Digital Cleanup: It’s Not Just Your Files, It’s Your Brain

Digital Cleanup Day reframes data hygiene as cognitive self-defence: forgotten files, dormant accounts and content shared with AI create a 'cognitive exhaust' that increases privacy exposure and susceptibility to social-engineering. The essay explains how information clutter degrades decision-making (referencing the Heuristic-Systematic Model), highlights AI-uploaded context as a new governance/privacy liability, and recommends practical measures—app blockers, algorithm retraining, and a curated "information diet"—to reduce cognitive overload and associated risks.