Digital Spring Cleaning
Photo by Jack de Bock
I am a notorious slow responder on all online platforms. I guess you could say I’m a digital slow lifer. Mostly it’s because it just fits my energy system and flow the best. I’ve found that I’m not a multitasker and refocusing after checking social media and chat apps takes a while for me. I get distracted and can’t get back to work or even conversations with people as easily.
So I’m very conscious of my digital life and balancing it. In the end it costs me more energy than it gives, so I’ve been playing around with it a lot in recent years. I’ve tried things like implementing the “do not disturb” block, setting hours that my phone just can’t take calls and stuff. And I’ve found it relieving to not be accessible 24/7. Although people have found it confusing at times, there is this social expectation of 24/7 connectivity. Now most just know that this is my flow.
Why I declutter digitally: more time and energy
What it gives me is: more time and energy to do the things that matter most to me. That can be just relaxing, downtime, hanging with the people I love, doing things I enjoy, hobbies, selfcare or one of my faves: doing nothing.
I’ve found in my own case that a lot of the things I do online, I don’t deeply enjoy, and it’s so highly addictive that even when I don’t have things to do on my phone, I will find some useless thing to do. Like online shopping, searching for something I won’t buy anyway. Or getting lost on instagram and getting so much input that I get brainfoggy.
So in the last couple of years I have tried to limit myself with my phone use, setting boundaries. I have certain times set on Do not disturb. I don’t carry my phone with me when at home. I put it in another room, in its home cubby, so as not to grab it in any still moment, bored and looking for a filler. I’ve turned off all of my notifications, so I don’t get distracted by every ping of a new message. Before the lockdowns and stuff I had it down to being on whatsapp for 2 to 3 times a week. I upped it because online suddenly was the major way for connecting. And after a year of altering my online rhythm for this special extraordinary event that was this past year, I found myself desiring yet again to declutter digitally. And this time it inspired me to look even deeper and broader.
I took my whole digital online life and really took a look at what I really enjoy and what I would enjoy living without or differently. Marie Kondo style. I love MK. I love that the intention is to seek out what sparks joy and what not. Simply choose the joy and gratefully release what is no longer joyful.
The big digital spring cleaning
So I want to take you through what that looked like for me. The idea is not that you do exactly as I do. I love digital simplicity, that’s just what brings me joy. If you feel like taking a look at your own digital life, to do some spring cleaning, it’s more for inspiration and just asking yourself the question: what brings me joy?
I find just hearing about other people’s authentic options that I’ve never thought about gives me inspiration to find my own authentic option, my way of being. Just hearing a fresh option can help crack your brain and heart open for something new to arise.
Digital decluttering steps overview:
Start with what sparks joy. Make a list, write down, what brings you joy. In this step I got into the hardware, the phone, ebook etc, and the software, like apps that I (somewhat) like and maybe just want to change how I use them. That I wanted to get curious about and experiment with.
Then ask what you do not enjoy and that you will be releasing.
The clean out: release, delete, recycle the things you decided on in step 2.
One of the first things I did was cleaning out my phone. You can also do tablets, laptops etc. I deleted all the apps (and accounts) I did not use or did not want to use, that brought me no joy.
I grouped (what was left) them to make it even more spacious and clean looking. For example: all the connection/social apps are under one umbrella now.
(I can actually see my background picture of the kiddies now.)
The standout for me: my addictive smartphone
One of the biggest things that stood out for me, is the thing that I’ve been trying to beat for years: the addictive smartphone. It is actually made to be addictive, to be used as much as possible. Same goes for most of the apps on it. It's designed like this, on purpose. (There are companies who have psychologists on staff to inform them about addiction and how to make things more addictive.) And no matter how much I put limits on it, I still found myself at times tired and uselessly on the phone, not being able to resist the addiction. My intention is to actually spend as little as possible on my phone, cause that just brings me more joy. It frees up more time and energy that I want to spend on enjoying offline life.
