Do I Have OCD?
Taken from Wikipedia’s entry on Compulsive Hoarding:
Digital hoarding:
Digital hoarding involves collecting files on one’s computer beyond the point of usefulness. Often, files can be acquired through Internet piracy at no monetary cost, leading to extraordinarily large collections. Examples include music collections, often beyond what ones enjoys or can listen to, and television shows, movies, and computer games. Hoarders, or “digital pack rats”,[7] often resort to buying optical media or new hard drives[8] to store their collections, rather than deleting what they may never use. Digital hoarders find it just as difficult to press delete as traditional hoarders find throwing items in the trash can, have the same feeling of clutter and chaos, feel that they might find the item useful “someday,” and similarly spend large amounts of time acquiring and organizing their collections.[9] However, unlike physical clutter, automated systems exist to organize digital clutter. Scientific American remarked that humanity’s propensity for data collection is growing at a rate faster than their ability to store it.
I was provoked to read this while watching A&E’s new show Hoarders, a spin-off of Obsessed, an OCD reality show in the style of Intervention. I found the above to almost exactly describe me to the point that it’s frightening.
