delete Archives - Angela Crocker

Delete Facebook memories?

11.21.2017 by Angela Crocker // Leave a Comment

Yesterday, a tough memory popped up on my Facebook profile. I shared a personal note with my loving inner circle from my Mum’s time in hospice four years ago. It’s a sweet memory because it documents a special time, one of my last happy times with my Mum. Yet, I had the instinct to delete it.

Facebook Made Me Cry

Every time I see this painful memory makes me cry. Ugly cry. The post in question doesn’t make my eyes misty. It rips the scab off a part of my heart and I grieve all over again. From one point of view, this is a good thing. Crying, while distressing, is good for us. We release hormones that make us feel better. We’re in touch with our emotions. And we appreciate the good things. And there are medical benefits, too.

To Delete or Not? That is the question.

On the flipside, I’ve been tempted to save myself the upset. I could easily delete the post thus ensuring it won’t pop up next year. But should I? As I’ve explored my digital cleanse, I’ve wrestled with the question of whether or not to delete old posts that make me sad, make me mad, or otherwise make an emotional storm. Should we delete Facebook memories?

I haven’t deleted any to date. I’ve been tempted for sure. Even with the tears, it strikes me that life isn’t all sunshine and roses. The perfect life so many of us put online isn’t the reality of our day to day lives, right? There’s the sad days when we cry and the tough days when we’re injured and the horrible days when we’ve been fired. Yet, the contrast between good and bad make us complete. Those challenging moments are a big part of what makes us human.

So, for now I keep my past intact just as I shared it in many posts over the last ten years or so. And on Nov 21 each year, I’ll have a cry and think of my Mum with love.

Your Email Inbox is an Eyesore

03.22.2016 by Angela Crocker // Leave a Comment

Digital Cleanse Day 22:

Your Email Inbox is an Eyesore

Confession time … how many emails are in your inbox? Be honest. At least with yourself.

Today, I have 289 items. That’s on the high-side for me. I’m not too worried but I must admit it stresses me out a little. I won’t let those messages hang around for long. By comparison, my husband has just 12 items and an friend (who wishes to remain anonymous) has more than 75,000. How does your inbox compare?

Email overload is a huge problem. And it’s hard to control. Spam is a problem even with an excellent spam filter. Then there’s any email you’ve subscribed too. Plus all the group emails with the {shudder} reply all phenomenon. And the social media notifications. Let alone the legitimate emails from individuals.

To deal with the mess, I combined my own digital cleanse quest with strategies learned from Steve Dotto plus my interpretation of email bankruptcy. Each time I open my email I do the following things:

Delete spam. I don’t pause to read anything legitimate. I’m on a mission to clear the junk mail that the spam filters missed.
Next, I look at messages from my VIPs. I’ve curated a list of a twenty or so people that get top priority. Any message from them gets automatically filtered into in my VIP inbox. Some are family (Hi, Dad!) or family related (my son’s school) while others are people I collaborate with frequently.
- I read each email to absorb the information in it.
- Then, I take action, if necessary. Reply. Schedule time to reply. Do whatever’s requested and report back. Or whatever’s appropriate.
- Lastly, I delete or archive each email. (We’ll talk more about archive in a minute.)
Next, I look for anything I need to download and get it started on the download. For me, that’s usually new episodes of my favourite TV shows. Grey’s Anatomy, Mr. Selfridge, Call the Midwife, Castle and The Big Bang Theory are my current top five. Once the download is in progress, I delete the message.
While my downloads are, um, downloading, I read any remaining emails from individuals using the same three steps I use for my VIP messages. Read. Take action. Archive or delete.
Finally, time permitting, I read any email newsletters, social media notifications, Kickstarter updates or whatever else is leftover.

As part my digital cleanse, I deal with email during two or three set times each day. My first check usually happens while I enjoy my morning cup of tea. And then I check again after lunch. If I’ve got lots of “to read” messages leftover from step five, I’ll add an evening email reading session, too. I’m also clear on my response times. This gives my work a healthy sense of urgency without a trace of panic.

I also do a bit of weekly email maintenance. I review my inbox for missed messages from VIP senders. I also delete or archive anything that was overlooked during the week. It’s also a time to reflect on my current subscriptions. If I’m several issues behind on a particular email newsletter, I unsubscribe. I also look for email notifications from social networks. In general, I have turned off notifications but those sneaky programmers often turn on new ones that set to send by default.