The light phone revolution: to be used as little as possible
Enter my husband, this actually sparked the whole digital decluttering journey for me, he introduced something to me and we both knew when he said it, this was going to happen. He presented the Light phone to me. The slogan of this particular phone: to be used as little as possible… It has minimum options. You can call, text, listen to music and podcasts. And after some pressing of their users, they will add signal and whatsapp, as essential features. There is no app store. It is for the digital simplist. Like me!
Even I needed a couple of months to wrap my head around it. But I just couldn’t shake this happy feeling every time I thought about it. And timing being that my old phone started to have hiccups, not picking up some calls and stuff. Oehhh, could I be a Light phone user…?! I started fantasizing about the time before the mobile phone was introduced. I was about 18 when it really started to be more of a common thing, for everyday use, for everybody. And I started thinking how did life look like before? You’d call someone’s house and if they weren’t home, that was kinda it. Maybe you leave a message or someone who was home would say you called. You might get called back or not. There was not yet this 24/7 expectation of connectivity. OH THE FREEDOM. And when you where out you were just unreachable. Can you even imagine!
More and more it felt so freeing this Light phone lifestyle. So I decided to try it out! Imma gonna get me this Light phone. It sounds heavenly. Lets experiment and try something new. Find me something more pleasant and authentic to me. I’ll keep you updated.
Spark joys for me (some examples):
Light phone
Ipod shuffle. I meditate daily and had the meditations on my phone. Sometimes before or after I would spend time on my phone, which is not the vibe I want around it. So I put the meditation on a simple mp3 player that only plays what I put on it. And now I have an old Ipod shuffle, that my father in law still had, and it just has this one song on it. It has elevated my meditation, brought me more peace during and around that time. I love the simplicity.
Turning off stuff. The simple act of powering off my laptop after work or the tablet after use is so calming and liberating to me. You can even turn off your PHONE (for the brave.) I had simply forgotten this option of turning off stuff. In our 24/7 open connection era, powering off is a very powerful option, saying to yourself: this is me time. Or this is family time. Or this is date night.
Ebook. Yes and no. I love the easyness of getting a book and the decluttering aspect of it. You don’t have all the physical books that take up so much space. But I miss the real book that I can hold in my hand. And I have found it reads more relaxing, a physical book. So I decided to loan books at the library more.
Record player. With bluetooth. So I can hook up spotify. I love the cosy sound of a record. I probably am just an old lady inside living in this modern era, haha.
What does not spark joy for me
Smart phone. I am going to experiment whether I am going to have my old phone as a workphone or that I’m transferring it all to my laptop. I like the idea to keep my laptop clean for mostly writing. But I’ll test that out. See what feels good.
Chatapps. I said I was a slow responder and I am! No question about that. Yet I have 4 chatapps. Whatsapp, Wechat, Signal and Telegram. And I never realised that I could reduce it down to 1! Why not. But before this declutter it didn’t come to mind. But when I asked the question, I was surprised how and why I even have so many. It’s so normal these days that I forgot it’s still a choice. So I decided ONE it is. And I landed on Signal, for me it has the best terms and conditions, more privacy, and enough people use it to be able to stay in touch. And for the ones that are not on or don’t want to be on Signal, there is still the old fashioned TEXTING. Omg. Or email or even a phone call.
Hey Google, home automation assistant. Simply because it never listens to me. So it does not assist me. It just irritates me. We kept it because my husband loves tech, he’s a bit of a tech nerd funnily enough. But even he doesn’t feel it’s helpful enough to keep anymore. And sidenote, it analyzes everything you say for commercial use. Which I can also do without.
More space, time and energy for me
This is a bit of the journey that I’m on, my digital spring cleaning. And it feels refreshing. To let go what no longer suits me and delight in what does. More space for joy. More space for me. Loving it.
Happy spring! Hallelujah for sunshine has arrived!
With love,
An-na
