I know I’m not the only one annoyed by the recent uptick in spammy emails and those awful robocalls. Add the never-ending phone and app notifications and junk mail to the mix, and it’s easy to understand why we all feel overwhelmed most days. I need a digital declutter!

Studies show that people check their phones every 15 minutes, regardless of age, and actually feel anxious if they can’t. At the same time, it’s been proven that multitasking and juggling multiple tasks (such as having a conversation while texting) actually results in decreased productivity and engagement and increases feelings of anxiety and stress.

We live in a world where too many inputs, distractions, and notifications are providing information at a rate that’s often difficult for us to fully process. The digital clutter conversation is no longer about how to live with less technology. Technology is and will continut to be a large part of our lives.

Now the focus has to alter toward setting boundaries, protecting ourselves, and creating healthy habits around the input we allow into our individual lives. Our attention and brain power is being siphoned away by digital clutter. This is why “being present” has become a thing. Presence, the act of being present in the moment, is something that we – as humans in this ever distracting world we now live in- have to TRY to do. 

Episode 11 on Reaching Abundance: Digitally Decluttering and Increasing Presence

Listen on iTunes | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Stitcher

Apparently, we’re approaching having the same attention span as goldfish, which is insulting to say the least. So basically, even if you don’t have ADD, after being bombarded with non-stop videos, ads, notifications, and emails all day, it’s quite possible you feel like you may. There’s no better time for a digital purge ☺️

Thus the question:

How do you increase presence and decrease the screen time, the inputs, emails, junk mail, rob calls, and notifications? 

How do we – in today’s society – turn down the noise?

Here’s the deal, I’m not going to get into creating a “zen” desktop, teach you how to reach Inbox-Zero, or talk to you about organizing your apps into categories on your phone. 

This article is about reducing the mental and paper clutter, eliminating distractions, and going Konmari on the unneeded input we receive daily. Studies show that just knowing that you’ve received a notification is as distracting as actually responding to a text or receiving a phone call. Digital clutter like calls, bings, beeps, and online FOMO is constantly interrupting our train of thought, our family time, our day, and our attention. 

Listen to this via YouTube:

Short Lived Attempts

Several of my friends have gone through periods of attempting to minimize digital clutter by deleting their Facebook app, making insane sacrifices to escape to mountain retreats to “get away”, and I’ve even witnessed a few of them pullback in their career and accept lower-paid positions in an attempt to reduce the stress, overwhelm, and demands placed on them by the constant binging and beeping and ever-needy internet-based world. 

I, admittedly, struggle with this too and am constantly attempting to trick myself into reducing screen time and finding presence in this digitally driven society. I plug my phone in to charge in the back room of the house, leave it in my purse on purpose, or put it face down on the counter with something on top of it sometimes. This is my way of attempting an out-of-sight-out-of-mind solution and to find that peace that we all crave.

Maybe you’ve implemented some of the same rules I have, like no phones at the dinner table or no phones in the bedroom. Those are great starts to minimizing the attention stolen by these devices, but here are some ways to permanently reduce the digital clutter and distraction in our lives. 

Robocalls, Scammers, and Random Numbers

Beginning with the thing that’s annoying us the most right now, did you know that over 31 billion robocalls were made in 2017? That was 2 years ago. Millions more, maybe billions more were placed this year and I think our increasing level of annoyance at every phone ring from an unrecognized number is proof. 

My voice mail was full the other day, which is apparently 20 messages. Now, I knew friends and family hadn’t called and left me 20 messages because the only times my phone rang in the prior couple of days, the number showing up on the screen was not one I knew. So, after checking my voicemail, these were the results. 

10 – “It’s open enrollment season…”

4 – “You’ve won a cruise…”

1 – “This is your last chance to buy the extended warranty…”

The rest were illegible beeps or hangups and 1 was my husband and the message he’d left was something we already talked about. So I’m sure it was one of those times I just called him right back after seeing the missed call. 

Basically, out of 20 voice mails, 1 was something I care about from someone I care about. In addition, the digital annoyance topic has come up in conversation at networking events, kids’ birthday parties, and even just between the hubs and I multiple times over the past few weeks. So, I know I’m not the only one irritated, distracted, or feeling unfocused and I’m ready to help us all put a stop to it.

The National Do Not Call Registry

My first bit of research toward decluttering my digital life led me to donotcall.gov where you can easily type in your phone number and email to register on the National Do Not Call List. There’s even the option to just check if you’d ever registered before. I found out that I had registered my number on the list in 2008. I went through the verification process again for the hub’s number and found that he was not on the list, so I added his number. 

Here’s the thing though, adding your number to the Do Not Call Registry is a necessary and meaningful step and doing so should stop any legit companies from calling. Scammers don’t care if your number is on the list though. They’re illegal scammers and they don’t follow the rules, so what then? 

