PSA: Life is short. Don't spend too much time obsessively cataloguing your data collections.

Over the last 2 years, I've noticed that I spend WAY more time carefully cataloguing my collections of digital media (games, anime) than actually experiencing those media.

I would spend months carefully renaming the files, grouping them into folders by franchise, creating watch order files, remuxing videos so they would only have one audio and one subtitle file, reencoding videos that I considered bloated, reencoding videos that had flac or 5.1 audio to opus stereo, putting all my files into a spreadsheet along with other information, etc. etc.

Today I realized that my obsession is pointless. I'm just wasting my life doing something that's not enjoyable, instead of experiencing the media I've collected. Who am I making those neat-looking catalogues for? I will never pass on my collection to anyone. I am just lost in my unhealthy obsession instead of enjoying life.

So yeah. Today I've decided to stop wasting my time. I will keep archiving (because I believe that in the future, the governments will make it very difficult to share copyrighted media online), but I will stop trying to make my collection look nice and tidy.

I will also delete stuff that I've watched/played that I didn't enjoy. I've come to a realization there's no point archiving it if I'm never going to use it again.

Anyways, I hope this helps someone realize that obsessions with cataloguing your hoards are unhealthy and a waste of life.

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91 comments

Ok - you sound a bit depressed. I get it.

There is a part of you that is shaming you for 'not being productive'. I have this as well.

You have to realize that there is another part of you that likes TV, movies, sex, games, hanging out with friends and video games.

All of these activities are a "waste of time" to the part of you that is torturing you.

But - there is another part of you that enjoys your cataloging. It is calming and relaxing. You get a sense of satisfaction putting things in order. It gives you some control in a world that is un-certain.

Question: Have you ever gone to the gym or had a trainer? They will make you exercise parts of your body that you normally do not use. This is to prevent atrophy of these less used parts.

Your hobbies and "Data Hording" is similar. You are organizing, working with the computer, deciding how to solve problems and interacting with us here.

Like exercising strange muscles - you are working things that are not really 'productive' or useful. But like the gym - it helps to do these tasks to keep yourself whole.

The one trick - time box how much time you spend. An hour in front of the computer - then an hour cleaning the room, kitchen, grocery shopping, etc.

Be aware of your balance.

Try to forgive yourself. Look at "stamp collecting" - you never 'finish' or use the stamps to mail things. The researching, collecting, organizing, cataloging etc. are all important parts of the hobby.

I also rarely read/watch the things I collect. But I love fixing problems, writing scripts to rename things, coming up with a 'workflow', etc. My mind is always active, I seek out "...how do you guys solve this problem?" posts here.

It's not the destination that is important, it's the journey. And sharing problems and solutions.

So let me ask: what was the last annoying problem you solved cataloging your collection? Is your solution more clever than mine?

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