV.

When someone recommends a movie, I’ll watch the trailer and ask myself: Is two hours of my life worth giving up for this? What will the message be? What will I gain?

Sometimes, I enjoy a couple hours of laugh-aloud escape watching an animated film for children. Other times, I’m interested in more mature offerings that are closer to my life story.

A friend introduced me to a Netflix series that I began watching. Grace and Frankie, starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, two women, now in their 80s. They were filming these 25-minute episodes while in their mid-70s. Hurray for aging women and their male co-stars, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston. They inspire us to age gracefully and if not, with humble humor. I am not a binge watcher; so, I’ll usually view two episodes at a time.

The older we grow the faster time passes. We have less time to do all the things we want to. By being conscious of how we spend our time with digital temptations we can fill our lives with meaning.

What digital habit can you let go for an activity that better serves you?

ICYMI: “When I get rid of this stuff, then I will…”

Which type are YOU when managing emails?

June 10, 2015/3 Comments/in News 'n Views/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

I disagree with Joe Pinsker’s article in the Atlantic that “Those who can comfortably ignore unread notifications, and those who feel the need to take action immediately.”

A Third Type of Person

There’s a third kind of person when it comes to email messages and I find myself among them. We are those who check our email inboxes throughout the day to respond to important, urgent, and sometimes quick emails. We are those who consciously decide what to subscribe to and what to let go. We are those who may have multiple email addresses. We are those who access our emails when we want to and, in some cases, turn off the notification sounds to avoid annoying Pavlovian bells.

Judging from the comments to his article, others agree.

In 1995, I had one email account with AOL. I received about 35 a day and replied within the hour and in some cases, within 24 hours. Even then, colleagues lamented the fact that they couldn’t respond quickly due to a deluge of 35 emails a week!

Ahh, it’s all relative, isn’t it?

Over the years, my email input has grown and leveled off at about 100+ emails daily. I respond within the day or 24 hours—sometimes, just to acknowledge receipt and that I’ll respond by a given date. (This assures senders that their email was received and the ball is now in my court.) I’ll hit “Reply” then add a note in my calendar or in brackets at the start of the subject line of the draft reply email such as [PROMISED Reply by #/##/####] before saving it to my Drafts folder.

Emails and Volleyball

I view email correspondence like a game of volleyball. When the ball’s in your court, you need to return it.

Sure, there are people who insist on making others play volleyball by themselves. I’ve heard my husband say, “If you really need to reach me and I haven’t replied to your email, call me.” Others place the burden on the sender with an automated reply informing them of the hundreds of emails they receive and if they don’t reply, to resend them the email. Again, this places the burden on the sender to run to the other side of the net and serve, to keep the ball/email in play.

Organize Emails

To organize the emails I receive daily, I use nine email addresses: six for work with two different websites (STUFFology101.com and TheCaregiversVoice.com) and my publishing company; two personal email addresses; and a Google account I use twice a month.

We have our own methods to organize our emails, just as we organize our sock drawers. However, a little inspiration and new ways of organizing can go a long way. While some use all the bells and whistles (tagging, filtering, flagging, categorizing), I go so far as to create subfolders in Outlook. I find these especially useful when I’m corresponding with a client on a project. Once the assignment is finished, I delete the subfolder.

Lost Subfolders

Earlier this month, after work-related travel subsided, I directed time and energy to two old subfolders with a combined 200 emails. They included Los Angeles County emails, environmental studies, initiatives, reports, and related correspondence from my work last year as a town council president. I was shocked to discover they were gone. GONE!

I back up every week, but I just noticed this, which means I’ve since backed up Outlook with the lost subfolders. Besides, in one week I can get through 1,000 emails. Restoring last week’s backup would mean redoing a LOT of work. Just a thought for you to consider when relying on backups.

A visit to the online forums indicated that Outlook subfolders do have a tendency to disappear. This is the first time this has happened to me without my being aware of the cause.

At a crossroads and in a quandary

Is this one of those unexpected gifts?

On the one hand, I’ve saved myself a lot of time, because these data-intense emails will no longer take my time.

On the other, what about the lost records?

Those who can DELETE

Some people, you may be one of them, easily delete backlogs of emails when they grow too large. One publisher/broker wrote to tell me his Outlook froze after having tens of thousands of emails. YIKES!

One of our readers wrote that she deleted 4,000 emails since 2010. I’ve learned in most cases, when people tell me this, it’s usually because they haven’t deleted those sales announcements, newsletters, and other non-essential emails that fill their inboxes daily.

What I’m writing about are those emails that require follow-up during the course of business, day to day.

In STUFFology 101, I shared my goal to reduce all top-level emails to less than five carried over to the next day. I’ll achieve this goal this year. It takes disciplined effort during days, evenings (without TV), and even some weekends to dive deep. Not letting the ball drop and surprising people (even after a year) are worth it to me, an old-fashioned person who believes in following up. After losing touch with some, they’ve ended up becoming clients.

Reducing emails brings me clarity of mind, increased focus, and a feeling of lightness that comes with reducing digital clutter in order to have less mental clutter.

Freeing Ourselves from the Shackles of Clutter to Work Happy

March 26, 2015/1 Comment/in Digital Stuff/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

Friend and colleague, Ann Vanino of Moving Forward Coaching & Consulting writes in her monthly Working Happy Newsletter, “Clear away the noise and listen to what your heart is saying about your happiness.”

Sometimes we need to clear the clutter—the obstacles to unencumbered living to release us.

As we clear the areas of clutter in our lives, we feel lighter and even happy. We feel FREE!

