Tech helps preserve memories Marie Kondo would toss away
I’d like to tell you about the life-changing magic of not getting rid of things - and keeping them in the cloud.
Marie Kondo has inspired many of us to unstuff closets and discard piles of belongings banished to basements. But there’s a part of her decluttering process that feels out of sync with 21st-century tidying up. In her hit Netflix show, Kondo instructs people to sort through old photos and papers, and throw away the ones that don’t “spark joy.”
Throw them away? “By keeping less – documents, folders, files, emails, etc. – you create more space in your life,” Kondo told me. “Though digital clutter is not tangible like clutter in your home, I believe it carries the same weight.”
I don’t agree. Precious memories don’t need to go into dusty photo albums or the trash. They should go online.
With always-on Internet storage services known as the cloud, I store every photo I’ve taken – about 300,000 and counting. No, that wasn’t a typo. It costs $10 per month. Remember your birthday party in 2009? OK, me neither, but with a few taps on my phone I can pull up memories from that day. Or here’s my favorite party trick: Tapping on the image of a friend’s face, I can pull up the first photo I ever took of him.
Kondo’s method is about making sure that you have a sensible place for everything. The cloud is where I keep not just photos but also contracts, receipts, children’s drawings, digital books, your Christmas cards, things I want to buy, awesome puns, home videos and music. I can access them anywhere there’s an Internet connection through my phone, laptop, tablet or even TV.
To Kondo, I might look like a digital hoarder, though she puts it in more polite terms. “My tidying method is not about accommodating the size of the space you have available – it’s about choosing what to keep because it sparks joy,” she said. “Just because the cloud has endless space available doesn’t mean you have to fill it!”
That’s true, but moving things to the cloud can also make it easier to part with sentimental items – and even to get more enjoyment out of things. Cloud providers are getting remarkably good at doing the organizing for us with artificial intelligence software. The Internet is evolving to a place where no folding is required.
Your phone alone won’t get rid of your bell-bottom museum or 27 mismatched reindeer mugs. But an online tweak to Kondo’s techniques could make it easier for you to become a minimalist. You just have to become a digital maximalist.
The power of Kondo’s message is its simplicity. Does an object bring you joy? If not, thank it and toss it. The problem is, this process can be torture.
On Kondo’s TV show, people sob in front of piles of possessions, feeling guilt about throwing away gifts or not wanting to say goodbye to the people in photos. It is possible this sorting process can ease the pain of the past and teach gratitude. Just as often, I suspect, it becomes a reason to stop cleaning.
But in a world where a smartphone rarely leaves your side, getting rid of material possessions doesn’t have to mean getting rid of memories. The digital camera is as powerful a cleaning tool as a Hefty 30-gallon trash bag.
Souvenirs: Snap, toss. Recipes: Snap, toss. I’ve even said goodbye to old clothes this way, such as my first concert T-shirt. (It was En Vogue, who surely would support freeing your mind of the clutter.)
The problem the cloud can most help solve is piles of photos and papers. You can buy a scanner, or Google has a free and simple Photo Scan app for phones.
Easier yet: Try mail-away services that digitize photos for as little as 8 cents per photo, such as ScanMyPhotos.com and ScanCafe. com. Side benefit: Turning old photos digital keeps them safe from fire, floods and further yellowing.
If you do this, start by tidying your clothes and physical items first, suggests Kondo. “Through the process of tidying your home, you hone your decision-making skills and learn to identify what is really valuable to you,” Kondo said. “Refining your sensitivity to joy is critical, because you cannot physically take digital items into your hands to assess their meaning to you.”
There are costs to my approach. You’ll become a renter of online storage. We’re not talking about a ton of money: Prices start at $1 per month, and you can always stop by downloading your stuff. Just beware of any service, like Facebook, that offers endless free photo or video storage – it likely wants your data for some other purpose.