Digital Clutter Enthusiasts Threatening Planetary Health

In the digital age, the abundance of modern technology, social media, and the digitization of personal and business interactions have led to an unprecedented accumulation of digital content. This propensity for digital hoarding, as it was first coined in 2015, has emerged as a significant issue, with far-reaching implications for both individuals and the environment.

The term "digital hoarding" refers to the compulsive need to acquire and hold onto digital content without a clear purpose. A survey of 846 respondents revealed that digital hoarding is typically characterised by constant acquisition of digital contents, difficulty in discarding digital clutter, and a propensity for digital content clutter.

One individual who has grappled with digital hoarding is Mel Chapo. She found it challenging to delete even the most mundane things, such as pictures of her daughter, TikToks she had saved, or recipes she had screenshotted for later. Recognizing her digital hoarding allowed her to connect and empathize with her father, who has hoarded throughout his life. Mel felt renewed and "like a new person" when she started again with a new phone free from digital clutter.

However, the impact of digital hoarding extends beyond personal well-being. The energy consumption of data centers, which store this vast digital content, is staggering. A single data center can consume the equivalent electricity of 50,000 homes, and data centers collectively use more energy than some nation-states. They also have a larger carbon footprint than the aviation industry, accounting for 2.5% of all human-induced carbon dioxide.

Data centers consume immense electricity, primarily due to the computational intensity of activities like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency mining. These activities use quadruple the amount of electricity than normal kinds of computing or basic storage. The energy consumption of data centers is further exacerbated by the need for constant running of equipment for 24/7 access to data.

The environmental impact of data centers is not limited to carbon emissions. They use billions of gallons of water a day for cooling, which competes with local farmers' water resources. Furthermore, data centers have finite life spans of about two to three years and cycle through a lot of computing equipment made of rare metals like cobalt, vanadium, and lithium. The mining conditions for these metals are often horrific from a human rights standpoint.

The psychological effects of digital hoarding are also significant. Digital hoarding can lead to an inability to find important documents, fear and anxiety arising due to loss of data, inability to focus, and a toll on mental well-being. A 2022 paper published in the journal "Information & Management" found that 37% of one's total level of anxiety is explained by digital hoarding.

Anthropologist Steven Gonzalez Monserrate has observed the material infrastructure of the digital economy and lives, including massive buildings filled with hard drives that need constant running for 24/7 access to data. He suggests that the larger issues of data storage are structural and regulatory, and there hasn't been a concerted regulatory push at the UN level and at the level of governments to enforce climate standards for a more metabolically sustainable cloud.

As we navigate the digital age, it is crucial to be aware of the environmental and psychological impacts of digital hoarding. While cloud storage plans may seem cost-effective, the reality is that our digital clutter may be doing more harm than we think, and the scale and scope of the issue is snowballing. It is essential to strike a balance between the convenience of digital storage and the need for a more sustainable and psychologically healthier digital lifestyle.