Help From Your Carrier

After registering on donotcall.gov, call your carrier. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon all have some form of Premium Caller ID and Scam Block services available. Some carriers may offer features that are free, but only provided to those who ask, and then others may have a $2-$4 a month fee for the service. 

Revenge Apps

Since illegal scammers don’t pay any attention to the Do Not Call Registry, there are apps like Nomorobo and Robokiller that you can buy. They aim to identify and stop the robocall, and depending on which app/features you buy they can identify when the scammers are dialing 1000s of numbers at once or even answer for you with a hilarious answer bot. 

Now, I hope you know I’m not one to tell you to buy more apps and increase your monthly cell phone bill, but my sanity and peace are worth $2-$4. So these services are feeling more and more valid at this point. 

Reduce All Phone Input

As it pertains to regular phone settings under your direct control, consider turning off notifications or at least adjusting the settings, programming do not disturb hours, buying a watch and a couple of old-fashioned clocks for around the house. This type of basic digital decluttering can prevent you from being accidentally sucked into Facebook when you were initially just trying to see what time it was.  Digital decluttering of the phone can also be within apps we tend to use often. I’ve periodically deleted unused apps, unfollowed/unfriended accounts that I find annoying, and I’ve even turned off the data usage for certain apps. Intentionally creating a boundary so that I can only browse when I’m on wifi automatically limits what I can do with my phone most of the time and provides an almost instant digital clutter cleanse. 

Mailbox (Physically) Full

The next input that I think annoys me the most is junk mail, and by this I mean the physical amount of flyers, advertisements, and meaningless envelopes delivered by the US Postal service each day. 

For one, it wastes my time to have to look through a pile of junk. For two, there’s so much wasted paper and ink and quite frankly I just toss it all in the recycle bin anyway.  And finally, all that junk mail wastes a ripple of resources across the globe – the gas to deliver it, the postal service’s time, the mailers’ money… and what about the people who don’t recycle their junk mail? It pains my eco-friendly soul to think about how our society is unnecessarily filling up landfills with trash. 

Here are some ways to reduce your junk mail: 

Data Brokers

Most mailers obtain addresses from one of the two largest data brokers, Acxiom and InfoUSA. Get your address removed from these lists and that should cut down on a significant amount of advertisements entering your mailbox. Acxiom has an easy-to-use opt-out form on their site: isapps.acxiom.com/optout/optout.aspx while InfoUSA requests that you email them at contentfeedback@infogroup.com

Phone Books

To stop the periodical delivery of a telephone book, head to yellowpagesoptout.com I can’t remember the last time we received one, and the only time we ever wanted one was to use it as a booster for the kids to sit on.

Catalogs & Magazines

We don’t see many physical catalogs anymore since most of these companies are now online, but if you do, consider emailing optout@epsilon.com, which is the parent company to Abacus, the master list company from which most catalog and publishing companies get their information. Put “Remove” in the subject line and your name and address in the body of the message.

Unwanted magazines? A quick google search will take you to their website where you can easily opt-out or cancel your subscription. If it’s something you’ve paid for, you may even get a little refund.

Contests & Advertisements

Next up is all the junk mail associated with contests and advertisements of that sort. Removing your name and information from the lists of the two biggest, Publishers Clearing House and Readers’ Digest, should significantly trim this type of junk mail. Head to http://pch.custhelp.com/app/ask_mailing and then email rdstoreservice@rd.com and request removal.

Coupons

OK, what else is “junk mail” to you? Do you get those packages of coupons like I do? Those are from RedPlum, which is now owned by RetailMeNot, and Valpak. So, you might be thinking “What, she’s telling me to unsubscribe from coupons??” Ok, yes, I am – this is why: While those coupons may be useful if you were looking to do a home improvement project, try a new restaurant, or for an upcoming oil change, there are other ways to obtain these coupons. And honestly, if you even open that pack of coupons, you probably only actually use one or two of them. This is a waste of paper, mail, time, and effort. There are apps for everything – if you want to try a new restaurant or get a discount on something, use Groupon instead. Unsubscribe from Valpak coupons at https://www.valpak.com/coupons/show/mailinglistsuppression and from RedPlum (which is RetailMeNot) at https://www.retailmenot.com/everyday/unsubscribe

There’s An App for That

One last thing on the mail issue – there’s an app called PaperKarma that allows you to take a photo of the unwanted mail and attempts to do the unsubscribing legwork for you. If you’ve done some or all of the above, and are still receiving too much junk, you may consider this. 

I haven’t gotten quite there yet, but I’m thinking about trying it out! 

As a side note, if all this digital declutter is interesting to you, but you know you really need to work on the physical aspect of clutter, check out this program called Your Uncluttered Home 

Are you a checklist person like me? I know what you’re thinking: 

I’m on the do not call list

I’m going to unsubscribe from publishers clearing house and Valpak

I’m going to email a few of these output addresses

But, what about all the insurance and financial advertisements I receive? 

