Geez, Another Notification!

A couple of months ago I noticed my notifications were overrunning my phone and impacting my productivity. I would open up an app if a store announced a sale. I would get distracted when a new notification popped up. I would click on my email every time that little red number appeared in the corner.

Turns out it is a common problem. According to Harvard Business Review:

After a notification has forced us to switch between tasks, it can take us about 23 minutes to get back to the task at hand, according to a study from University of California, Irvine.

Recent estimates find that while each task switch might waste only 1/10th of a second, it can add up to a 40% productivity loss if you do lots of switching in a day.

You can view the full article - https://hbr.org/2019/03/stop-letting-push-notifications-ruin-your-productivity

After some internet research and consulting with my IT expert/son, I came up with a plan. Below is what I did to clean up my phone:

• I turned off notifications for the apps that are bothered me

• I kept notifications on only for selective apps such as airlines, health and calendar

• For the apps where I kept notifications, I considered turning off the sound and/or the badges

• I organized my phone in file folders so I have my apps organized by category on one page

• Now I do no accept notifications when I downloading a new app

You can also temporary turn off notifications as well as turn everything off at once. Below are links to how-to videos for iphone and android. Good luck!