The problem of "Digital Hoarding" has been studied in a workplace context but less so in relation to personal use digital data.In this study, we examine the relationship between scores on a measure of Digital Hoarding and the digital behaviors associated with personal technology.One hundred and sixty-seven participants completed the Digital Hoarding Questionnaire (DHQ) to assess digital hoarding tendencies.Participants indicated their main storage device for personal use digital data and thought about this when completing a new measure -the Digital Behaviors for Personal use Questionnaire (DBPUQ) designed to capture information item management behaviors and affective responses to digital information items.Higher scores on the DHQ correlated with difficulty finding information items, attachment and distress at potential loss of information items.Participants' choice of personal device was not associated with DHQ scores, information item management behaviors, affective responses or total information items stored.This work provides a first step toward a better understanding of personal use digital data hoarding.We discuss the implications of digital hoarding of personal use data with respect to increased feelings of anxiety, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and sustainability concerns.Understanding digital hoarding in a personal use data context is foundational for developing design solutions and behavioral interventions aimed at reducing digital data overload.

Individuals within organisations necessarily hold data including personal identifiable data, for individuals with a tendency to accumulate digital data and a reluctance to delete it, there is greater potential for data to be stored. Therefore, understanding why people engage in digital hoarding and how they respond to the mitigations put in place is important. Eleven people working in a large commercial organisation scoring highly on a digital hoarding questionnaire, took part in focus groups to understand the extent to which they kept digital data. The focus groups also explored employee compliance with policies and procedures including knowledge of GDPR. Thematic analysis led to three themes: (1) Organisational culture versus digital hoarding tendency, (2) Thinking about personal data, and (3) Responsibility and control. The findings highlight different motivations for data hoarding including anxiety driven by ‘blame culture’ as participants respond to workplace challenges and the need to be accountable. Participants were aware of policies including GDPR but often used workarounds to keep data longer than specified in their information retention policies. Technical approaches to data reduction were often counterproductive. Findings are discussed in relation to potential threats of digital data hoarding and technical and non-technical approaches to reducing digital data retention.

Technology to enable and support learning and teaching is widespread in university settings. One consequence of such technology use is the accumulation of large volumes of digital data. The acquisition of, and failure to, discard digital content can lead to digital clutter. The potential negative consequences of digital clutter have been examined mainly within a workplace context. Far less is known about how university students manage their academic digital data and whether they have strategies to deal with excessive digital clutter. Eighteen undergraduate students took part in a one-to-one or group-based interview to discuss their digital data management strategies including accumulation and deletion behaviours. Thematic analysis led to three themes: (1) Digital data accumulation across the student journey, (2) Reactive and evolving digital data management strategies and (3) Data overload: Anxiety, loss of productivity and feeling overwhelmed. The findings capture the complexity of feelings students have about different types of digital technology and the strategies they use to manage increasingly large volumes of digital data. Findings are discussed in relation to the need for better support and guidance for students around the use of digital technology to manage their data during their time at university.