So you think your in-box is crowded? Meet Wendy Gilbertson of Eden Prairie, who has "saved" more than 18,000 e-mails, including 14,000-plus still-unread missives, dating to Dec. 3, 2006.
"I have a hard time parting with things," she said with a chuckle. "It's almost like my in-box should be on [the A&E show] 'Hoarders.' I am a sentimental person. I save all my kids' papers from school. My husband has, like, 10 e-mails in his in-box. He goes, 'How can you function like this?' I don't know any other way to function."
For Gilbertson and millions of others, computers have become what the attic was to their grandparents: a space where we can store precious memories -- and a whole lot of junk to go with them. And with 294 billion e-mails a day being dispensed here, there and everywhere, clutter is inevitable.
"Back in the day, you really had to pay a premium for storage," said Mark Lanterman, chief technology officer of Twin Cities-based Computer Forensic Services.
"But now hard-drive space is so inexpensive that a lot of people just choose to hang onto everything."
So while our laptops, PCs and tablets have made many tasks easier, they've also brought out the pack rat in most, if not all, of us.
There's nothing wrong with using technology to store reams of data. And some of what's on our hard drives should never be subject to the delete button, especially heartfelt notes and photos or business-related correspondence.
Gilbertson has found a safe spot for at least one e-mail: the one she sent out when her daughter was born in 2003.
