Hi everyone,
I hope you had a good start to the year, even with the political chaos we are in the middle of. My Facebook account is full of posts about what Donald Trump is up to at the moment and it's is more Trumpbook than Facebook to me.
A new year means a new start. I have committed to looking at what I can work on to create a better digital life for myself, and I would like to share what I am up to.
Photos
I am a digital hoarder and I have far too many photos and videos on my phone. At the moment, I have over 7,000 photos and videos - ridiculous. It’s not likely that I will need to look at photos from years ago, so I should get rid of most of them and only keep them from the last year or so.
In December, I started this challenge by developing all of the photos from 2016 that I wanted to keep as memories. Even if you store your photos digitally, they can vanish. The best way to prevent this is to develop them on paper and keep them safe. I used PhotoBox’s service and got the photos delivered within a few weeks.
I back up all my photos using Dropbox, and that creates a photo file on my computer. I went through that file and created a new folder where I put all the photos I wanted copies of and uploaded them to PhotoBox. It was pretty simple to do it, but it takes time to go through the pics.
My goal is to remove 80 percent of all of the photos on my phone to make it work faster.
I have heard that it’s good to back up your photos using Google Photos as well. I happen to be with Dropbox and will continue to use them. Read more about photos and storage here.
Passwords
I decided that I should get an application to help me with all of my confusing passwords. I researched among my friends on Facebook, and LastPass and 1Password got the most recommendations. I am about to pick one of them.
Newsletters
We move on and change interests over time and we need to let go of information that is sent to us all the time. I have spent 30 minutes per day for over a week unsubscribing from newsletters and deleting old newsletters that I will never read again. It’s a tedious job to do, but it was necessary. Building up too many newsletter subscriptions is not good for anyone.
I know there are some services that help you to unsubscribe from newsletters, such as unroll.me, but I was not happy with them so I did it myself instead.
Digital device care
I am not the kind of person who always needs the latest gadgets to feel happy about myself. I care for my mobile phones, computers and tablets. I don't contribute to the enormous mountain of electronic waste that often.
At the moment, the battery on my three-year-old iPhone 5s dies quickly after it tells me that it has 30 percent battery left. Then all the power is gone in about 30 minutes.
This has bothered me for a while and I started to research how to replace the battery. If you have an Android phone it’s easy to get a new battery, but it is trickier with an iPhone. In Sweden where I am based, there are plenty of stores that can help you, and I even found a website which tells you how to do it yourself called iFixIt.com.
To change the battery on my iPhone 5s costed about €50, and it was definitely worth it, and it only took ten minutes when I was in the shop.
All companies selling phones and mobile subscriptions are trying their best to convince us that we need a new mobile every year. We don’t, and if you look after your mobile phone it can last for a long time.
Thank you for reading and have a great weekend.
Sofie
PS. Download my 12 practical tips for how to use social media to build your reputation and share your key messages for some inspiration.
• Email: sofie@sofiesandell.com
• FB: https://www.facebook.com/sofiesandell
My CV in three paragraphs:
Sofie 3.0: It’s time to take the next step and work with digital development on a deeper level as a chief digital officer or digital ambassador. (Sofie 1.0 was working with B2B sales and management consultancy. Sofie 2.0 was focusing on the web, e-commerce and social media, and it was this that led to me speaking professionally about digital leadership.)
Quick points
What I am working on
I am involved in a project looking at gaps in digitalisation with companies based in west Sweden. It’s perfect for me and I have the opportunity to dig deeper into what the problems are. Love it!
What I am reading
A book about sugar, addiction and how it hurts us, written by addiction expert Bitten Jonsson. Sugar is the starting point for many people suffering addiction. Great read, I hope they translate it into English as well. Link here.
What I am watching
In January, I have been watching all three series of the Norwegian TV series Skam. Highly recommend it. If you would like to watch it with English subtitles, the internet is your best friend when searching for it.
Who I am looking after
Moving to Sweden meant that am co-responsible looking after two male sheep. We feed them every day and give them fresh water. Very cute animals.
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