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Based on your other replies it's probably just a fundamental disagreement on how you view notifications compared to those who find watch notifications to reduce

Based on your other replies it's probably just a fundamental disagreement on how you view notifications compared to those who find watch notifications to reduce stress. For me, watch notifications reduce stress by allowing me to get absorbed in the moment while still being able to quickly check up on any important things without having to "context switch" by pulling out a phone. It means that I can actually take advantage of my flexible work schedule and go out on a walk or be visiting my niece and playing with her, yet still available to others who might be working at the time. In the early 2000s, sure there weren't devices vying for your attention, but such flexible work requirements were also not that common. I get to do things whenever I want as long as the overall work is progressing at a decent pace. If I had to avoid getting into something enough to remember to keep checking my phone, it'd defeat the point of such flexibility, and if others had to wait an hour or two for me to notice and reply to them, work would not progress at a decent pace and the flexibility would be taken away. This is probably also a function of my position. I'm at the start of my research career, so most of the emails I have ultimately involve me asking someone else for something which benefits me much more than them. My being extremely prompt with my replies helps a lot with making a good impression and getting things done, and a watch helps a lot with pulling that off without having to actually stress about paying attention to my emails.

PeterStuer 3y ago
If you get stressed by fearing you'll miss an 'important' message to which you want to 'react' immediately outside of your working hours (I'd argue even within work hours unless it is that once a year true emergency) to make a 'good impression' let me tell you now that that is not a winning strategy. The hard truth is you are conditioning others to see and treat you like a good servant. One they want to keep as a servant. If you want to serve yourself and advance your carreer, bring other values to the table when it matters. You want to be the person that shows promising skills for the next few carreer steps, not be the 'good ata boy, fetch'. If you are truly needed for something urgent, because you are the only person that can do it rather than anyone that will do it. they will find a way to contact you even with your phone notifications turned off. Making the "good impression" is a negative if you are impressing the wrong image. You can ignore this advice from someone who has been through many stages of a carreer, and it can be scary advice givin your current perception, but trust me, this is an important worklife lesson.
- dotnet00 3y ago
  I expected to get this kind of response, but applying it so broadly is kind of overly cynical and doesn't really account for the realities of early career research. These urgent emails can be about things like quick questions about my code. If they had to wait for me to reply (which would cause them to just switch to another in their large backlog of tasks in the meantime), it'd take even longer than the year it has already taken to make meaningful progress on integrating my work. Alternatively they may be requests to have a quick call to discuss a paper draft I sent for their review (because that's the only reasonable time they might have to discussit that week). With these, of course I should care about expediency as there are only a handful of papers with me as primary author. They directly count towards the progress of my career. Plus, with these there are strict submission deadlines to deal with, which are more important to me as primary author. I'm in a research group of 4 people, 2 of whom are more scientist than computer engineer, and the other is mainly a Python person and also mainly a Windows person. Thus, any of our new developments relating to GPU acceleration, parallelization, automations and relating to our Linux systems are, in most cases, my child. This isn't a large company where there may be many different people who can handle the same task and where it's reasonable to make it difficult for them to reach me to avoid giving the impression of being a slave. Plus, it isn't like I'm just doing everything I'm told either. I understand when someone's just asking me to do something that they likely won't even remember asking for and know to deprioritize those things appropriately.
  - PeterStuer 3y ago
    I understand. I did the same when (I guess) I was your age. I do not think I was being cynical. By nature if people have great utility or satisfaction from something, they do not want it to change. Is that bad of them?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

PeterStuer 3y ago

If you get stressed by fearing you'll miss an 'important' message to which you want to 'react' immediately outside of your working hours (I'd argue even within work hours unless it is that once a year true emergency) to make a 'good impression' let me tell you now that that is not a winning strategy. The hard truth is you are conditioning others to see and treat you like a good servant. One they want to keep as a servant. If you want to serve yourself and advance your carreer, bring other values to the table when it matters. You want to be the person that shows promising skills for the next few carreer steps, not be the 'good ata boy, fetch'. If you are truly needed for something urgent, because you are the only person that can do it rather than anyone that will do it. they will find a way to contact you even with your phone notifications turned off. Making the "good impression" is a negative if you are impressing the wrong image. You can ignore this advice from someone who has been through many stages of a carreer, and it can be scary advice givin your current perception, but trust me, this is an important worklife lesson.

dotnet00 3y ago
I expected to get this kind of response, but applying it so broadly is kind of overly cynical and doesn't really account for the realities of early career research. These urgent emails can be about things like quick questions about my code. If they had to wait for me to reply (which would cause them to just switch to another in their large backlog of tasks in the meantime), it'd take even longer than the year it has already taken to make meaningful progress on integrating my work. Alternatively they may be requests to have a quick call to discuss a paper draft I sent for their review (because that's the only reasonable time they might have to discussit that week). With these, of course I should care about expediency as there are only a handful of papers with me as primary author. They directly count towards the progress of my career. Plus, with these there are strict submission deadlines to deal with, which are more important to me as primary author. I'm in a research group of 4 people, 2 of whom are more scientist than computer engineer, and the other is mainly a Python person and also mainly a Windows person. Thus, any of our new developments relating to GPU acceleration, parallelization, automations and relating to our Linux systems are, in most cases, my child. This isn't a large company where there may be many different people who can handle the same task and where it's reasonable to make it difficult for them to reach me to avoid giving the impression of being a slave. Plus, it isn't like I'm just doing everything I'm told either. I understand when someone's just asking me to do something that they likely won't even remember asking for and know to deprioritize those things appropriately.
- PeterStuer 3y ago
  I understand. I did the same when (I guess) I was your age. I do not think I was being cynical. By nature if people have great utility or satisfaction from something, they do not want it to change. Is that bad of them?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]