We all know spring is upon us, which means spring cleaning will soon be in full swing. I want you to think for a second: when is the last time you cleaned and organized your phone? Do you have old screenshots of funny memes and recipes you never made filling up your photo storage? Do you have random notes files you made and never opened up again? What about that game you downloaded and never played? The time has come to rid of it and complete a digital detox!
- go through your photos app.
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I know most of us have hundreds to thousands of photos on our camera roll. I personally like to back up my photos using the Google Photos app. This allows me to access them on any device through my login. Once I back them up on the app, I delete them off my actual phone storage. You can do this, or you can go through your camera roll and delete photos. I do this quite often. I scroll through and delete old screenshots and duplicate photos. For example, if you took multiple photos of one thing, you can choose the best one and delete the others. This will free up a lot of room.
- sort through old emails.
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Your email app can take up a lot of storage space. I try to keep my email inbox organized and sifted through each week. Go through each email and decide whether you will need it in the future, or if it can be tossed into the trash bin. Keeping your inbox as slim as possible will make finding certain information easier and free up space.
- delete random notes you never used again.
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I don’t know about you, but when I need to jot something down so I remember it, I make a new notes file in my notes app. After a while, they pile up into a jumble of random thoughts. If you’ve never used certain notes or do not need them anymore, delete them. It also helps me to organize my notes into specific folder names. I have one for work and one for life.
- delete unnecessary contacts.
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I feel like this is one most people overlook. After group projects and classes are over, I often forget to delete unneeded contacts from my phone. For example, I had contacts from high school of people I no longer stay in touch with. If you don’t stay in contact with certain individuals, don’t feel guilty deleting their contact off your phone. If you need to reach them, you could always send them a social media direct message anyway.
- detox social media apps.
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I love to detox my social media apps. This includes going through your list of followers or friends and deleting accounts that don’t serve or support you. If certain accounts make you feel bad about yourself, or you find yourself making comparisons with them, simply unfollow them. Social media should be a positive experience for you—never disparaging. When I complete social media detoxes, I also like to change my profile photo and cover photo. On Instagram, I also go through my posts and see if there are any I would like to delete or archive from my profile grid. I also like to go through my direct message conversations and clear any I no longer need.
- limit the number of games you have.
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Games take up unnecessary storage if you do not regularly play them. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have a few games on my phone to pull out and play when I’m waiting or bored. I play Happy Color and Word Cookies almost every day, so I keep those on my phone. I also have Scattergories (which my boyfriend and I play each other on), Magic Tiles, and Color Switch. My rule of thumb is that, if you have not played it in a few months, delete it. You can always re-download a game if you want to play it again in the future. Try to limit yourself to 4-5 games at a time on your phone.
- clear browsing history and old texts.
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If you have an iPhone, you can easily clear browsing history from the Safari app by going to Settings. Click on “Safari” and scroll down to where it says “Clear History and Website Data” in blue letters. By clicking this, your phone will delete your browsing history and clear up space on this app. Also, scroll back through old text conversations and delete ones you no longer need. I do this frequently, and it allows my conversations to be more organized within the messages app.
- clear cache data.
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My last tip in performing a phone detox is to clear cache data from every app. I do this with my social media apps a lot. You don’t realize how much data they store from usage every day. With each of these apps, you can usually go into the settings and find a button that says “clear cache.” Cache data is information stored on your phone after you visit a website or app to improve your online experience. You do not necessarily need to clear this type of data, but I try to in order to clear storage space on my phone. It is a quick way to do so.
I hope you find these tips helpful for giving your phone a nice reset for springtime! Once you organize everything, remember to take a step away from technology to get outside in the nice weather! It’s all about balance!