I don’t have notifications enabled, nowhere and never

[Curzel]

I never was much into notifications, and since it became possible, I have only ever allowed a selection of apps (IM, email, calendar) to send me notifications.

Since 2020 I disabled notifications completely on every device I own.

I'm not more focused, nor more productive, but, at least, they stopped popping up in the corner of the screen.

This included browser-based notifications, which not only are the most annoying kind, as they pop up virtually on every website, but I also have to regularly disable them on phones of friends and family, as they come and ask me to "remove the notifications virus"...

I can understand IM, email, calendar, even order tracking push notifications. But do you really use ANY other notifications?

Do you use ANY notifications in places other than your phone?

[ryandrake]

Do Not Disturb mode. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No notifications, no texts, no calls, nothing at all begging for my attention. Once you've tried it, you'll never go back. I now use my devices when I want, on my own terms, and on my own schedule, not when some app company product manager or other rando people want me to use them. To me, using a computing device should be a deliberate act, with a purpose and limited duration, not some mindless response to stimulus. I'd say my quality of life has increased since making this change--I'm no longer being trained to allow (and get anxious about) arbitrary interruptions throughout the day. I feel I have more time in the day to do what I want without my device constantly begging me to "check in".

I go home and visit my parents and their devices are beeping and buzzing and vibrating every 5 seconds or so. It's like living on the Las Vegas strip. I see people out in restaurants together constantly picking up their phone over and over because it's dinging at them. I can't even imagine myself living like that anymore.

[monster_group]

>> ...no calls...

You must not have kids / spouse then. You can get a call from school / daycare any time that your kid is sick or hurt and needs to be picked up immediately. Or your spouse can call you that their car broke down and (s)he needs help. I want to be notified immediately of such situations.

[tapanjk]

> Once you've tried it, you'll never go back.

Whenever I try this, I keep checking if something is waiting for me. For me, it is not as simple as turning off notifications. I also need to train my brain to stop thinking about new messages and that is turning out to be harder than I thought.

[MrBurnsKin]

Same for me. But I end up never getting a call and needing to check cellphone every 5 mins. What is working great for me now is to turn off everything and just leave calls on loud (like phone was originally designed)

[devilbunny]

If only I could...

Unfortunately, it's a device for work, and I need to be able to respond to calls and texts from people that are not in my contact list, even outside working hours.

I don't have any apps producing alerts other than messaging, calls, email, and calendar, but Monday I got twelve texts from seven different people in less than five minutes. All needed responses within five to ten minutes.

I could ditch it, but then I'd have to carry a pager.

[matheusmoreira]

I only have WhatsApp notifications enabled and only for specific people. Phone doesn't make noise or vibrate ever, I only see messages when I pick it up.

> I go home and visit my parents and their devices are beeping and buzzing and vibrating every 5 seconds or so.

I know exactly what you mean. I even tried to get them to disable that noise but it turned out they wanted to be notified. I will never understand it.

[Gordonjcp]

> Do Not Disturb mode. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No notifications, no texts, no calls, nothing at all begging for my attention.

What do you actually do during the day, that warrants such a brain-in-a-jar lifestyle with no need to interact with other people?

[Pr0ject217]

I follow a slightly relaxed version of yours.

- One social media app: Reddit

- One chat/call app: Signal.

- Notifications for every app, except Signal, are disabled

- Do Not Disturb from 7PM-8AM with one exception: my wife's phone number

[fenesiistvan]

This looks too much for me. Your parents can't reach you on phone.

[MacsHeadroom]

No, I don't allow notifications for any app or function on any device.

I'm highly technically competent. When I look at my older parents' phones and see the notification hell they're dealing with, I wonder how anyone ever thought notifications were a good idea?!

Back when notifications meant email, IM, and updates they were fine. Now everything wants to grab your attention. So now none of them get my attention, not even calls or text messages.

[matheusmoreira]

> I wonder how anyone ever thought notifications were a good idea?

It is a good idea if one assumes notifications is a high signal/noise ratio communications channel where only important stuff gets sent.

