Why You Should Declutter Your Digital Life

From old screenshots to junk emails and texts received a year ago, digital clutter is ever present in our lives—and easy to ignore. 

But every sent message, recorded video and voice note has an energy impact. Technology use relies on the transfer of data from our devices to servers stored in data centers. Those servers require electricity—and environmental resources, including water. 

Our forgotten digital clutter is stored in the cloud, which, abstract as it sounds, is realized in the form of servers in data centers that use air conditioning and water to keep cool. And to make sure we can access whatever we want, whenever we want, the systems are overly redundant to prevent outages. Storing those blurry photos and junk email—for not just you, but everybody—indefinitely, requires resources.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.