Digital Declutter
Somewhere along the way, your phone stopped feeling helpful. It used to be where you checked your timetable, messaged friends, maybe looked something up for uni. Now it’s just… full. Full of noise, full of stuff, full of tabs you don’t even remember opening. And when your head’s already a bit all over the place, that kind of clutter doesn’t help.
A digital declutter doesn’t need to be dramatic. You’re not wiping your whole phone or living some ultra-minimalist life. It’s more like clearing out the digital version of a messy drawer: the one where everything ends up, even though you never meant it to. After a while, the clutter just builds up. And before you know it, even finding your calendar feels like a mission.
Start with your home screen
Take a proper look at your phone. How many apps are there that you haven’t opened in months? How many of them did you download because someone told you it would “change your life” and it didn’t?
Stick the useful stuff where you can see it. Your calendar, notes, Spotify, whatever you actually use. Move the rest out of the way or just get rid of it. You won’t miss the random drink delivery app from first year. It’s a bit like clearing out your uni kitchen – you don’t need five half-empty jars of pasta sauce, and you don’t need three different meditation apps you never opened.
Try the “one-screen challenge” – fit everything essential onto your first home screen. If it doesn’t fit there, ask yourself if you really need it.
Turn off the noise
If your phone’s buzzing every time someone breathes on Instagram or your email goes off at 2am with a reminder from a random mailing list, it’s no wonder you can’t concentrate.
Mute the stuff that doesn’t matter. You don’t have to go full silent mode, but try “Do Not Disturb” when you’re working or sleeping. You can keep calls or texts from your mum or your flatmate if you need to. Just cut the background noise so your brain has a bit more space to think.
Delete the nonsense in your camera roll
Blurry lecture notes from first year? Gone. Screenshots of random memes you already sent to the group chat? Gone. That photo of a dog you took on a night out even though it’s mostly your own finger? You get the idea.
While you're in there, make a few folders. One for uni stuff. One for things you want to keep. One for memories that actually matter. Doesn’t have to be perfect. Just enough that you’re not scrolling through 4,000 pics to find one screenshot of your student ID.
Set a five-minute timer and just start deleting. There’s no pressure to finish the whole thing. It’s surprising how much you can clear in that short time.
Check where your time’s going
If you’re the kind of person who swears they’re “just checking Instagram for a sec” and then it’s suddenly dark outside, you might want to look at your screen time stats. They’re usually hiding somewhere in your phone settings, and yes, it’s slightly horrifying.
Once you’ve recovered from the shock, ask yourself if you actually enjoy how you're spending that time. If not, swap in something better. It could be a walk, a proper break, or switching to one of our recommended apps for students that helps with focus or makes uni life easier. It doesn’t have to be deep. Just a small shift.
Try setting app limits for your biggest time sinks. Even just a nudge after 30 minutes can be enough to break the scroll spiral.
Tidy your inbox (or at least try)
Your inbox is probably a mix of uni stuff, job applications, society updates, and way too many things you didn’t ask to be subscribed to. After a while, it all blurs together. You miss the important stuff because it’s buried under discounts and mailing lists you don’t even remember signing up for.
If a newsletter keeps showing up and you never read it, just take 10 seconds to unsubscribe, then it’s gone, and you never have to think about it again. Search for the word “unsubscribe” in your inbox. It’ll bring up most of the stuff you don’t need then just work through a few when you’ve got a spare minute.
It’s not about being a productivity machine
This whole digital declutter thing isn’t about being perfect or pretending you’re going to become one of those people who colour-codes their calendar and wakes up at 5am. It’s just about giving your brain a bit of a breather. Less clutter means fewer distractions. Fewer distractions means you might actually get through your reading list without having a breakdown halfway through.
You don’t have to overhaul everything. Just start somewhere small. Clear your home screen. Mute some stuff. Delete 200 photos of the same night out. Let your phone be something that helps you, not something that drains you.