Of course, what happened is advertisers discovered this new exciting opportunity to spam people with their offers and drive up "engagement" so now notifications are actively hostile to users to the point they're better off disabled. Just like phone calls: there's no point in picking up the phone when 99% of all calls are automated advertiser calls.

[ojkelly]

I use notifications, and alarms, and timers all the time.

It’s an accessibility (as in a11y) thing. Notifications are a tool that some of us depend on, and some of us will never need.

Like many people with ADHD I forgot stuff. Important things, non-important things. For so many different reasons, some reasonable other just frustrating.

So when I know now I need to do something in the future, say in 3 hours (like take the clothes out of the washing machine), I’m gonna set a timer. Otherwise you could place a solid bet I’ll forget.

It goes for other things too. App notifications are a critical part of my ability to stay on top of things.

Snoozing is one of the most consequential features to have been added. I used google inbox for this feature alone (then de-googled after they shut it down).

I use Slack’s remind me more than twice a day.

The ability for a different system to act as both time based memory, and an external prompt that I need to look at something takes a huge cognitive load of me.

But, this only works with apps that respect notifications. Those apps (looking at you Uber), that push marketing notifications down the same channel as the critical transactional ones are nothing but enraging.

I’m sure they think it’s good for their numbers, but it breeds a discontent with the brand. Because you’ve taken a communication channel I depend on and made it unreliable. If I can’t know for sure that an Uber notification is time sensitive, I’m going to mute them and stop using the app. But for Uber it’s worse, I’ve learnt they are time sensitive (car is arriving), and when I’ve gotten the marketing notification out of the blue, I’m not in a mood to receive it because I’m wondering why I have an Uber booking, because that’s what I would expect from prior usage.

I do take a fully opt in approach to notifications and I think everyone should. If you’re getting interrupted by a notification it has to be more important than what your currently doing. If not, it’s going to be a negative experience.

So, notifications. They’re a powerful accessibility tool. Which means we’re all gonna configure them differently, and it means abuses the trust of uses who’ve given you permission to interrupt them is something you should treat as a liability not an acceptable cost of pumping your numbers.

[pjlegato]

Setting a timer yourself to remind you of some future important event is a very different proposition than what most people mean when they say "notifications": allowing an ever-growing constellation of commercially motivated ad sales companies to initiate pings on the phone they carry around 24 hours a day and grab at their attention at any time, for resale purposes.

[flkiwi]

I just unsubscribed from Marvel Unlimited (and deleted the app) because they don't provide any mechanism for disabling marketing notifications ("Here's an issue of something you've never read!") vs. functional notifications ("Here's an issue of something you've starred!") vs. transactional notifications ("Your subscription is coming up for renewal!"). I understand that, for some people, new issue notifications are a plus, but not giving us a chance to filter out that noise is abusive. It's my phone not your billboard. Anyway, thanks to this thread I went back and checked my notifications settings and a surprising number of them were set not only to allow immediate notifications, but also to "announce" their notifications. Turned all those off.

[closetohome]

I've uninstalled a number of apps for doing that. Once they start mixing spam with relevant notifications -- especially if it's an app that depends on relevant notifications -- I'm out.

[kdtsh]

I use notifications almost everywhere, but I also have some variant of ‘Do Not Disturb’ enabled at all times on most of my devices. It’s handy to have a list of new information, but I don’t want it to know about it until I choose to.

On my phone I only have Do Not Disturb enabled when I really don’t want to be disturbed, but otherwise I only allow audio alerts for phone calls; everything else either pops up on my Lock Screen quietly, gets a badge that I can sort out later, or doesn’t matter enough for me to spend any time on unless I open the app.

[soco]

Here no sounds at all, I have instead priority settings on 4 family contacts which are the only ones which will vibrate on calls/whatsapp. All the rest will register their popup in complete silence for when I feel like checking the phone.

[Curzel]

You're the first commenter how actually "likes" notifications it seems... What apps other than IM/email/calendar/... do you allow?

[mccorrinall]

I do the same. Focus modes on iOS are a really good addition!

