Why You Desperately Need a Digital Spring Cleaning

Like so many ill-fated journalists of 2024, I also lost my job this year. As media companies guillotined their staff to cut their Q1 budgets, I was also forced to adjust my spending and recalibrate my life. I factored in my essential costs (rent, utilities, food, gas) and bid a temporary farewell to frivolous spending (Sephora hauls, chronic eating out, $8 lattes).

One cost I only considered once I was faced with my existential options was my tech and digital footprints. I was on the last legs of an old iPhone—cracked screen et al—with a battery that drained every three hours. My Gmail storage was reaching its upper limits and my personal MacBook could not compete with the speed and processing power of my work laptop.

I was at my local Verizon store, facing a deadpan customer service rep asking if I wanted to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new phone with more storage. He said it was a great promotional offer and that I’d need it. He was right—I did need a new phone and more storage, now, more than ever. But I was completely paralyzed by the irony of needing to spend more, at a fiscally tough time, to try to get my life in order. And for something that was completely intangible.

Read more at The Daily Beast.