As the year wraps up, many of us are taking time to reflect on the last twelve months, and set some resolutions for 2018. Some of those resolutions can be focused on tidying up your digital life. They may be easier to accomplish than going to the gym three days a week. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Clear Out Old Devices
Gather any old devices lying around the house and figure out what has to go. List them on eBay, set some aside to donate to charity or bring the rest to a recycling center that takes old electronics. Not only will it feel good to clean up the mess, but you’ll also make room for new tech.
Change Your Passwords
Do you know the most commonly used password? The culprit is “123456,” with “123456789” coming in second place. If you have those passwords, you’ve given hackers a free ride to stealing your personal data.
If your passwords aren’t quite that bad, security experts still recommend that you create lengthy passwords that include some combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters. Consider using a password manager like LastPass or 1Password to keep you on track throughout the year.
Declutter Photos and Other Files
Photos take up a ton of space on devices. Try moving them from your phone and computer to an external drive or cloud solution. Narrow down your photos to an album of your favorite moments from 2017, and then offload the rest into digital storage.
While you’re at it, do a sweep of your computer folders and email accounts and clear out the clutter. If you’re struggling under the weight of hundreds of unread emails, pledge to set aside some time each week to go through them. Organize old digital files and make sure they have identifiable names, so they’re always easy to find.
Back Up Everything
For many, backing up files is something that tends to slip between the cracks. And the longer you go without a backup, the more overwhelming it can seem to make one. Explore your options: consider external hard drives or cloud backups, and set your phone to automatically backup. Your future peace of mind will be worth the trouble now.
What are your resolutions—tech or otherwise—for 2018?
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Fantastic idea! I am going to be on this in the new year, I think I’m quite good with my passwords but I should really back up all my work and save precious irreplacable photographs that are jamming up my phone 🙂
Changing passwords is a practice we use at work but I also need to incorporate this for our personal accounts.
omg this post is so relatable! i need to back up everything and also clear out my laptop! so many things ont here! changing password could be a good idea too!
I NEED to organize and declutter my digital life so this is the perfect post! I have seen tons of helpful resolutions but this may Be one of my faves.
Xx,
Aïchatou Bella
http://www.stilettosandstandards.com
This is such an interesting post and very helpful. I will definitely adopt this to my personal use. Changing password could be a great idea.
This is definitely a great post for how to declutter. I definitely need to do a couple of these things. I love to get rid of things but my husband loves to hoard. I still can’t believe 2018 is already upon us.
I have been desperately trying to de-clutter my electronics! I have tons of apps for my kids but mostly just too many photos lol!
My tech New Years resolution is to do digital detoxes. I’m not going to rely on social media so much as well as cleaning up some of my files.
What a great and interesting post for this year. I think I need to change my passwords to all my accounts.
This is such a fantastic idea! I really need to change my old passwords and back up my data! My phone got stolen earlier in November and I am so gutted that I didn’t have a back up of some photos!