Focus Modes arrived with iOS 15 and have improved dramatically in iOS 16. Although at first glance they seem similar to the ability to turn off notifications from certain apps, the truth is that the system goes well beyond and allows us to establish models which, in the end, help us a lot on a daily basis. I just want to tell you how much the concentration modes have helped me to reduce distractions.
Few modes, but well configured
I have set of four concentration modes on my devices. First, there’s Do Not Disturb, which prevents all notifications except for notifications from my immediate family, who can still reach me. Similarly, I have Rest Mode, which behaves exactly the same. The reason for having two modes of equal concentration is that they are both predetermined and fit very well into the system.
Sleep mode activates automatically at night, while Do Not Disturb mode activates with a keystroke on the Mac, something I use very often. Beyond these two modes, I also use Free Time and Work. Each of them has a selection of applications and people in the whitelist and, in addition, allow important notifications to pass
With these four modes, I can adjust how notifications arrive. And I would like to dwell for a second on what I consider to be a key element: What is a notification? Is it the information? Is it the red flag in an app? Is this the note? Depending on how we understand them, it can be all at once.
Notification and information are two different things, but closely related
It is obvious that we can disable the notifications of many applications. My default answer when opening an app asking me to send notifications is usually no, I have to consider very carefully if I allow it. However, sometimes disabling too many notifications can be counterproductive. In the end, the information that many applications give us is essential. In my case, for example, I need to be informed about Apple news. So disabling too many notifications forced me to open and check apps manually.
So where I think focus patterns stand out is in avoid ad breaks. That at some point we have time to check the iPhone and see a message, an email or any type of information and decide to respond to it is very different from that which penetrates us.
Notifications go from a “hinder” to a “utility”.
But for me, there is something else. Faced with endless notifications, the natural response is to end up ignoring them all, including the most important ones. Thanks to the concentration modes, we can filter these notifications, whether they are many or few, and we will know that all of them are of interest at the moment. In a Work mode, for example, dozens of messages may reach us at any given time, but knowing that we have to take care of them, we pay them a different attention. Notifications go from a “hinder” to a “utility”.
In this sense, iOS 16 goes even further by allowing us to hide information in applications. If we tend to get distracted by certain information, even if it didn’t arrive as a warning, this change is for us. Beyond preventing notifications from catching our attention at the wrong time, thanks to iOS 16 we can filter and see only the information we chooseWhether it’s business or personal accounts in Mail, senders in Messages, or different calendars in Calendar, to name a few.
Combined with the possibility of avoiding notifications from certain topics at certain times, filtering distractions when we check the notifications that interest us is really interesting. It’s more than avoiding distraction, sometimes remember outstanding issues in other areaswhether personal or professional while we are working or in our spare time, can be uncomfortable.
With all this it wants to be a recommendation that when we have a moment, Let’s spend 15 minutes getting the focus modes right. A configuration, by the way, synchronized with all our devices. I think when used correctly, they make it much easier to manage information, avoid distractions, and increase both our productivity and our peace of mind, to put it another way. Something, of course, much appreciated.
Imagen | Rahul Chakraborti
