Published on December 31st, 2021 📆 | 4625 Views ⚑
0Have a better 2022 with these tech resolutions
Muting notifications might feel a bit uncomfortable: What if you miss something important? But most everyone I spoke to said something similar about this worry: The people who need to get to you will know how, whether it be via text or phone call. Your mental health and attention will thank you.Ā
Celebrate Digital Cleanup January.Ā If youāre feeling ambitious, take a page from my colleague Tate Ryan-Mosley,Ā a reporter onĀ digital rights and democracy.Ā She will be celebrating her fourthĀ annual Digital Cleanup January, where she devotes four weeks to cleaning up each part of her digital life: emails, files, security, and phone.Ā
Hereās how it works:Ā
InĀ WeekĀ 1, Tate does a āmassive purgeā of her email, unsubscribingĀ fromĀ newsletters and other lists that donāt serve her andĀ mass-deleting emails she wonāt ever read. She also spends a day reaching out to people who might have emailed her and who she has yet to respond to. The new year is a nice time to revive those connections and lets Tate start fresh conversations with people she cares about.Ā
Week 2Ā is devoted to file organization: cleaning up filesĀ inĀ the cloud, onĀ theĀ desktop, and in any drives and putting them where they belong. āItās my least favorite week,ā Tate says. āBut at the end of it, you feel like you really accomplished something.ā Tateās advice? Donāt organize files by date,Ā but rather by general category. And treat file organization as real work,Ā because it is. āIāll do it in breaks at work if Iām waiting for a meeting,Ā or set aside an hour and listen to music and really do it,ā she says.Ā
Week 3Ā of Tateās digital cleanup is devoted to security.āÆSheĀ goes through each sensitive personal account and creates new unique passwords with the helpĀ of theĀ password manager LastPass. Tate also uses this week to Google herself to get rid of sensitive information,Ā like her personal phone number and address,Ā that might be floating around the internet. Tate swears by the New York Times guide to doxxing yourself,Ā available here, which offers clear instructions on how to keep your private information safe online.āÆĀ
Week 4Ā is the most fun, according to Tate. She takes this week to clean up her phoneās backlog of photos, delete apps that donāt serve her, and reorganizeĀ theĀ home screen. āThe nice thing is that I donāt have to be at my desk to do this,ā she says. āI might beĀ waiting in line or watching TV.ā Tate also takes the time this week to turn off her notifications (see above).Ā
For Tate, Digital Cleanup January isnāt necessarily fun. How many resolutions are? But when the calendar turns to February, sheās achieved a ton. āI feel so good for the rest ofĀ theĀ year,ā she says. āAnd by December, I canāt wait to take care of all of this again. I love how I feel afterwards.āĀ
Lastly, remember thereās a whole world outside of tech.Ā Once upon a time, people didnāt crane their necks over their phones, practicing that particular thumb flick of endlessly scrollingĀ social media. Some read books. Others chatted with those around themāor simply zoned out for a bit.āÆĀ
Cal Newport, a professor of computer science at Georgetown University, advocates heavily for reforming your relationship with technology, particularly when itās really not necessary. āWhen you deploy tech toward things that are important,Ā itāsĀ helpful,ā he says. āWhen you use it as a default distraction from unpleasant thoughts or experiences, it can become a problem.ā So put the phone down and feel those emotions, even if theyāre boredom, sadness, or anxiety. It might make you feel a bit more human again.Ā
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