Can digital hoarding be stressing us out ?
By Tracie R . Horton , CEO / Executive Director The Adanta Group
The answer is likely “ yes ”. We all may be guilty of being digital hoarders , especially at work . Speaking from personal experience , some of us , me included , use our work email system as a personal filing system – one that can easily be searched but doesn ’ t require me to invest much time in organizing it . This line of thinking is rather common in today ’ s digitally driven world , and much to the frustration of our agency ’ s IT Director , is the reason I have over 35,000 emails in my inbox alone . I am not alone . Another employee was discussing just this week the annoyance of her mailbox being full .
According to Norton . com , on average , Americans have 582 saved cell phone pictures , 2 unused or broken cell phones , 83 bookmarks , 20 icons on their desktops and more than 13 additional apps on their phones . Six percent of Americans surveyed were holding on to 1,000 – 3,000 unread emails and 9 % have over 20,000 unread emails . Sixty percent of Americans never
delete any pictures or videos from any of their digital devices .
Digital hoarders may collect emails , photos , articles , podcasts , or any type of computer files they believe they may want to visit in the future . In reality , people rarely get to access or use these items and clutter starts to build . Wikipedia defines digital hoarding as an emerging sub type of hoarding disorder characterized by individuals collecting excessive digital material which can lead to feelings of stress and disorganization . Some individuals experience anxiety when faced with disposing of digital items , particularly if they feel they are losing something important . Many people simply do not know how to organize their digital content or aren ’ t in the habit of doing so , lacking a method for determining what to keep and what to delete . Digital hoarding is also referred to as e-hoarding or cyber hoarding .
In 2013 , hoarding disorder was classified as a separate condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . Digital hoarding is just a new version of a familiar psychological challenge . Whether the problem is the hoarding of physical objects or digital files , the result in the same – stress – losing control of our environment and anxiety in dealing with an unmanageable situation . Hoarding is an anxiety disorder and studies have shown that even though people have a variety of reasons for digital hoarding , four types of digital hoarders have emerged .
• The anxious hoarder – this group consists of the people who are fearful that if they delete data , this action will have severe consequences . They need to keep all data “ just in case ”. The thought of throwing something away creates anxiety while retaining the data gives them a sense of comfort .
• The compliant hoarder – this group typically doesn ’ t hoard data by choice but are driven by workplace protocols or organizational expectations that make them hold on to things . This group typically is not emotionally attached to the data , but still can be impacted by the negative consequences of digital hoarding .
• The disengaged hoarder – this group simply doesn ’ t know what to do with all the clutter . This group may not typically be organized and can easily become overwhelmed with trying to clean up the cyber clutter and thus are unlikely to start the process .
• The collector – this group may not technically be hoarders at all . The collectors , despite having a lot of content , have a dedicated and organized place for it as well as a reason for retaining the data . Despite their organized approach , this group can still be impacted by the negatives of data hoarding .
Unfortunately , unless we act , the situation is likely to get worse . With digital storage capabilities ever increasing , it can feel like
38 • SEKY - Life in Southeast Kentucky June 2023