Digital Stacking

Digital hoarding is defined as a condition in which individuals continuously acquire digital content such as emails, digital images, videos, electronic documents, and software, experience significant difficulty in deleting or organizing these materials, and suffer stress or psychological distress due to the accumulation of unmanageable data. This phenomenon, also referred to in the literature as “e-hoarding,” “data hoarding,” or “cyber hoarding,” is regarded as the digital manifestation of physical hoarding disorder (disposophobia) in the context of technological advancements.

Comparative Visual of Physical Hoarding and Digital Hoarding (Generated by Artificial Intelligence)

Theoretical Foundations and Conceptual Framework

Digital hoarding exhibits parallels with the “hoarding disorder” diagnostic criteria outlined by the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5, both in its psychological and behavioral foundations. The theoretical underpinning of the concept draws on Freud’s “anal triad” — linking orderliness, frugality, and obstinacy — as well as modern cognitive-behavioral models. One of the primary theories used to explain digital hoarding is attachment theory, which posits that individuals form intense emotional bonds with digital content (e.g., photos, messages), treating these items as security objects, such that their deletion evokes grief-like emotional responses.

Theoretical Framework Diagram Illustrating the Relationship Between Hoarder, Content, and Space (Generated by Artificial Intelligence)

To explain the dynamics between traditional and digital hoarding, the “hoarder-content-space” framework has been developed. According to this framework, the key distinctions between digital and physical hoarding are as follows:

• Expandability of Space: While physical storage space is inherently limited, digital storage capacities (cloud systems, external drives) can be continuously expanded at low cost.

• Invisibility: While physical clutter directly constrains living space, digital accumulations remain hidden in virtual environments and are typically only noticed when devices slow down or crash.

• Ease of Acquisition: Copying, downloading, or generating digital content requires significantly less effort and cost compared to acquiring physical objects.

Dimensions and Types of Digital Hoarding

Digital hoarding consists of three primary sub-dimensions:

• Constant Acquisition: The persistent downloading, saving, or creation of new digital content even when there is no perceived need. Social media data, free e-books, and applications fall into this category.
• Discarding Difficulty: Intense resistance and anxiety experienced by individuals when attempting to delete digital files due to perceived emotional or instrumental value attached to them.
• Clutter Propensity: The tendency to accumulate files in a disorganized manner, making it difficult to locate desired information.

Character Cards Representing Four Distinct Types of Digital Hoarders Identified in the Literature (Generated by Artificial Intelligence)

Researchers have categorized digital hoarders into four main types based on behavioral patterns:

• Collector: Individuals who systematically and deliberately gather data.
• Accidental Hoarder: Individuals who fail to organize their data, are unaware of what they possess, and have lost control over their digital environment.
• Hoarder by Instruction: Individuals compelled to retain data due to institutional or professional obligations.
• Anxious Hoarder: Individuals who form strong emotional attachments to their data and experience fear at the thought of deletion.

Causes and Motivations

Factors driving individuals toward digital hoarding are classified as technological, psychological, and instrumental.

Cyclical Flow Diagram of Digital Hoarding Behavior and Psychological Processes (Generated by Artificial Intelligence)

Low Storage Costs

The near-zero cost of data storage (hard drives, cloud subscriptions) and the perception of “nearly unlimited” capacity have eliminated the necessity for selective behavior.

“It Might Be Useful Later” Mentality

The belief that data may hold potential future value, leading to its retention out of a “better safe than sorry” mindset, is one of the most common motivations.

Emotional Attachment and Memory Accumulation

Photos and messages are perceived as extensions of individuals’ pasts and identities. Deleting such data is often experienced as losing a part of one’s history or having one’s life taken away.

Laziness and Time Constraints

Sorting and organizing accumulated data — such as deleting thousands of emails — demands considerable time and cognitive effort, leading individuals to avoid the task and instead retain the data.

Research and Findings in Türkiye

Studies conducted among young people aged 18–21 in Türkiye have revealed that digital hoarding is particularly prevalent among the generation referred to as “digital natives”^【1】 and exhibits culturally specific characteristics. Digital natives may experience distress related to the accumulation and management of digital data.

Scale Adaptation and Psychometric Studies

In a study by Çiğdem Berber Çelik and Feridun Kaya (2023), the “Digital Hoarding Scale” was adapted to Turkish culture. Conducted with 544 participants, the study confirmed the scale’s two-dimensional structure in the Turkish sample: “difficulty discarding” and “accumulation.” The findings demonstrated significant positive correlations between digital hoarding and obsessive-compulsive symptoms as well as chronic anxiety.^【2】

Qualitative Research and Focus Group Findings

• In a focus group study with students from Aksaray University, participants were found to accumulate thousands of files on their mobile phones and email accounts, often unable to recall their contents, yet exhibiting extreme emotional reactions — such as feelings of “annihilation” or “emptiness” — at the prospect of deletion.^【3】

• In a study involving 30 participants, 93.3% preferred digital storage over physical storage.^【4】 This study drew parallels between digital hoarding and the Japanese concept of “Tsundoku” (the habit of accumulating books without reading them); it was found that behaviors such as hoarding digital games, articles, and e-books varied by age group — younger individuals tended to hoard games, while adults hoarded e-books and articles.

Consequences and Impacts

Digital hoarding produces various negative outcomes at both individual and organizational levels:

• Individual and Psychological Effects: Digital hoarding increases anxiety levels in individuals. In a study of 846 participants, a strong positive relationship between digital hoarding and anxiety was found <span class="katex"><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1.0641em;vertical-align:-0.25em;"></span><span class="mopen">(</span><span class="mord"><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.00773em;">R</span><span class="msupsub"><span class="vlist-t"><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist" style="height:0.8141em;"><span style="top:-3.063em;margin-right:0.05em;"><span class="pstrut" style="height:2.7em;"></span><span class="sizing reset-size6 size3 mtight"><span class="mord mtight">2</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span></span><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1em;vertical-align:-0.25em;"></span><span class="mord">0.37</span><span class="mclose">)</span></span></span></span>

Organizational and Environmental Impacts

In organizational contexts, digital hoarding increases cybersecurity risks. Retaining unnecessary data expands the volume of sensitive information vulnerable to breaches and creates legal compliance issues (e.g., KVKK/GDPR). Furthermore, the storage of trillions of redundant files on cloud servers increases energy consumption in data centers, generating a significant carbon footprint and causing environmental harm.

Statistical Data

Comprehensive Statistical Dashboard Showing Individual Data Storage Volumes, Digital Preference Rates, and Anxiety Correlations (Generated by Artificial Intelligence)

Research on the topic reports that the average individual stores 3.7 TB of data, with maximum storage reaching up to 47 TB. The fact that over 300 million photos are shared daily on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook) and that 1.7 MB of data is generated per second illustrates the scale of data flows fueling hoarding behavior.^【5】