One my biggest takeaways from Steve Dotto’s Three Steps to Inbox Zero course was the notion of a single, searchable archive. Having used email regularly since 1993, I was in the old-school habit of creating nested folders for all my archived messages. As per Steve’s advice, I now use a a single folder to archive any email I need to keep. In two years, I’ve archived just 2,934 messages. It’s amazing what you don’t need to keep. And wonderfully easy when you can search that single archive, as needed.

My next big step is to embrace the concept of email bankruptcy. I first learned this concept from Howard Jang, now Professor of Professional Practice at Simon Fraser University. While on vacation, Howard sets a friendly but firm out-of-office auto-reply. Something along the lines of “I’m on vacation until April 22, 2018. When I get back I’ll be deleting all messages in my inbox. If you need to reach me, please resend your message on or after April 23.” Brilliant!

I’ve also heard of people using January 1st as email bankruptcy day. They start the new year with an empty inbox. Friends and colleagues learn that anything unresolved from the previous year has to be resent if it’s still relevant. So often it’s no longer relevant! I haven’t had the courage to do a full delete but I have done a couple trial runs by deleting the majority of messages from an over-run reply all thread. So far, I haven’t missed anything important.

To make email work for you, you’ve got to have a system. You’re welcome to use mine as a starting point. I encourage you to adapt it to your work style.

More on the 30 day #digitalcleanse tomorrow. Hope to see you then!

(If you missed yesterday’s installment, take a couple extra minutes to explore Say No. Just No. Practice. For links to the complete Digital Cleanse series, click here.)

Delete Unused Facebook Groups

03.18.2016 by Angela Crocker // Leave a Comment

Digital Cleanse Day 18:

Delete Unused Facebook Groups

Do you know how to delete unused Facebook groups? Its a handy skill if you, like me, have some old groups lingering on your profile.

Facebook groups are a great tool for connecting with people with common interests. There are three kinds of groups public, private and secret. Public groups are visible to anyone on Facebook including the posts and member list. In private groups, the member list is visible to all Facebook users but the posts with the group are for group members only. Both public and private groups turn up in search. Secret groups are hidden. Only members can see the membership list and posts. Secret groups do not show up in search.

You’ve Been Added to a Group

Many people are frustrated because any Facebook friend can add you to a group. This is fine if you’re interested in the topic. Unfortunately, a lot of “added to group” moments feel like a full case of spam just arrived on your doorstep.

Groups You’re In

If you are a member of a group that no longer interests you, you can leave the group. To leave, do this:

Go to the home page for the group.
Hover over the “Joined” button.
Click “Leave Group” from the drop-down menu.
A pop-up will ask you if you want to leave the group.
If you are sure, click “Leave Group”

That’s it. You’re outta there! Phew!

Groups You Manage

If you are a group admin, leaving is a slightly more complicated process. To leave, do this:

Go to the home page for the group.
Hover over the “Joined” button.
Click “Leave Group” from the drop-down menu.
A pop-up will ask you if you want to give up your admin privileges and leave the group.
TIP: You have the option to assign another admin before you leave the group. See below.
If you are sure, click “Leave Group”

To Assign a New Admin

In a Facebook group, you can assign a new admin for a group:

Go to the members list.
Find the member(s) you wish to make admin.
Click the gear icon.
Click “Make Admin” on the drop-down menu.
A pop-up will ask for confirmation.
If you are sure, click “Make Admin”.

To Close a Facebook Group

If you are the admin for a Facebook group, you can delete the group. Follow these steps:

Go to the member list.
Click on the gear icon for one member.
Click “Remove from Group”.
A pop-up will appear asking if you are sure. Click “Confirm”.
Repeat steps 2 – 4 for each group member.
When only the admin (that’s you) remains, go to the group’s home page.
Hover over “Joined”.
Click “Leave Group” from the drop-down menu.
A pop-up appears to confirm you want to leave and delete the group.
If you’re sure, click “leave and delete”.
Note: All group posts will also be deleted.

Done and Done

That’s it you’re done. Lather, rinse and repeat for each surplus group you belong to or admin. And enjoy a little less clutter when you next log-in to Facebook.

More on the 30 day #digitalcleanse tomorrow. Hope to see you then!

(If you missed yesterday’s installment, take a couple extra minutes to explore Don’t Walk and Text. For links to the complete Digital Cleanse series, click here.)