Cyberhoarding, or digital hoarding, is an unwillingness to delete info gathered online. This might be emails, images or downloaded files.

University of Hertfordshire consultant psychiatrist Prof Naomi Fineberg told The Guardian that “nobody knows the extent to which this is developing and causing problems” and that more research could help experts understand what diagnosis is most appropriate for patients.

Conditions like cyberhoarding and cyberchondria are versions of the offline mental health issues of hoarding and hypochondria.

Hoarding behaviour is often associated with conditions like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), but it can also be a mental health problem in its own right. Sufferers may fear that something terrible will happen if they get rid of things (e.g. that a ‘contaminated’ item might harm someone else), or that they might throw away something that later proves to be important.

Stephen Buckley, Head of Information at Mind, says some people have told the mental health charity that their hoarding extends to their digital lives, and they struggle to discard items like emails, photos or files.

He told Stylist.co.uk: “Many of us will save things because we might need them in the future – hoarding is when your need to keep things causes you distress or interferes with your day to day life.

“The reasons people hoard are complex, although we know that for some people it’s a way of coping with difficult feelings or stressful life experiences.”

What is cyberhoarding and how does it affect our mental health?