700 000 files

05 May, 2023

Or: mindful digital consumption

Over the past weeks I've turned my attention to digital decluttering. I was aware that I had a lot of files, the total size starting to approach several terabytes.

I'd been dipping into folders here and there, deleting stuff I wasn't using. At some point I started wondering where the most effective avenue to focus my efforts would be.

I've never taken stock of how many individual files I have. I created an excel spreadsheet for each of my main folders and listed the file counts. The result staggered me.

*There were over 700 000 files.**

No way I'm actually using all those.

What's next?

I'm continuing to track my file counts in the spreadsheet - I plan to do a new count every week. Knowing the numbers I'm already a lot more critical of what I save to my folders.

**the count doesn't include system files.*