Woven Wonder? – The Tangled Web of Digital Waste

We marvel at the wonders of technology—how it connects us, empowers us, and stores our memories. But did you know that 90% of stored data is never accessed again, yet it continues to consume energy and resources? But like an overstuffed closet with the door closed, the digital world is also hiding a tangled web of digital waste.

This clutter isn’t just physical—it’s digital. And while we can’t trip over it, it clouds our minds, clutters our devices, and quietly strangles our planet—one data center at a time. These massive storage facilities, running 24/7, demand enormous amounts of energy, contributing significantly to global CO2 emissions.

I recently found myself caught in this tangle—again—when I had to clear 13 gigabytes on my phone just to install a software update (sound familiar?). Begrudgingly, I surrendered and paid for more iCloud storage. But deep down, I knew I was just feeding the problem, not solving it.

So, when I saw the Agile Alliance’s Digital Cleanup Gathering, I signed up. Frustration had reached its peak—I was ready to get out from under the mess. I wanted a fresh start, a real solution, not just another temporary fix. It was time for a dumpster dive into my own digital clutter. And wow—what a mess.

Untangling the Digital Threads

The “Obvious Mess” Threads – Big, tangled, and staring me in the face

🧵 Messages filled with pictures and videos from family and friends I felt guilty deleting.

🧵 WhatsApp attachments, forwards, and memes—uninvited guests who had multiplied and made themselves cozy at home.

🧵 A downloads folder so out of control that I’m convinced it’s spawning new files while I sleep.

The “Just in Case” Threads – Because who doesn’t love a digital security blanket?

🧵 Emails I will never open again. Sent-folder duplicates hoarded just in case.

🧵 Thousands of photos and videos, captured effortlessly but rarely revisited.

🧵 Every version of a PowerPoint presentation I have ever created—because apparently, final_v3_FINAL_THIS_ONE_REALLY.pptx wasn’t final after all.

🧵 Downloaded conference talks, whitepapers, and PDFs I totally planned to read.

The “Wishful Thinking” Threads – Aspirational content, never to be opened again.

🧵 Unwatched and unheard content. Downloaded podcasts, Spotify playlists, audiobooks—because future me was definitely going to get to them.

🧵 Newsletters I subscribed to with good intentions—but realistically never will read.

The “Hopeful Influencer” Threads

🧵 Two YouTube channels I started, then abandoned.

🧵 An untamed downloads folder, a graveyard of experimental Wix websites.

And this was just my digital junk.

A System-Wide Tangle

At a larger scale, I realized I’m part of a system that represents a bigger problem:

🧵 Recorded meetings that no one ever watches.

🧵 Outdated documentation, obsolete the moment after it’s written.

🧵 Bloated software designs that go far beyond their purpose.

🧵 Endless content creation. Webinars, virtual meetups, videos, podcasts—all accumulating indefinitely, pushed to every social media channel—stored with no projected expiry date.

Not a woven wonder I’m proud of. But as I looked at the sheer volume of digital debris, I realized this wasn’t just about my own clutter—it was part of a much larger problem. The way we store, share, and endlessly accumulate digital content has created a systemic issue that extends far beyond individual habits.

The Systemic Cost of Digital Waste

🚀 Digital waste isn’t just an individual issue—it’s a systemic one.

🔹 Our devices and cloud storage encourage limitless accumulation.

🔹 Companies prioritize content creation over content curation.

🔹 Our “just in case” mindset fuels hoarding—whether it’s emails, files, or meeting recordings. 🔹 Big tech thrives on infinite engagement, infinite storage, infinite consumption—offering no real incentive to optimize for sustainability, and no easy tools to declutter.

And the hidden costs go far beyond the pocketbook (Source: Digital Cleanup Day):

❗ 90% of stored data is never accessed again.

❗ 62 trillion spam emails per year = 20 million tons of CO2.

❗ The Internet produces 900 million+ tons of CO2 annually.

❗ By 2035, we will create more than 2,000 zettabytes of data.

A Woven Wonder Realization

We often think of the digital world as weightless, limitless, invisible. But in reality, every email, every file, every video is a thread in a vast, interconnected system—one that, if left unchecked, becomes tangled, knotted, and burdensome.

💡 If we rethink not just what we delete, but what we create and keep, we can reweave a system that values sufficiency over excess, quality over quantity, and wisdom over noise.

A Lesson from Agile: Cleaning Up in Steps

While cleaning up this mess can feel overwhelming and leave us frozen in inaction, Allison and Lisa reminded us that we can take a lesson from Agile and tackle it iteratively and incrementally:

Step 1: Make the mess visible – Like I did with my digital dumpster dive.

Step 2: Categorize the mess –

• Rubbish (delete immediately)

• Expiry Date (keep temporarily, then remove)

• Reduce Clutter (unsubscribe, simplify)

• Deduplicate (remove redundant copies)

Step 3: Set time for cleanups – Just start and schedule regular decluttering sessions to sustain sanity.

Step 4: Experiment with easy and efficient ways to clean up – Automate where possible (an iRobot for digital waste?).

🧵 What would your digital dumpster dive reveal?

Thank you to Lisa Crispin, Allison Lazarz, and Maryse Meinen 🍀 for the inspiration.