Almost Out of Storage: Tiny Adds Up
David R. Weiss – April 22, 2025

I keep getting these alerts that my Google Drive is “almost out of storage”—that I’ve used 87, then 89, then 90% of my allotted 15GB of storage. Which makes me nervous. It creeps up slowly, so I’m probably good for several more months. Maybe longer. But it would be just my luck to run out on a day I really need it, so I figure I better deal it now.

I’m not interested in buying more, so instead I click on the “Manage Storage” button to see where all those gigabytes are coming from. Almost all of them are in my Gmail account. I clear out my spam folder every week or two, so I know it’s not spam taking up all that space. I see there’s an option to “review emails with large attachments (1MB or larger).” I pick that option and I go through and delete close to a hundred of my largest emails. Most have multiple photos in them, with total message sizes ranging from 4MB up to 26MB. That’s hardly ginormous, but that 15GB ceiling is leering at me, so I wipe them away. I’m pretty sure they’ve all been downloaded to my laptop anyway.

With a certain measure of satisfaction, I check my updated storage. I’ve haven’t even eliminated 500MB! Sure, I’m back to 89% of my limit, but I’ve just trashed the majority of my biggest emails. Where are all those GB hiding?!

I notice a “Promotions” tab on the side where my inbox is. I never put anything in there, but apparently Gmail does, because it says I have 2366 messages there. All junk mail, I imagine, but just “relevant” enough to not be deemed spam by the Gmail gods. I click on that tab to see what’s in that folder. I look. And I look again. I don’t know where that 2366 came from, because now, with the tab open, I can clearly see at the top right of my screen that the number of emails in my Promotions mailbox—most of them tiny, no doubt—is actually 98,383!!!!! Going all the way back to 2014. Holy shit?! When did that happen?! (Over the last decade and more.)

Next, I check my “Updates” tab. It shows 2448 “updates”; I don’t even know what Gmail means by that, but when I open the folder, that 2448 becomes 51,534 messages. What?!

I click on “Forums,” which seems to be groups I receive messages from. Maybe the number 57 refers to different groups I’ve gotten messages from (pretty sure it has nothing to do with “Heinz 57 Varieties”). In any case, inside that folder I discover another 2053 messages.

Finally, I turn to my “Social” tab. I really don’t have much of a social life, but it tells me I have 250 “social” messages, so I’m curious what the folder conceals. 12,065. Nowhere near “Promotions” or “Updates,” but still a lot more “Social” happening in my life—or, at least my Gmail—than I ever realized.

I am dumbfounded. Embarrassed, too, but more dumbfounded by the sheer enormity of my learning. I had NO IDEA Gmail was carefully filing away and holding on to all this stuff. It never told me. But altogether that’s 164,035 messages dating back more than a decade—all neatly swept under the carpet at the side of my Gmail inbox. I’m deleting them one page at a time (50 messages), oldest first. I know, I should just dump them all at once, but I feel compelled to scan each page checking the “from” and “subject” lines to see if there’s anything important in there.

It’s a bit like a time capsule. I’ve seen invitations to get my “Bernie 2016” bumper sticker, and messages from (then) Senator Al Franken. But mostly it’s junk. A lot of junk. I’ve tossed over 10,000 “promotion” messages tonight. My Google account is now only 83% full. I may try to scan and toss 10,000 messages a day until it’s all cleaned out. With 154,000 waiting for my attention, I’ll be done the first week of May.

I guess, even if they’re mostly all tiny, 164,000 of tiny adds up. By the time I’m done, I’ll bet Google doesn’t warn me about storage for another ten years! Ha.

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David Weiss is a theologian, writer, poet and hymnist, “writing into the whirlwind” of contemporary challenges, joys, and sorrows around climate crisis, sexuality, justice, peace, and family. Reach him at drw59mn@gmail.com. Read more at www.davidrweiss.com where he blogs under the theme, “Full Frontal Faith: Erring on the Edge of Honest.” Support him in Writing into the Whirlwind at www.patreon.com/fullfrontalfaith.