Turn Off your notifications

Have you ever been working on an assignment, talking to a friend, or working out at the gym and felt your phone buzz with a notification? When that notification comes through, what do you usually do? Do you ignore it and continue with what you are doing, or do you stop and check that notification? If I’m being honest, I often check that notification.

Our phones can send us notifications for literally everything. We get notifications when a text or email comes through, or someone likes our Instagram story. I’ve even received Snapchat notifications when someone posts to their story. The notifications we get from our phone are endless. They are also distracting, overwhelming at times, and usually unnecessary. Those notifications often pull us away from a task we are focusing on and draw us into our phones. This is nothing to feel bad or guilty about, though. Some research has shown that sometimes it’s actually impossible to ignore those notifications.

Phone notifications have been strategically created to play into the natural reward system that is hardwired in our brains. When you get a notification to your phone, it triggers the release of dopamine (a feel-good hormone) within your body. This is why when you hear or feel that notification, you automatically check your phone, likely without even thinking about it. It has become an automatic response for many of us, and that is intentional.

But notifications aren’t all that bad though. It can be helpful to get a notification when a text comes through, or a maps notification so you don’t miss your turn, and even a calendar reminder. Let’s be honest, a lot of those notifications are unhelpful, and the science backs it up too.

So, I’m challenging you to turn of your notifications. Not all of them, but some of them. Now, where do you start?

1.     Take stock of all apps that send you notifications on your phone. Not sure where to start? Your phone settings likely has a notifications centre that lists all the apps sending you notifications.

2.     Review all the apps sending you notifications and ask yourself a few questions

a.     Do I really need to be getting notifications from this app? What purpose does that notification serve?

b.     What notifications from this app are important for me to get quickly? Why?

c.      What notifications from this app can wait?

d.     How distracting is it when I get a notification from this app?

3.     Make a change!

a.     Update your notification settings to only send you notifications that you actually need to get immediately, and turn off anything that can wait.

I promise you – it is freeing! I’ve had most of my notifications turned off for over two years now. The only notifications coming through my phone are texts, phone calls, emails, calendar reminders, and any direct messages I get on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. And it feels so good, I can actually spend time with my loved ones with minimal distractions, and get tasks done without my phone going off every other minute. The best part? You can change this at any time! As the circumstances of your life change, you have full control to change what types of notifications you receive to your phone, and how.

Adjusting your notification settings can help set you free from your phone, keep you on task or in the moment, and maybe relieve a little stress. Let’s get out of our phones and more in tune with what and who is around us.

By: Alex Grimley-Pannozzo