There Are Only So Many Notifications a Person Can Take

One of the most annoying aspects of using apps must surely be the constant flow of notifications. That said, this is largely a problem of our own making: we install more apps than we need, and are then bombarded by beeps, pings and vibrations alerting us to content that demands our attention: distracting, tiring… a hassle.

Why does this happen? Because when we install an app, we usually leave the default configuration requested by the app, which now wants to be the center of our attention. The alternative seems to be simply to turn it off and ignore it, along with all the others. But there is another way.

What we need to do is take a more proactive approach to managing our notifications, based on the device they’re installed (a computer, which we use only when it’s in front of us, isn’t the same as a smartphone, which we carry with us at all times, making it a weapon of mass distraction), the level of criticality or the type of notification. Smartwatches also require careful management.

The possibilities are many, and call for some reflection. The first and obvious one is what content we consider so interesting that we give it the right to interrupt us: a notification is almost always an interruption, even if we are doing something we do not want to interrupt and we are willing not to look at it. A tone or vibration distracts us, and can be very annoying not only for us, but also for the people we are with. There are people whose smartphone, based on its constant vibration, seems more like some kind of sex toy.

We also need to think about protocol: should instant messaging really be instant? Let’s forget about the name: what’s going to happen if instead of answering that WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or Slack immediately, you leave it for a while? Obviously it depends on who is sending the message and what it says, but again, it should be our decision to know when we’ve been contacted. I set my phone to vibration notifications only in the instant messaging program I use with my family, while everyone else has to wait for me to notice that the corresponding red balloon reflects a certain number. Besides, it is infinitely more efficient to check a conversation after the fact than to be waiting for it to happen.

Should apps have sound or vibration? In my case, the answer is almost always no; I tend to have my smartphone on soundless mode, unless I’m actually waiting for something — or by mistake. My work, at least in its creative and delivery part, means I don’t want to be interrupted when I’m writing or conceptualizing something, and it serves absolutely no purpose for me to be if I’m teaching a class, meeting or at a conference, and that conditions all my decisions about my notifications. The focus modes of the new iOS could raise some interesting issues, although I have not yet configured them.

Then there are those apps, such as Instagram or all the social networks (I uninstalled Facebook from my smartphone a long time ago), for which I simply remove all notifications: it’s me, not them, who decides when I have time to look at them. Others have balloons, but intentionally, they don’t live on my first screen, so I don’t see them or get distracted unless I want them to. LinkedIn? Having notifications turned on would be, in my case, nuts: when you have my number of contacts, it becomes a constant notification machine. Twitter? The same. No notifications, and I’ll be the one to find the time to check it. News? It is difficult to find a medium that sends notifications about what you really need to know quickly, and without hassling you.

In short, deciding who and what you want to be notified by and about is a personal decision, dependent on our habits, priorities and hierarchies, but, it will never be worse managed than if we do not manage it at all, because all these apps invariably aspire to be the center of our attention.

Do you manage your notifications or do they manage you? What’s your approach?

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM. and is republished with permission.

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