How To Declutter Your Life In The Digital Age

This is a collaborative post

We are now living in an age where technology is the most prevalent part of our lives. This isn’t bad, but it can make us feel overwhelmed at times. It seems that so much is being thrown our way at once and it can be hard to keep up. Everyday tasks are now taking place on new apps and platforms, and it is almost impossible to use these correctly on the first try.

There is no need to stress about it, though. A lot of people are finding themselves in the same boat as the digital age keeps expanding. So what can you do? The answer lies in decluttering your life and this article will reveal how you can do just that.

Regularly Clear Your Emails

There is nothing more daunting than receiving an email only to see that huge number looming next to the inbox tab. Having a long list of emails will make it hard to find the specific ones you need and even slow down your device.

Make sure that you check your emails regularly, and remove any emails that you no longer need. This approach will relieve any stress that you may have in the future. You don’t have to delete everything. Just sift through the spam and junk that you definitely have no use for. A clear email account can give you a clear head.

Check Your Subscriptions

A major cause of spam in this day and age is the result of company’s trying to reach you with new promotions. These can be selected at random, but it might be possible that the spam is coming from an old subscription you have long forgotten.

It is easy for these things to rack up. You go into a store and the cashier asks whether you want to receive offers by email. In a hurry, you say yes and then you are on their email list forever. Do this a few more times and that is a lot of people emailing you throughout the week. Let’s not mention the number of take away places that also have access to your email when you make an order.

All of these email lists will give you the option to opt out at any time. Try to find any longstanding subscriptions you have no use for and stop the email chain. This will significantly reduce the amount of spam that you receive, and can even stop the flow of leaflets coming through your door.

Clear Your Desktop

When you log on to your computer, it is wise to have shortcuts to all of the apps and folders you use regularly. These shortcuts will take the form of icons that take up space on the home screen. However, some functions will place themselves on this home screen at random or by human error.

Try to monitor what is actually on your desktop at all times and remove anything you won’t ever need a shortcut for. Doing so will reduce the time spent rifling through files and get you to where you need to be a lot quicker.

Photo credit Domenico Loia via Unsplash

Stop Notifications

You are probably familiar with the notification sound that your phone makes. It will ping every time you receive a text message or an email. But do you find that it sounds too often? That incessant ping is enough to drive anybody mad.

The reason for this might be because you have the notifications turned on for every app on the device. You can choose which apps you receive notifications for in the settings menu. You should really only choose the apps that you actually need to respond to immediately, such as your emails.

Turn off the notifications for everything else and you will find your daily life is much more peaceful.

Choose The Right Phone

It seems as if smartphones are becoming more complicated as time goes on. However, this over complication isn’t to everyone’s taste. If you find yourself unable to cope with your smartphone, the problem isn’t with you. You probably just have the wrong device for your needs.

Some phone plans can be tailor made to suit the individual. Take, for example, the Lebara refer a friend scheme. This is a simple phone plan that actually rewards the user for referring customers to their network. This is a great way to subtly earn cash online, and learn more about the phone process. If your smartphone is getting on your nerves, perhaps you should choose this option to earn money from home. Lebara offers this, who can provide a small way to earn money just by referring a friend to sign up.

Of course, every phone plan is different. Do some research and make sure you know exactly what you want before you shop.

Check Your Cache Usage

Cache is the secret that only a few phone users are aware of. A phone's cache data contains any media you have on your phone and files, images, and scripts currently running in the background.

Once again, having too much cache on your phone will dramatically slow your device, and take up a lot of memory. Some of this cache is essential to the currently running apps; however, there is something called unnecessary cache. This represents all of the additional data that your phone is storing that it does not need. Almost every app will kick out some unnecessary cache at some point, and it is all stored in one place. 

To delete this unnecessary store of data, head to the setting menu, select storage and scroll until you see the page that details your cache information. You should find an option on this page that lets you delete your unnecessary cache. Perform this clear out regularly, and you will find that your smartphone works faster and lasts longer.

Summary

The new wave of technology is a bit relentless nowadays, but there is no reason to let this disturb your everyday life. Follow these tips and you will find that your life gets a lot less stressful in the long run. What’s more, you can use this advice to help those around you.