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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 som

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 4y ago
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.
- ojkelly 4y ago
  On the face of it yes, but the bigger point I was trying to make is that some of us have challenges with remembering things and external prompts/interruptions (alarms, timers, notifications) are in that case all the same thing. If I’m not going to remember myself, or check on something in time to act on it (say a message), I need another system to do it. But not everyone is like that. So we’re always going to fall on a spectrum between no notifications and all notifications. I did touch on ads in notifications, they’re violation of the trust in allowing someone to interrupt you. Unless you signed up to be notified about time-sensitive deals, that notifications is going to disappoint.

pjlegato 4y ago

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.

ojkelly 4y ago
On the face of it yes, but the bigger point I was trying to make is that some of us have challenges with remembering things and external prompts/interruptions (alarms, timers, notifications) are in that case all the same thing. If I’m not going to remember myself, or check on something in time to act on it (say a message), I need another system to do it. But not everyone is like that. So we’re always going to fall on a spectrum between no notifications and all notifications. I did touch on ads in notifications, they’re violation of the trust in allowing someone to interrupt you. Unless you signed up to be notified about time-sensitive deals, that notifications is going to disappoint.