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Honestly curious and hopefully not rude, but how can you concentrate on anything? Or does your work/life not require you to concentrate ever/most of the time on

Honestly curious and hopefully not rude, but how can you concentrate on anything? Or does your work/life not require you to concentrate ever/most of the time on anything? (I have turned all but phone call and sms notifications off on my phone. I will check my email/whatsapp when I want and see notifications there as needed. If someone has something urgent, they know how to call.)

Normal_gaussian 7y ago
Simply, it doesn't affect me adversely at all. I think you have a misunderstanding as to how many notifications are generated. Today I received: * 3 reminders to eat * 1 security alert (delivery) * about two dozen instant messages between myself and clients * a couple of dozen CI alerts * 3 emails Its easy to have different levels of notifications, and filter message channels. I have less distraction now than I had in an office by several orders of magnitude. Everything is either immediately relevant or very important. The notifications I have make me more effective.
- servercobra 7y ago
  What kind of reminders to eat are you getting? Like "don't forget to eat?" or "don't forget, this is your plan for lunch"?
  - namibj 7y ago
    I'd assume some sort of "go eat now, it's time" scheme, so he can stay in deep flow without neglecting his food intake.
    - Normal_gaussian 7y ago
      You got it! For me neglecting food intake means: If I don't eat enough I get grumpy. This lowers the quality of life of myself and my loved ones. Alternatively if I get hungry it can cause me to over-snack (justified by anti-grumps thoughts); then I get fat and lower my quality of life slightly slower. So these notifications are perhaps the most important ones.
- octodog 7y ago
  Do you use Whatsapp / Messenger regularly for social stuff? Coincidentally I was looking at my Digital Well-being settings in Android today and was told that I get over 170 notifications from Messenger a day.
  - Normal_gaussian 7y ago
    I do. But I can't say I'm that popular! They are also muted and don't vibrate. Most people I talk to work at the same time as me, so to get a social message during the day would be unusual. Everyone knows to call if it matters. Note: also be aware that the digital wellbeing count counts updates to an existing notification as a notification. As such my morning alarm counts a few dozen notifications (alarm in 8hrs, alarm in 7hrs, 30mins, 2 mins, etc.)
Joakal 7y ago
Not grandparent but for me: 1) only certain notifications that are important have unique sound, vibrate, etc. 2) other semi important notifications flash. Light is not that bright to notice. 3) other notifications have numbers on app so there are some despite not seeing any notifications. Result: I stopped checking every hour. It's actually been an improvement for me to stay away from phone. I noticed that some apps abuse you for disabling notifications and Viber is biggest example. I don't care about holiday wishes or viber news but I need app to stay in touch with some people. Sadly, I only check at most once a fortnight because of this disabled notification nagging.
- scottmotte 7y ago
  I wish there was a standardized or common methodology for classifying notifications. App developers could adopt this and consumers could take the pattern with them across all types of interfaces - desktop, smartphone, speakers, tv. Maybe someone knows if any government entity or force has a methodology for this?

Normal_gaussian 7y ago

Simply, it doesn't affect me adversely at all. I think you have a misunderstanding as to how many notifications are generated. Today I received: * 3 reminders to eat * 1 security alert (delivery) * about two dozen instant messages between myself and clients * a couple of dozen CI alerts * 3 emails Its easy to have different levels of notifications, and filter message channels. I have less distraction now than I had in an office by several orders of magnitude. Everything is either immediately relevant or very important. The notifications I have make me more effective.

servercobra 7y ago
What kind of reminders to eat are you getting? Like "don't forget to eat?" or "don't forget, this is your plan for lunch"?
- namibj 7y ago
  I'd assume some sort of "go eat now, it's time" scheme, so he can stay in deep flow without neglecting his food intake.
  - Normal_gaussian 7y ago
    You got it! For me neglecting food intake means: If I don't eat enough I get grumpy. This lowers the quality of life of myself and my loved ones. Alternatively if I get hungry it can cause me to over-snack (justified by anti-grumps thoughts); then I get fat and lower my quality of life slightly slower. So these notifications are perhaps the most important ones.
octodog 7y ago
Do you use Whatsapp / Messenger regularly for social stuff? Coincidentally I was looking at my Digital Well-being settings in Android today and was told that I get over 170 notifications from Messenger a day.
- Normal_gaussian 7y ago
  I do. But I can't say I'm that popular! They are also muted and don't vibrate. Most people I talk to work at the same time as me, so to get a social message during the day would be unusual. Everyone knows to call if it matters. Note: also be aware that the digital wellbeing count counts updates to an existing notification as a notification. As such my morning alarm counts a few dozen notifications (alarm in 8hrs, alarm in 7hrs, 30mins, 2 mins, etc.)

Joakal 7y ago

Not grandparent but for me: 1) only certain notifications that are important have unique sound, vibrate, etc. 2) other semi important notifications flash. Light is not that bright to notice. 3) other notifications have numbers on app so there are some despite not seeing any notifications. Result: I stopped checking every hour. It's actually been an improvement for me to stay away from phone. I noticed that some apps abuse you for disabling notifications and Viber is biggest example. I don't care about holiday wishes or viber news but I need app to stay in touch with some people. Sadly, I only check at most once a fortnight because of this disabled notification nagging.

scottmotte 7y ago
I wish there was a standardized or common methodology for classifying notifications. App developers could adopt this and consumers could take the pattern with them across all types of interfaces - desktop, smartphone, speakers, tv. Maybe someone knows if any government entity or force has a methodology for this?