Digital minimalism: how do you KonMari a 10-year text message history?

Our hard drives are full of all kinds of clutter, but you can't hold those files in your hands to see if they spark joy

Leaving a long-term relationship, you find yourself standing on the precipice of a life yet unlived; all of a sudden the accumulated trinkets and tchotchkes of" your life together exist only to mock you in your unspoken grief. There's no better time to get into getting rid of stuff.

After she emptied our house of all "that she wanted, I emptied it a second time, of everything that we had grown to want together. I embraced the spartan wisdom of Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - the self-help manual de rigueur for people who want to want less. Like a barren arctic island basking in my daily hour of sunlight, I proudly embraced an aesthetic of Scandinavian noir-chic, telling anyone within earshot that the drab palette and multiple timber-veneer Arkelstorp side tables were the trappings of a new and more mature me, a me that was as comfortable owning six oversized beige floor lamps and playing at underwear origami as I was being alone.