It might be difficult to find the right words to describe the year 2020 but ‘unforgettable’ is at least accurate for now. As we slam the door closed to this year, looking forward to the next one seems odd without knowing exactly what’s in store. So for now, let’s focus on recovering from the stress of 2020, go easy on ourselves and each other, and fill a New Year’s resolution list with a few easy, achievable goals for your everyday technology that will keep things running smoothly in 2021.
Check out these ideas for setting some tech New Year’s resolutions:
Clean Your Smartphone Regularly
Set aside a small chunk of time once a week to go through your smartphone and declutter. If you’re not sure where to start, check out our previous guide, How To Organize and Deep Clean Your Smartphone.
Backup All of Your Data Regularly
Set up each of your devices to be automatically backed up on a regular basis. Smartphones should be synced to your computer or the Cloud, while computers should be backed up to external hard drives. Important documents and files can be uploaded to a secure storage site like Google Drive.
Clean Your Inbox and Unsubscribe from Junk Mail
Take a moment to delete unnecessary emails that are clogging up your inbox. You can organize important emails with folders and flag anything that needs immediate attention. Unsubscribe to newsletters that you never end up reading to save yourself some time and headspace later.
Use Your Smartphone More, and Paper Less
Use the Notepad app and your calendar to write things down instead of jotting it on paper or sticky notes. It will help keep you organized so you don’t miss something important and also save paper!
Simplify Your Notifications
Go through the notification settings on your apps to minimize the ones that aren’t necessary and simplify your frequently used apps into more manageable alerts. If you want to keep your phone buzzing to a minimum, you can hide alerts from group chat messages or personal email accounts that don’t require immediate attention.
Limit Social Media
Our smartphones make it easy to set caps on the amount of time we spend on social media apps. Start by setting a realistic goal for yourself, and then subtract 15 minutes from it every week. When you feel inspired, see how long you can go without it for bigger stretches of time. Maybe at first you make it a few days, but by the end of the year you can stay away for up to a few weeks at a time. These social media cleanses are a great way to keep the habit from getting extreme.
Introducing a few, or all, of these resolutions can help free up more than just space on your device, but space in your brain as well. Decluttering the devices you look at regularly can lower visual stimulation and help keep you from becoming overwhelmed during your day to day routine because of it. So here’s to a simpler year. We hope that 2021 will bring great things for you, and yours. Thank you for being a part of our community and we look forward to helping you stay connected to those that matter.
Happy New Year from PogoZone!