Digital trash: dossier
Every day we receive and send gigabytes of information: work email, dialogues with
"Digital garbage" is unnecessary and forgotten data,duplicated copies of files; all unstructured information in cloud storage, device memory, instant messengers, photo and video services. The latter make up most of the digital junk. According to a Mail.ru study, 74% of users go online to watch videos, and 47% regularly upload photos and videos to social networks themselves. Along with the number, the size also grows: in 2000, the average photo weighed 1 MB, now - 3.5 MB.
This volume is easy to explain: everyone can take photos and videos, unlike text. For comparison: Leo Tolstoy wrote 10 MB of text in his entire life - that's 2–3 photos on iPhone 12.
Problem Origins: Disruption of Moore's Law
The problem did not arise before only because the storage volume was constantly growing.
Moore's law was formulated back in 1968.According to which the memory capacity of devices doubles every two years. But each subsequent generation of hard drives is now little different from the previous one: there is no tenfold increase in speed and volume; we have hit technological limits. An 18 TB hard drive is the maximum that can now be found in stores, but there are only a few such models, and their cost reaches 50 thousand rubles.
The situation is complicated by the fact that we are graduallymoving away from using hard drives (HDD) and switching to solid-state drives (SSD): the emphasis is on speed, to the detriment of volumes. Whereas on HDDs the data transfer rate reaches 200-300 MB / s, on SSDs - 600-700 MB / s. But in terms of volume, we stepped back. 4TB for HDD is the norm, and SSD of this size is much more difficult to find.
Problems of large companies
The amount of information is constantly growing, and slow downit is difficult to reduce the amount of data already stored. Even if the user's mailbox is bursting with messages, the service cannot clear it on its own: services proceed from the logic that a five-year-old letter may be needed at any time. And it is precisely because of the amount of data that Google and Yandex automatically delete emails if they are in the Spam or Trash folder for more than 30 days.
Cloud storage uses mirroringbackup so that user files are updated synchronously on all devices and can be easily restored in the event of a failure. But for this, the data must be physically stored in redundant quantities: at least in two copies on two physically different disks. Accordingly, it is necessary to constantly increase the number of hard drives to store this information, and with each new file the costs increase at least twice.
But now it has become clear that it is impossible to constantly increase the amount of space and therefore cloud services are taking the first measures to control digital waste:
1. Compression and removal of unused versions of files.Google is improving compression algorithms and usingmore modern technologies: with their help, already downloaded photos take up less space. But this is an evolutionary process - browsers need to support new formats.
YouTube uses this method.Over time, the quality with which clips are saved changes. How it works: the user downloads the original video, at the same time it is transcoded into several other formats for the phone - 144p and 360p. For older videos, these generated additional video streams are deleted, leaving only the original. Even if someone asks for this video, it will recover quickly and easily. In addition, the formats to which the video is recoded can use more efficient algorithms. For example, five years ago the video was transcoded to H.264, and now to VP - the format will take five times less space at the same quality level.
2. Deduplication... All companies that somehow storemass data use this method: copies of the same file are stored on media in one copy. If an already uploaded file is sent to another user, it won't physically take up space again: instead, it links to the original. Deduplication helps to get rid of redundant data: the amount of storage can be reduced by 20 times. This method is used in particular by Telegram.
3. Separation into "hot" and "cold" storage.This is the most common way to store data.The files used are stored on a more expensive and faster system - SSD drives. Over time, when files are no longer used, they move to cheaper and slower storage - on HDDs and servers.
Let's look at YouTube again for an example.A video that is "in trend" will be stored by the video service in many copies on different servers for the fastest possible loading. But as the popularity of the video wanes, these copies will disappear from the "hot" storage and begin to move to the "cold".
4. Paid tariffs.The easiest way to regulate flowinformation from users used by Google, Dropbox, iCloud and others. Initially, Google Drive provided limited storage for documents, spreadsheets, and PDF files, while photo and video content could be uploaded in unlimited quantities. Now the company is changing its policy: from June 1, 2021, any new photos and videos will be counted towards the free 15 GB for all services - Gmail, Drive and Photos. If the user goes beyond these limits, it is necessary to sign up for a paid subscription.
The next candidate for a paid subscription isTelegram. Now the messenger does not restrict the user in any way - neither in the amount of data storage, nor in matters of ownership. Telegram is called “the main distributor of illegal video” on the Russian Internet, and its storage costs money. But what happens when the messenger's servers stop coping with such a flow of information? Most likely, there will be paid tariffs or restrictions. For example, photos will be stored for six months for free, and to request older files, you will have to pay for a subscription or PRO version.
How digital trash complicates and simplifies the user's life
For users, the digital garbage problem isalso new difficulties. Besides the fact that in the future you will have to pay for the ability to store files in the cloud services, the volume of content greatly affects the search. There is too much text on sites, forums and social networks: the same content is multiplied on different sites. The user spends about 26 minutes a day looking for the information he needs.
On the other hand, photo search has become betterby increasing the information base. Photo services from Google and Yandex index the information that is in the image - text, people, objects, and can provide information about the object and find similar pictures. That is, the more files are uploaded to services, the smarter the algorithm becomes: it better recognizes objects in photos and finds more images.
The implications of growing digital garbagefeels not only digital, but also physical space. Any content upload contributes to a carbon footprint, according to a study by the University of Bristol. Storing information, including unnecessary information, also requires energy. For example, uploading a video to YouTube costs an average of 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. About the same amount of greenhouse gases is produced by 30,000 homes in the UK every year.
How to reduce digital junk:
1. Immediately delete files that you definitely won't need again. For example, electronic receipts or promo messages.
2.Regularly "clean up" all storages - delete unused files, applications, inactive dialogues in instant messengers. For this, you can use special programs. For example, CCleaner is suitable for a computer.
3. Organize and catalog files.This also does not have to be done manually. Applications sort files by dates, geotags, you can enter your own categories and folders. Adobe Bridge, FastStone Image Viewer and Photos for macOS can do this). Applications that remove duplicate files will also be useful - AllDup, FirmTools Duplicate Photo Finder and again CCleaner.
4.Periodically arrange digital detox - days on which the user will limit the consumption and production of any digital content. Specialized programs and applications are not required - just turn off all gadgets.
IT companies in this case try to provideinfluence: convince the audience to use less gadgets and various services. So, Apple and YouTube have added the ability to track the time spent on the smartphone and set reminders for breaks. In 2018, Google introduced the Digital Wellbeing project to help fight gadget addiction.
Forecasts
On the one hand, the problem is being gradually solved by reducing the cost of one gigabyte - albeit slowly. In 1981, 1 GB of HDD space cost $ 500,000. Now its price is only $ 0.025.
The industry can handle the problem anywaydigital garbage. The only questions are - how and when? The main tendency for a temporary solution to the problem is the transition of free services to paid tariffs. All companies that deal with multimedia data storage will follow the path of selling space. But cloud storages like Dropbox and iCloud deal with the problem easier - they initially offered paid plans for their services, without promising unlimited options for downloading files.
Therefore, all new services, one way or anotherassociated with the digital space are immediately switching to paid tariffs. SberDisk, launched in 2020, also immediately announced paid services - only 15 GB are available to the user on a free plan.
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