Anggriawan Sugianto

What Resetting My Phone Taught Me About Making Space

I usually know it’s time to reset my iPhone when two things happen: the storage is full, and everything starts moving more slowly than I’d like.

At that point, my phone and I are both a little frustrated. It’s running out of space, and I’m running out of patience.

I perform a factory reset at least once a year. Sometimes it feels like a practical response to a practical problem. My phone is crowded, so I clear it out and start fresh.

But over time, I’ve realized that the process is about more than storage. It gives me an opportunity to pause and ask a question I don’t always ask when I’m busy downloading, saving, and subscribing: If I were starting over, what would I choose to bring back?

Before the reset, I usually feel frustrated by my full, sluggish phone. Afterward, I feel happy—and I experience a sense of mental clarity.

The reset doesn’t magically organize my life. But it gives me a chance to start again with a little more intention.

A fresh start for your digital life: keep what matters, let go of the rest.

How Did My Digital Life Get So Crowded?

Digital clutter rarely arrives all at once. It builds quietly.

We download an app because we need it for one task. We save a document because it might be useful later. We take a screenshot so we won’t forget something, then forget the screenshot exists.

And then there’s WhatsApp.

WhatsApp is useful precisely because it makes sharing so easy. Photos, documents, and other files arrive in the middle of everyday conversations. But over time, those conversations can become a storage system of their own—one that isn’t always easy to sort through.

Many of the things I save were useful when I saved them. The problem isn’t necessarily that they were mistakes. It’s that I don’t always stop to ask whether they are still useful now.

That’s where the KonMari method gives me a helpful perspective.

What KonMari Helped Me See Differently

Marie Kondo’s KonMari method encourages us to imagine the life we want, tidy by category, and choose what to keep based on whether it “sparks joy.”

I find the shift in perspective especially useful. Rather than focusing only on what to throw away, the method asks us to pay attention to what we want to keep.

In a digital context, “spark joy” doesn’t have to mean that every file makes me smile. A document can earn its place because it’s useful. A photo can matter because it preserves a memory. A work record may need to be retained because of a responsibility to a client or team.

My version of the question is simple: Instead of asking only, “How do I free up space?” I also ask, “What deserves space in my life?”

Applying KonMari to apps, files, and phone resets is my own adaptation of the method. I don’t think there’s a single perfect way to do it. The value is in becoming more deliberate about what stays.

My Annual Phone Reset: Frustration, Patience, and a Fresh Start

The most time-consuming part of my reset isn’t removing apps. It’s dealing with WhatsApp.

Deleting unnecessary files sounds straightforward until I remember that some important documents or photos might still be mixed in. Then the process becomes less like emptying a bin and more like sorting through a drawer: I need to look before I throw anything away.

Ideally, I move important WhatsApp files to Google Drive and organize them by context. That way, they have a more useful home than a conversation thread I may have to search through months later.

In reality, a few important files or photos sometimes remain in WhatsApp because I haven’t moved them yet. I’m okay with that. My goal isn’t to empty WhatsApp completely. It’s to make sure that what remains is genuinely worth keeping.

Backing up WhatsApp and syncing everything to the cloud takes the longest. Decluttering other apps is relatively quick by comparison.

There’s nothing glamorous about waiting for a backup to finish. But once the reset is done, the fresh start feels good. For me, that feeling of clarity is part of the reward.

A note before you try this: A factory reset is optional, and it isn’t necessary to declutter your digital life. If you do reset your phone, verify your backups and make sure you can recover your accounts, authentication codes, messages, and important files first. Also, restoring a full backup may bring much of your previous setup back.

For WhatsApp in particular, saving individual files to Google Drive is not the same as having a restorable chat backup. On an iPhone, check the status of your WhatsApp backup and the account details needed to restore it. WhatsApp’s backup guidance explains what to check.

Can Digital Decluttering Help Mental Well-Being?

I feel clearer after resetting my phone. But a personal experience isn’t the same thing as scientific proof, so I was curious about what research actually says.

One study of 60 adults in dual-income households looked at how people described their homes. Among the women in the study, descriptions emphasizing clutter and unfinished work were associated with different daily cortisol patterns and mood over the course of the day.

That’s interesting, but there are limits to what we can conclude. The study observed associations; it didn’t prove that clutter caused those patterns or that tidying would change them. It also looked at physical homes, not digital files.

Research on digital interruptions offers another perspective. In a two-week email study, participants reported lower daily stress during the week they were asked to limit email checking than during the week they could check freely.

A separate smartphone notification experiment found that receiving alerts in three batches a day was associated with lower stress and greater well-being. Interestingly, turning notifications off entirely came with its own trade-offs, including more anxiety and fear of missing out for some participants.

My takeaway isn’t that everyone should reset their phone or turn off every alert. It’s that our digital environments are worth paying attention to—and that small changes may be worth experimenting with.

For me, a reset creates a sense of clarity. For someone else, a simpler notification schedule or a more organized photo library might be enough. Digital decluttering can be a helpful habit, but it isn’t a treatment for anxiety, depression, or other mental health conditions.

Declutter by Category, Not by Device

One of the ideas I appreciate most from KonMari is tidying by category. Instead of asking whether my phone or laptop is tidy, I can look at the types of things that have accumulated: apps, notifications, files, photos, and sentimental items.

That doesn’t mean I have to review every device in a single sitting. It just gives me a more useful way to think about what I’m keeping.