[jzellis]

As everyone tends to use different apps for messaging, I wish there was some sort of universal way to add contacts from any app to an "Always Send Notifications When These People Contact Me But Nobody Else" list. Like, I can mute individuals in Messenger or whatever, but I want to mute everybody but my wife and my parents back in the US in case of emergencies, whether they call me or text me or use Messenger or Whatsapp. That would obviate the need for DnD or silent modes for me, at least.

[stevage]

Do you really need to be notified when your wife likes your Twitter post or your kid posts a photo to Facebook?

[thenerdhead]

Why stop at notifications?

https://jondouglas.dev/balance-your-digital-well-being/

https://jondouglas.dev/focus-is-a-superpower/

https://jondouglas.dev/fast-brain-slow-mind/

I try to replace my artificial notifications with natural/organic notifications where possible. The only notifications on my phone that I allow are phone calls/texts from certain numbers. I don't want to constantly be in a state of "alertness". I seek serenity from digital devices on a daily basis.

[ghusto]

I tell colleagues that Slack is also blocked, both on desktop and my phone. I check it periodically, about every hour or two.

"But what if I need you for something important?!"

There's this thing called a phone

"Well, it's not _that_ important ... I guess"

Amazing how rationality has time to settle in when we stop being impulsive.

[Brajeshwar]

I have been advocating and helping many others, ever since I started the idea in 2014[1]. A few years back, in 2019, I went a tad more and went total DND[2]. The exceptions are tiny and very specific instances, and reasoning.

1. https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activi...

2. https://phone.wtf

[Curzel]

Yeah, fair and simple advice! Mine was not a complaint about productivity per se, I just can't be bothered clearning them or picking out the ones I need, but I understand where you're coming from.

[nemacol]

I started to eliminate notifications from my life when a sound enabled banner notification from a keyboard I had installed on my android phone wanted me to know about all the great features of the keyboard app going from 3.0.1 to 3.0.2 (or whatever minor version).

Anyway, I disabled everywhere except calendar alerts, alarm clock app, and a "favorites" list that is exempt from DnD in my phone.

My preference is for technology to be a tool that I use when I want. It is here for me not the other way around.

[bambax]

On my phone I only have notifications for the phone app, and text. That's it. Nothing else.

On my desktop I have zero notifications.

It's been that way for years, it's perfect.

I'm not a first responder. All things can wait.

[Curzel]

Just reading this gives me Zen vibes :D

[was_a_dev]

What about banking or F2A?

[ubercow13]

Yes, I use notifications from my bank and credit card so I know when someone is taking my money.

[sys_64738]

The CC company has a fraud dept for that. They can leave a message. It’s important but not critical so can wait twelve hours.

[Curzel]

Ok, I guess that's another important use case! Anything else comes to your mind?

I am currently working on a project where we have 90+% of opt out from push notifications with <10% open rate, and for good reasons.

I am try to build an argument here for my manager haahah

[nicbou]

Same here. Those notifications are great. I just disable sounds and vibrations for them.

[Veen]

I use Apple's Scheduled Summary for most notifications (Android may have something similar, but I don't know the platform). Scheduled summary collects notifications and then delivers a summary at a time of my choosing. You can choose which notifications go into the summary and which are delivered immediately.

I turn off notifications for most apps, put non-urgent ones in the summary, and leave only a few to be delivered immediately ( e.g. iMessages from VIP contacts). Then I glance through the summary when it arrives after work and deal with anything that needs a response.

Also, I turn off all browser notifications. I never need them.

[Curzel]

Interesting, so you also use features like focus modes?

[NikolaNovak]

My phone is always on silent mode, and dnd over night (ops team has standing instructions to always phone any on-call person twice successfully before going to next person). No audio notifications at all, but vibrate is on for phone calls during the day (important work calls, family emergencies etc of course still need to reach me)

No notifications on desktop, ever <shudder>.

Google hangouts and ams messenger can show me pull down "notifications" (message preview) on the phone.

That's not to say I'm inaccessible - I have not missed a call or important message yet. But app notifications have negative use value for me.

[atemerev]

I have a severe ADHD, so nearly all notifications are disabled, except for reminders, which I use heavily. This is literally a matter of survival for me.

But I don’t know anyone who doesn’t switch off most of notifications.

