I just read an article on Wired. It’s long article. The point is, the writer tells us to disable push notifications on our smartphone, without exception. Even text message and phone call. There are two main reasons. First, push notifications are not really good for your personal life as a human. Second, push notifications are basically just a tool for businesses to market their products.
As a blogger – who market my blog’s content – I really understand how push notifications can benefit online businesses. But as a user – and a normal person who expect a normal life – I also understand that enabling too many notifications is not good enough. Especially when it comes to productivity.
Enabling too many notifications can make you less focused at work. Imagine if you are getting an article done and your phone suddenly beeps up and shows “Peter Parker just posted for the first time in a while”. Yes, your friend — Peter Parker — just posted a photo after a long hiatus, showcasing his holiday trip with his wife. After seeing the photo, your mind says “they look happy” and you eventually end up wasting your 15 minutes scrolling your friend’s Instagram feed and his wife’s.
After getting back to your work, another notification — coming from an online shop app on your smartphone — shows up, alerting you about this week’s best item. Again, after peeking at the notification, you finally end up wasting another 15 minutes scrolling your screen to look for other “cool products”, regardless of you need it or not.
If you have too many push notifications enabled on your smartphone, imagine how much time you can waste within a day just for checking something that even doesn’t give any benefit or value on your life.
I am not telling you that disabling push notifications can instantly boost your productivity or can make your life better. At least you have got rid of one the distractions that can ruin your work time in order to make you be more productive. To be honest, I also can’t live without push notifications. I still let WhatsApp let me know about new messages (except group messages).
Actually, it’s not your phone’s fault if you cannot be more productive at work (or any problem caused by your smartphone). It’s totally your fault. I think self-control plays a vital role in the smartphone era like today. You need to control yourself to not become a smartphone slave. Instead, you should use your smartphone very wisely to make it a smart tool to make your life easier. Like it is supposed to be.