Let's Reduce Notifications!

Like any working person, I have always had on my computer various applications and programs. Some are useful and support one in the delivery of projects. Others, are just mere occupants of the computer’s memory, but they have to be kept.

I do not know if you have noticed, but the modern human being is assisted more and more. All things surrounding are smart, but not the human being. As a simple example, I only know by heart my telephone number. We exercise our memory less and less, ignoring the damage that this may lead to. It’s enough to experience once your telephone running out of battery and you will know what I mean.

To work is stressful. It does not matter how many breaks one takes, if one works from home or from the office, if one travels for work or not, if one practices mindfulness or not, those that work will experience stress (sometimes, a lot of stress).

I had worked for a lot of time trying to make my way through notifications of various applications, until one day when I realized how much damaged they caused (especially to my focus). I was under a lot of stress when the Outlook notification that I had received an email popped up to the bottom right part of the screen. Moreover, I could see the name of the sender and a part of the message. Since, in this case, the sender was directly responsible for my stress, my blood pressure went through the roof. After a couple of hours, when I came to my senses, I realized I had to do something about this. The sender could not be stopped, but I could manage the situation in a different manner. So I killed this Outlook notification, and I only keept the notification that shows the yellow envelope on the Outlook icon notifying that a new email was received. Ever since, whenever I change jobs, I am sure to take care of this during my first days.

The same thing happens with Teams, too. The icon of the application not only changes color and shows the number of messages that one receives, but it also makes a sound. When one is part of a small team that does not send too many messages, this is manageable. But when one has, aside from the teams’ chat, other individual chats and channels, one must do something. I, for example, have cancelled all sound notifications from this app and kept only the visual one.

A lot of people do not understand or even try to realize the damage that notifications can bring to somebody’s focus. Fortunately, I do not own a smartphone and I am not also bothered by notifications coming from it, but I can truly understand why some people exposed to so many notifications from different devices start to experience burn out.

I strongly recommend you kill as many notifications as possible. Paraphrasing here the comedian Aziz Ansari, you will get your mind back and will be able to see through the fog.