[gumby]

My phone, computer, and watch are on silent; I only get notifications on my watch, and almost none:

I enable certain IM senders (kids, partner) and slack (certain channels only). I have an app that reminds me to take my meds through the day. Nothing else.

There are task-specific notifications I would like to enable (e.g. my car is arriving) but when you enable notifications for those apps, the apps spam me at other times. So polling it is.

I never enabled browser notifications.

[muttled]

Facebook is one of those annoying ones. You go in, change your notifications to exactly what you want, and then shortly after Facebook creates a new notification class that's set to default "on". Few rounds of that and it's lost all notification privileges.

[closetohome]

> I only get notifications on my watch

This worked really well for me. My phone is always silent/DND, but I get notifications on my watch. If I want to stop getting notifications, I just take off my watch.

[sys_64738]

No, as they’re a complete distraction from what YOU actually want to do. They are your own personal time waster that FB uses to keep you engaged longer. We’re only in the planet for a finite time that gets less everyday so why would I want to waste my time. You see this most impacting insecure folk who need positive engagement or constant reinforcement of the feedback loop. It’s a complete waste of time.

[lamontcg]

I'm not quite zero notifications, but I've never installed work e-mail/calendar/slack on my phone. Work notifications are slack direct DMs on my laptop/desktop only. And I sort of condition people to understand that I'm the person who gets things done and I might not respond to you immediately.

If you think you desperately need to be ADHD constantly helping people out immediately with every request they have and this is the way to get forward in your career, you might want to reconsider that. You turn into sort of the helpdesk guy. You can still be the person that does all the extraordinarily hard problems that nobody else can solve, and deliver on the big features, without being the person who is there for instantly answering questions 24/7. If you open yourself up to being ADHD constantly you'll probably never get anything done through being interrupted constantly and you may find yourself stuck at a lower technical level than you want to progress to. Although if you want a management job this is probably the path you want to take.

[zevon]

I'm on the same boat as quite a few posters: I hate notifications and have a hard time understanding how people who pick up their devices all the time get anything done and keep their sanity.

My personal phone is a device with GrapheneOS (no Play Store and no Play services, so not even the temptation to install attention grabbing crap - not that I even have social media accounts anymore). It is used mostly for audiobooks, music, navigation, phone calls, as a device for notetaking, information gathering / referencing - and to have a backup of my most important data near me at all times. The only app I allow notifications on this device for is the one messenger I have installed - which I only use to chat with my partner, a group chat with some of my oldest friends and the very occasinal message to other contacts (almost exclusively to coordinate some real-world activity). At the beginning of my work day, I usually chuck the personal phone in my backpack and only remember to take it out in the evening when I usually have a call with my partner - or when I'd like to listen to some music during a break. If there is an emergency, my partner, my parents, etc. know to call me at work.

My work phone is a bit different. I have it with me at all times when I'm working and have notifications enabled for Matrix/Element (which we use as our team messenger) and for the calendar. Not E-Mail, though. I check that when I'm good and ready.

My partner has a permanent exception to Do Not Disturb mode on both my phones.

On my computers, it's Do Not Disturb / disable notifications all the way. If I want to be informed about stuff, I'll keep the respective app open. During a normal work day, for example, I have Element, Calendar and E-Mail open on a second monitor for glanceability - and I even close those apps depending on the kind of work I'm doing.

Edit: I forgot: I also have my government's disaster warning app installed on my phones and it's allowed notifications - for obvious reasons.

[jasomill]

1. Calls/FaceTime/SMS/iMessage (banners and sounds, Mac and iPhone).

2. Calendar reminders (banners only, Mac and iPhone).

3. A bespoke "hello world" iOS app I threw together and installed to enable ad hoc notifications to myself from anywhere via a similarly trivial Web API (banners and sounds, iPhone only).

4. LaunchControl[1] on the Mac has a neat feature that sends a notification whenever a launchd item is added or removed. This is nice to know, and generally only triggers when apps are installed or updated, and on app launch and quit for a few apps like VMware Fusion that only keep their related launchd items loaded while running (banners only, Mac only).

Everything else gets turned off with extreme prejudice.

[1] https://soma-zone.com/LaunchControl/