Every month, I write a reply to Ann. Her newsletters seem to address a challenge I’m having in my life. Is it a coincidence? Or is it proof that we’re following a common path?

Dear Ann,

After the last few days of TOO MUCH STUFF—digital clutter–I keep returning to your subject line: Working Happy.

When I am backlogged with emails, even valued correspondence, I keep asking myself, Brenda, are you working happy, right now?

Recently, the answer’s been, I could do better.

What better time to digest and apply your newsletter nuggets in my life.

Clear the noise of clutter–in my case, an excess of emails, which cause me stress.

My goal is to reduce them further until I only have to deal with a manageable number each day.

THANK YOU.

I would be disingenuous as a STUFFologist, if I said you can deal with your clutter once and for all. The truth is, it’s an ongoing process.

Any inspiration we find that will keep us on the path will free us from the shackles of clutter and help us work happy.

One person’s message about being happy has been viewed over 612,000,000 times around the world.

Try a little dose of happiness right now, click on the video below or click to visit Pharrell’s Happy video on YouTube.

Hear what’s calling you is a path to Working Happy, Vanino writes.

I’m listening, Ann!

What are you waiting for?

What shackles of clutter must you release in order to work happy?

START (again)

February 4, 2015/1 Comment/in S.T.U.F.F./by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

Does an area you like to keep clean and tidy suffer from clutter creep?

My home office desk area suffers from clutter creep as it is the repository for all household paperwork, and assorted other items. Even a dedicated STUFFologist has a hard time keeping it free of clutter!

I share this because I like to keep it neat and tidy as much as possible. When it accumulates like this, I define that as physical clutter in my living space. If I let it pile up, it becomes mental clutter weighing me down!

Often we forget to take our own advice when we get busy with life. I am no different. In the book we advise people to START small and ”…define clutter in one area at a time to avoid being overwhelmed.” It is time for me to START in my home office (again).

I also consider clutter removal to be an ongoing process, not an event. Don’t beat yourself up if clutter reappears. Take a deep breath and START again in that area.

Some stuff takes longer to complete than other stuff. Digital clutter is a hit or miss issue for me. The same advice applies to de-clutter what is weighing you down in the digital realm.

For example, we like to share the eBook version of STUFFology 101 on different social media platforms and book websites to help people get their minds out of the clutter. We recently STARTed to use a feature called BookShop from our eBook distributor as part of that sharing process. Once we have it finished, you’ll be able to purchase the eBook from multiple platforms (like iBooks) from one location. We will share that on the blog in News and Views when it is completed.

If clutter creep happens to you, remember to START small and focus on one area to avoid being overwhelmed. Doing so will get your mind out of the clutter.

Armenian-Rose-Parade-Float-Brenda-Avadian - sm

Photos, PHOTOS Everywhere!

January 8, 2015/2 Comments/in De-Clutter/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

Photos, PHOTOS, when do they become Digital Clutter?

Brenda Avadian standing in front of the first-ever Armenian float in the 126th Rose Parade

In STUFFology 101, we write about digital clutter the kind that harmlessly takes up residence on your smartphone, tablet, or hard or external drive. On the cluttergories page, we define digital clutter as anything in virtual form—such as photos stored in our computers, a backlog of emails, or too many social media accounts.

When do digital files turn into clutter?

When they’re on your mind in the wee hours of the morning and late at night.
When you realize after saving all this STUFF you can’t find what you need when you need it.
When you don’t even remember having some of this stuff!
When you decide you need to do something about them.
When you keep saying, I’ll download this stuff off my smartphone onto my computer so I can finally write about it.

WOW, sounds a lot like mental clutter!

AHA! There’s no better reason right now, to download these digital photos off my smartphone. This article is scheduled to be published the following day and I want to add some of my post-parade float photos. Also, I like to organize my smartphone photos in labeled folders on my computer.

#20150102_Happy-Hippo-Rose-Parade-Float - sm

Happy Hippo Rose Parade Float
Isn’t he cuuute?

Lucky you! You’re in for a treat.

Remember when I wrote the article about the (click on) Rose Parade Float Decorating – No Clutter? Well, the reality is you won’t care about the Rose Parade Floats in July. But you may still want to read about digital clutter and enjoy a few of the post-parade float photos I took. Right? Please say, YES.

I came upon the following. Although, my initial source at The CHIVE didn’t cite its source of information, this is entirely plausible.

Every two minutes, we take as many photos
as all of humanity took during the 1800s.
In 2014 alone, humanity will take 880 billion photos.
That’s 123 photos for every single human on earth.

As with any kind of procrastinating, which also leads to clutter, the actual deed took less time than I thought the task would require. Five minutes was all the time needed to download 38 photos and 3 videos; plus, another five minutes to download a few other photos and file them. I was on a roll.

The next morning, I opened my Rose Parade Floats file and began choosing which ones I wanted to share with you. While working on this, I also labeled the photos while choosing my top picks. There are too many to share; so, I further limited my initial selection to four, which include the completely decorated flower the float decorators were working on in my earlier post.

The deed is done.

No longer do I concern myself with downloading my float photos. I’ve labeled them so I may use them later as appropriate. And I feel better about eliminating this one cause of mental clutter.

Before I close, I want you to know that next week, the second Monday of the year, is National Clean off your Desk Day. Getting rid of the potential for digital clutter, gives me a head start on my virtual mobile desk. I’ve cleared part of the gallery of photos on my smartphone, filed them in appropriate folders on my computer, and now feel the momentum to keep going… while the clutter waits and WAITS.

How about you? What kinds of clutter are you dealing with?

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