1. Apps and Subscriptions: What Still Earns Its Place?

I’m generally quite efficient when it comes to decluttering apps and subscriptions. If I’m no longer using something, I’m comfortable letting it go.

My approach to video-on-demand subscriptions is a good example. If there’s a particular movie or series I want to watch on Netflix, Disney+, or another service, I might subscribe for one month and then cancel promptly. That way, I don’t forget about an automatic renewal when I may not intend to keep watching.

I don’t think subscriptions are inherently bad. I just prefer to choose them deliberately. Sometimes a service is worth paying for every month. Sometimes one month is enough.

Question to ask: Which apps or subscriptions am I keeping out of habit rather than intention?

2. Notifications and Communication: Who Gets My Attention?

Not every app needs to tap me on the shoulder throughout the day.

I disable alerts for social media and other distracting apps. For other apps whose updates can wait, I use the iPhone’s Scheduled Summary feature. I’ve set it to deliver summaries three times a day: 8:30 AM, 12:30 PM, and 6:30 PM.

I still allow real-time notifications for a handful of priorities. Google Chat is one example because I use it to coordinate work with my team at Suitmedia.

For me, the goal isn’t to become unreachable. It’s to distinguish between what needs my attention now and what can wait until later.

Question to ask: Which notifications are genuinely useful—and which merely interrupt me?

3. Files and Notes: Keep What Is Useful, Rewrite What Has Changed

WhatsApp files are the hardest part of my own decluttering process. I want to remove the unnecessary files without accidentally losing something important.

Moving useful documents and photos to Google Drive, organized by context, is my ideal. But I’ve also learned to accept that the system won’t always be perfect. An important photo can remain in WhatsApp for a while. It doesn’t become less important just because I haven’t filed it yet.

I take a similar approach to my notes in Apple Notes and Google Keep. I review them regularly, remove some, and rewrite others when my thinking has changed.

A note doesn’t need to stay in its original form forever. Sometimes the most useful thing I can do is update it.

Question to ask: Can I find my important information when I need it?

4. Photos and Media: Preserve the Memory, Reduce the Repetition

I sync my photos to Google Photos and regularly clean up duplicate images. The goal isn’t to reduce every experience to one photograph. It’s to preserve the moments I value while making the collection easier to navigate and enjoy.

I like to think of this as appreciation rather than aggressive deletion. The point is not to prove how few photos I can keep. It’s to make the meaningful ones easier to find again.

Question to ask: Which photos do I want to revisit—and which are simply taking up space?

A practical caution: Before deleting photos, check your backup and sync settings. Depending on how you delete an image, the change may affect synced copies. Google Photos’ deletion guidance is worth reviewing first.

5. Sentimental Digital Items: Keep Them Deliberately

Some digital items are difficult to evaluate because their value isn’t practical. An old message, a personal project, or a family photo may not help me complete a task, but that doesn’t mean it has no place in my life.

I think it helps to leave these decisions until later, after reviewing easier categories. And when something is irreplaceable, it deserves a backup and a place where it can be found.

Not everything needs to be optimized. Some things deserve space simply because they matter to us.

Question to ask: What would I genuinely miss if it disappeared?

What Digital KonMari Looks Like at Work

The same idea applies beyond my personal phone. At work, digital clutter can appear as overlapping tools, too many communication channels, recurring meetings, and documents that are difficult to distinguish from newer versions.

That doesn’t mean the solution is to remove as much as possible. A workplace needs tools, records, and conversations. The better question is whether each one has a clear purpose.

For example:

• Are we paying for multiple tools that solve the same problem?
• Which notifications help us coordinate, and which can wait?
• Do recurring meetings still help people make decisions or stay connected?
• Can the team easily find current documents while preserving useful older material?

A simpler workplace isn’t necessarily one with fewer tools. It’s one where people understand why the tools exist and how to use them.

Of course, shared workspaces are different from personal ones. Before removing files or changing systems, we need to consider ownership, team needs, client obligations, and retention requirements. What looks like clutter to one person may be important context to another.

A 90-Minute Digital Declutter

You don’t need to factory-reset your phone to start. If you’d like to try a gentler version, set aside 90 minutes and focus on one area:

1. 10 minutes: Pick your friction point. Is it full storage, too many notifications, forgotten subscriptions, or difficulty finding files?
2. 20 minutes: Review apps and subscriptions. Remove or cancel what you no longer need.
3. 20 minutes: Adjust notifications. Keep important alerts and quiet or schedule the rest.
4. 30 minutes: Review one file category. Try screenshots, notes, or messaging attachments. Preserve important items before deleting anything.
5. 10 minutes: Choose a maintenance habit. Schedule a short review at an interval that feels realistic to you.

There’s no need to finish your entire digital life in one afternoon. If you make one category easier to manage, that’s already a useful start.

Making Space Is an Ongoing Practice

After I reset my phone, it feels good to start fresh. But I know the storage will gradually fill up again. New photos will arrive. Documents will be shared. I’ll probably take more screenshots that seemed important at the time.

That’s normal. Digital clutter isn’t a personal failure, and the goal isn’t to maintain a perfectly empty phone.

For me, the value of the reset—and of digital KonMari more broadly—is the opportunity to pause and make a choice. What is still useful? What holds meaning? What can I let go of? And what deserves my attention now?

A calmer digital life doesn’t begin with deleting everything. It begins with knowing what deserves to stay.