Why We’re Getting Smarter at Organizing Our Spaces

Technology has changed our lives immeasurably over the past couple of decades. We are now used to being able to find out any information we need wherever we are thanks to mobile internet. We are used to being able to communicate instantly with people all over the world, basically for free. We are used to the things we buy not being limited to what is in stock in our local retail outlets, and to having all kinds of consumer information available to us to help us make the right purchases.

We may often think about how much technology has changed our lives, especially those of us old enough to remember the days of dial-up internet and super expensive cell phone plans. However, what is more subtle is how simply by using technology, we have changed the way we think about things – and this has extended into even decidedly non-technical areas of our lives, like how we organize our homes.

Increased Complexity Means Better Organization

Because technology, specifically mobile and internet technology, have made more options available to us by making it easier to achieve certain things, it has actually added a lot of complexity to our lives. We now interact with far more people every day, absorb far more information, and expect more. This shift didn’t happen overnight of course, and as we adopted each new thing from email through to social media, we adapted and became more used to managing this complexity. Being more organized became essential for getting the most out of all the options modern life presented, and this made us naturally want to carry over that level of organization to other parts of our lifestyles.

Managing Our Stuff

With more technology and more shopping options, we tend to have a lot more stuff than previous generations, but the cost of accommodation only seems to get higher, meaning we have less space to keep it in. To avoid living in homes that look like they belong to crazy hoarders, we seek out smart ways to manage our physical inventories much in the same way we like to manage our social connections using our devices. Things like custom closet organization have become very popular, and things like ‘smart fridges‘ that keep track of the food we buy are also making their way into more homes.

Managing Our Bodies

Back in the day, health and fitness involved a lot of guesswork, but now we expect to be able to organize everything accurately and easily, so we use apps and fitness bands to carefully ensure we get enough exercise and proper nutrition. Tracking and logging progress towards any kind of goal is now not just recommended, but something we see as essential.

It is interesting to see how even those of us who don’t see themselves as especially neat or organized people actually apply a lot more organization and management to their lifestyles than people did in less technologically focused decades. As life becomes richer with options, it becomes more complicated, and it seems we are developing alongside our technology to cope with it!