Here a second or third e-mail address, there the account of a social network that is no longer used, at least not for the time being. Anyone who loses track here runs the risk of losing accounts.
For accounts that you no longer use, but that you still want to keep, you should definitely log in every now and then. This prevents the risk of a service deleting an account due to inactivity and releasing the username for others to register again. Google is now planning to delete inactive Gmail accounts.
Take login requests seriously
If you forget to log in regularly, you should at least take e-mails with instructions from the respective service seriously, in which you are asked to log in. The periods of inactivity before receiving such messages vary widely. Twitter for example demands a notification “at least every 30 days”.
Also interesting: Linking a Gmail account to other email accounts
Google will start deleting Gmail accounts in late 2023
Google, on the other hand, is still introducing an occasional obligation to log in for its Gmail email service. However, the company intends to delete the first inactive accounts by December 2023 at the earliest.
However, you will really have to have forgotten your Google account in order to be startled by an e-mail notification in the future. The minimum login requirement, so as not to be bothered with requests to log in, is generously measured at “at least every two years”.