Existing Financial Accounts

Aside from clicking the “go paperless” option inside of each of your existing financial accounts and agreeing to receive statements and notifications via email only, I strongly suggest closing any accounts you don’t use. The minimal blip in your credit score is worth the peace of mind. 

I’m happy, yet annoyed when I receive a thick envelope from one of my cards in the mail and all that’s in it is a bunch of terms and conditions with a 0 balance statement.  About 1x per year, I pull and check my credit report for free with annualcreditreport.com (the only authorized website for free credit reports, according to the FTC) and I close any and all unneeded or unused accounts. 

When you close an account, not only will you no longer receive mail from them, but your account is no longer open an available to scammers. You can’t get your credit card number stolen or have fraudulent charges made on a closed account. The protection here is two-fold! 

Credit companies occasionally mail paper balance transfer checks to cardholders. I suggest placing a quickk phone call to request no further checks ever be mailed to your address. Tell them this is a security concern and that you never want balance transfer or other offers mailed, there’s always an option for them to email these offers instead.

Pre-Approved New Offers

We occasionally receive pre-screened, pre-approved balance transfer offers to entice us to open a new card. These are in a separate bucket from everything else listed above. To put a stop to these, head to optoutprescreen.com where you’ll remove your name from lists provided by the consumer credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion). This site provides you the option to electronically opt out for 5 years or, do what we did, and permanently opt out by mail. I printed out a form for each, my husband and myself, signed it, and sent it in. 

You’ve Got Mail

At this point, we’ve tackled the robocalls, junk mail, and even financial advertisements. Email is a whole different beast. I said at the beginning of this that I’m not going to teach you how to organize things into folders or teach you how to achieve inbox zero and I provided a few links for that. 

Instead, I’m sharing some tools that can help you unsubscribe from unwanted emails and that may help you clear some digital clutter from your inbox. 

One thing it’s important for all consumers to know, is that all email messages from any marketer or advertiser are required by law to have an unsubscribe option. Gmail users are provided a link at the top where, if clicked, Gmail unsubscribes you from that sender. Directly unsubscribe from each sender’s list by clicking in the footer (at the bottom) of their email. 

Free Inbox Sorter

A free inbox sorter/ assistant I use is called Unrollme.  It scans your inbox for emails received on a consistent basis and then provides  the option to select, per sender, whether you want it to Add to Rollup, Keep in Inbox, or Unsubscribe. For any items you still want to see, but not in your inbox, you’d select Add to Rollup, which prompts Unrollme to move those message to a folder and provide you a weekly summary of everything that’s in that grey area – the things you don’t want in your inbox, but also don’t want to unsubscribe from…yet.

I consider myself a pretty organized and zen email inbox person and this program still found over 500 subscriptions! It’s totally free and I’ve been using it for a couple of years now to help digitally declutter my life. 

Another similar program (this one I haven’t tried, but I’ve heard great things about…) called Mailstrom. Both Unrollme and Mailstrom use a certain level of artificial intelligence to estimate what you think is important and help automate that sorting process between your inbox, folders, and unsubscribes – all of which I find useful, because trust me, I had no idea that 500 sites had my email address and I bet you’ll be shocked at the numbers too!

Direct Marketing Association

Have you heard of www.dmachoice.org? This is the Direct Marketing Association and through their email opt out service, you may remove your email address from US based marketers’ lists for 6 years. Doing so will not completely stop commercial emails from being delivered to you, but it will remove your email from marketers’ lists who use the eMPS to clean their lists. 

Decluttering Digitally and Finding More Peace

I sincerely hope all of this helps you digitally declutter, experience less interruptions in your life, and helps you create the space you need to lower your stress level and be more present by establishing separation from all of the electronic attention-hoarders in our lives. 

I’m Walking the Walk With You

With all of this being said, my research and information came from the Federal Trade Commission, huffpost.com, The Washington Post, and more. I went to these sites, entered my information, and did all the things I’m suggesting for you to do. As with any of this, it could take 30 days to see a reduction in the number of calls or the amount of junk mail you’re receiving.

Stay Cautious

Be weary of websites that require you to enter personal information. Read what the site says and make sure you wound up there from a reliable source like the FTC like I did. Look carefully at any check-boxes or buttons before clicking “submit” and go old school and print confirmations or whatever you have to do to protect yourself and keep record of what was submitted. 

Homework? Yeah, but it’s worth it.

Yes, going through each of these steps is annoying and takes time. But, what’s better – 9 robocalls while we’re trying to have family dinner or a couple hours out of 1 day to take care of all this? 

It’s up to you, of course, whether you do one or all of the instructions enclosed. Either way, I’m just so happy to be able to provide you this as a resource to reduce, and hopefully eliminate,  the unwanted distractions in your life. 

I want to be clear-headed, calm, and present with my family, and I’m sure you do too!

This is one of those things we don’t even realize how much time or energy it’s taking away until we really stop and think about it. Well, here’s your chance!