Digital hoarding
Written on 12–07–2014
I recently had to backup my phone. I was switching from my HTC One, which is Android, to the lumia 1020, which is a Windows Phone.
I looked through to see what I wanted to save. And I encountered the issue that the chat programs don't transfer conversations over to the new phone.
Is it a big deal? It reminded me of the days of upgrading my computer, and saving my AOL Instant Messenger conversations, or ICQ chats. Why is it such a big deal? Did I ever bother to look back over them? Is it just for the future, just in case?
Recently I watched a classic movie (just a little bit) with Audrey Hepburn. Mr. Miller was commenting to her that some people write in diaries. And some people are so busy living life they don't have time to write diaries.
I haven't gone over stuff in a long time. Will there be a time in the future my life will slow down and I want to look over these memories?
I think this is digital hoarding. But it is hard to define digital hoarding. Because the definition of "hoarding" in life is when the act of collecting affects one's life. With material possessions this may happen in many ways. One could have collected so much stuff there is no room for a person to live. Some of these people then move out to somewhere else. Or there may be rat infestations or other things. But in digital hoarding there is no limitation of physical space. Now with hard drives reaching terabytes (one thousand gigabytes) easily, and with cloud storage (some of which advertise "unlimited" space) there doesn't seem to be a limitation to how much one can store.
But I think it is an issue, all the same. The need to keep everything.
In the past it was harder to keep every single record of one's life. One could photograph, but then the film has to be developed, which consumes time and money. One could journal, but that also takes time.
Now one could record one's life on a gopro, and just save all the files, daily. Or even upload it automatically.
What is the point of saving everything? Why is everything so important? Is it bad if one "forgets"?
There are some ways of saving that are socially unacceptable. It varies from digging in the trash (very bad) to packing up leftover food from the restaurant in a napkin (getting a box would be additional waste). In Taiwan they have made it the norm (or at least not strange) to bring your own utensils. Today, when I went to grab a spoon from the dispenser for my yogurt at the hotel, I realized there are 3 huge dispensers for disposable plastic utensils. What a waste!
In America it is more common now to bring your own reusable mug for coffee. Some places even give you a discount.
But many times it seems luxury is about wasting. In the first-class cabin on the airplane there are toothbrushes for you to use. They are one-time use only, with a little tube of one-time use toothpaste. Is it more important to freshen up your breath or to save some plastic?
The pajamas provided in first-class are yours to keep. Even if they washed it, some people would be bothered by the idea of reusing pajamas. So, they are effectively one-time use as well.
Isn't that waste?
But to keep your house from getting cluttered you need to throw out many things that are perfectly useable. If you collect everything, you accumulate clutter.
From my stays at hotels I have collected many bottles of shampoo. Why do I keep them? Because I can? Because it is free? They fill up one and a half drawers in the bathroom counter.
And I think it is stupid. I stopped collecting free toiletries. I don't use them. They just take up space.
And I don't take home many leftovers nowadays. I just leave it. I don't mind wasting food. If I try to finish it'll just make me fatter.
But what is the right amount to save? If I keep all the boxes leftover from unpacking my items, I will fill up a room. If I don't, when I need a box for shipping something in the future I will have to go out and buy a new one. What a waste! When I had a perfectly good one I could have re-used.
