Captivated by Notifications

Our Deepening Relationship with Our Smartphones

Image credit: Wayhome Studio / Shutterstock.com

Smartphones have become the center of our sensory universe. Take a look at the people around you on the train, bus, subway, or at an airport terminal, dentist's office, or even at restaurant tables with guests "eating together" -- no less. Crisp displays, sensors-galore, high speed data, and smart app developers have glued us to these devices. Not surprising, given their ability to convey to us loads of precise and up-to-date information enabling us to to make smart decisions -- think minute rain and temperature forecasts, real-time transit updates, traffic congestion data, event reminders, GPS directions, and breaking news from around the world. And the bellwether for our deepening tie to our smartphones is the Notification. The, often, multi-sensory reminder, alert, flash, vibration, melody, that tells us where we should look, what we should take into consideration, and, sometimes, what we should do -- right now!

Our Bond with Our Smart Devices

In the last decade much study as gone into human smartphone interaction and the ways in which it may affect our attention, memory, and related nuanced cognitive abilities. Like the television before it, and the book before that, it seems our first prediction is that new technology will somehow make us worse at what we do as humans: think, decide, tinker, and communicate. A gap of longitudinal findings exists that would show a definitive and lasting change to our cognition in face of notifications and smartphones. However, the anecdotal experience seems to be pretty clear. Stop for a moment and think about how you interact with friends, family, colleagues, clients, customers, and vendors. Notifications seems to have changed the way that they plan for and go about their day. Maybe you're one of the few who can ignore notifications or who has consciously muted them. But the increasing ease of use and intuitive interfaces of smartphones has been a double-edged sword for the rest -- the common user. This group knows just enough to become absorbed in apps, but perhaps not enough to tinker with settings and parameters to take charge of notifications.

Notification Overload

This growing bunch constitutes a "Notification Nation." A group that is quickly enthralled by what their smart devices tell them they should do or think about and whose ability to set priorities and plan their actions methodically is at stake. There's no study backing this observation, but anecdotal experience suggests that it is likely the case. If you've ever felt like you had to nag a service provider or a vendor by texting, emailing, and calling them, you have experienced it first hand. At first, it may seem puzzling, especially if you tend to set your own daily to-dos and goals and notify yourself what you should do when. But with enough of these exchanges with others who don't conduct their days this way will make you realize that the squeakiest, most persistent wheel is the one that will get the time of day. But why? Why do you have to use several multi-sensory ways to ask or remind others to follow through? This is, at least in part, because you are competing with apps that are strategically scheduling and persistently pushing notifications to get user adoption, engagement, and commitment.

Making Notifications Work for Us

A few years ago, email was the medium of choice for nagging people into doing or buying things, but many have realized the smartphone is so much closer to where the action is. It vibrates, flashes, chimes, and pops its way up onto your screen and forces you to look, watch, see, listen, and do. Alright, it sounds like this article is going down the path we sought to avoid -- blaming technology for making humans less capable. So we step back and qualify it a bit. In a market of competing apps, limited attention spans and consumer wallets, the frequency and increasingly intrusive nature of notifications does seem to have a negative impact on users. However, lets think back to what made us cherish our devices to begin with. It wasn't notifications, it was the data and information at our finger tips. If we are a bit savvier and dig into our preferences and settings and think strategically about what information would be useful in the form of an automated notification, you can feel a bit better that you're not just herding yourself around following your device's reminders and suggestions.

Smartphone Tools for Digital Wellbeing

Operating systems are now providing us more ways to take control. For example, Android Pie includes a Digital Wellbeing dashboard that, among other things, will give you a healthy tally of your daily notification count and screen time. Go ahead, if you're reading this on the commute home or unwinding at night, take a look at how many things buzzed in your pocket, flashed on your screen, or required you to swipe and dismiss it away. You may need to install the app if it is not already on your system. Now, a bit of introspection. As you visualize your typical work day or weekend, what information at what time would help you make better decisions that would optimize your ability to reach your goals?

Next, keep a log or mental note every time a notification annoyed you, distracted you, or provided irrelevant information. With those two sets of metrics, venture to your app notification settings and start flicking off the switch of what notifies you and when and about what. Congratulations, you've taken control over your device and not the other way around. You're free to enjoy a sip of water, tea, or coffee, at the start of your day and set your own priorities and approach your work, errands, and fun, as you see fit.