"The people sitting around you in the Googleplex control more than 50% of all the notifications on all the phones in the whole world. We are creating an arms race that causes companies to find more reasons to steal people’s time and it destroys our common silence and ability to think. We shape more than eleven billion interruptions in people’s lives every day. This is NUTS! Every time we prompt somebody to click over to a new photo their friend has posted, we could warn them–on the screen–that the average person who clicks on a photo is pulled away for twenty minutes before they get back to their task. Humans make different decisions when we pause and consider. All humans have natural vulnerabilities, and instead of exploiting them, Google should respect them. We know that interruptions cause a deterioration in people’s ability to focus and think clearly, so why are we (Google) ramping up the interruptions? We should feel an enormous responsibility to get this right."
Per the book Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, these were the words of Tristan Harris, the creator of the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma who worked as a design ethicist at Google. While working at Google and becoming more and more concerned about the ethics of his and Google’s work, he presented a presentation stating the information above.
So what about those pesky notifications that interrupt your focus? Those annoying dings, pings or pop-ups that grab your attention and cause you to look away, get sidetracked and slide down the extremely enticing and deep rabbit hole. Actually, they’re an easy fix! If you have an iPhone, follow these steps:
Go to Settings
Click on Notifications
See all listed Apps
Click on each App
If you choose to turn the notification off, “tap the button” to turn it off. Or, if you want to keep it turned on, you can keep it "on" but select how you’d like to receive the notification.
Another recommendation to minimize unnecessary distractions and enable you to fully focus on the things that matter most, is unsubscribing from e-mails (not this one though --wink wink) that you no longer need. These e-mails are often advertisements that not only clutter your inbox but also clutter your mind. Maybe these are leftover subscriptions from Christmas shopping that aren't necessary, steal your time, and prevent you from engaging in experiences with who you love and doing what you love.
Happy unsubscribing (but not this one) and turning off your notifications :-)
Love,