Nov 11, 2025
been thinking about this a lot lately because my phone storage hit 95% and i had to face the carnage. 47 apps. FORTY-SEVEN. and i actively use maybe... 4? the rest are just sitting there, taking up space, sending notifications i've muted, asking for updates i ignore.
we don't really talk about digital ROI the same way we talk about business ROI. no one's pulling out a spreadsheet to calculate if notion is worth the 4 hours it took to set up that productivity dashboard you used twice. but maybe we should? not in a neurotic way, but in a "hey, is this actually making my life better or just more complicated" way.
every app you download comes with a promise. "this will make you more productive." "this will help you stay organized." "this will change your life." and maybe it will! but it also comes with:
the cost isn't just storage space. it's cognitive load. it's decision fatigue every time you open your phone and see 8 different apps that theoretically do the same thing. it's the mental energy of managing multiple inboxes, multiple task lists, multiple note-taking systems because you couldn't commit to just one.
and here's the worst part: when cognitive overload takes over, you start paying less attention to the communications that actually matter. like, i've had weeks where i'm so overwhelmed by notifications from 15 different platforms that i just... stop checking any of them properly. important messages get buried. i miss things. sometimes i need an entire weekend on DND just to detox and reset my brain. and that's when you know something's wrong — when the tools meant to help you stay connected are actually making you want to disconnect entirely.
i don't have a magic formula, but i've started asking myself these questions before signing up for anything new:
i've been on a purge lately. deleted 23 apps last week. unsubscribed from 15 platforms i haven't touched in months. started using my phone's native notes app instead of the 3 different note-taking apps i had installed. turns out, the limiting factor wasn't the tool — it was me actually writing things down.
now i'm trying this thing where i only keep apps that either: (1) do something i can't do without it (banking, maps, spotify), (2) actively bring me joy (games, social apps i actually use), or (3) make a recurring task significantly easier (not just theoretically easier, but i-can-measure-the-time-saved easier).
everything else? bye. if i need it later, i can redownload it. but chances are, i won't even remember it existed.
the weird thing about digital minimalism is that the ROI isn't always visible. but you feel it. your phone opens faster. you're not paralyzed by choice when you need to check something. you're not getting pinged by 17 different apps all day. and honestly? that feeling of not being overwhelmed by your own digital existence is worth more than any productivity hack some app promises you.
so yeah. maybe we can't calculate digital ROI the same way we calculate business ROI. but we can still ask: is this making my life better, or just more complicated? and if it's the latter, maybe it's time to hit delete.
