Having an iPhone doesn’t mean being a slave to it. In fact, it should be quite the opposite, a technological advance at our service, that’s what it was designed for. However, like so many others, I admit that over the years I have become addicted to my cell phone. And when I wanted to leave him for a bit, he came back to me.
The hell of notifications I received forced me to constantly pay attention to them. He knew that even half of them weren’t important, but he looked at them anyway. Because yes, once we know that we have received a message or an alert from any application, our curiosity kills us. And even though we know it won’t matter, what if it ultimately does? Spoiler: this is almost never the case.
A day with 300 notifications is a day with 300 interruptions
It’s not that my workflow requires me to be completely removed from the world and live immersed in a bubble of concentration. My job, like so much else, requires attention, but not so much that I can’t look away from time to time. However, I noticed how both at work and during my leisure time, I looked at my cell phone too much and this was not so much on his own initiative as because he had received notice.
What I can boast about my digital education (still self-taught) is that I have become very aware of the need to receive alerts from each application. From WhatsApp, Telegram or my messaging app, fine, but nothing else. Basically because most of them are offers and promotions from stores or restaurants, as well as applications that we have not opened that day and that come to us with any excuse for us to have them let’s open.
In the strangest way, I woke up one day and started counting the number of notifications I had received. It was not a premeditated plan. I literally woke up that day and it hit me. And thank goodness. I counted them all and wrote them down in a note. Everything from six thirty in the morning until almost midnight. The result: almost 300 notifications.
And that’s on a working day, but don’t think that a rest day is a lower rate, since I did the same calculation on a Saturday and I got tired when I reached 200 (and that’s not wasn’t even mid-afternoon yet). This test, started almost randomly and without any pretension, came to give me a conclusion: I had to change my habits.
Getting married with Do Not Disturb is the best decision of my digital life
I didn’t have to get down on one knee to ask her to marry me, or go to Cupertino to ask Apple’s software engineers for her hand. The spark between me and iOS Do Not Disturb mode was instantaneous and it only took me a few minutes to set up. I’m not usually a black and white person, because I always believe in the middle ground, but in this case I chose to turn off absolutely all notifications, except calls.
It’s the key to everything
Because like that? Well, for one fundamental reason that I think I can share with many other people: If there’s anything important I need to know, they’ll call me. This is not to say that I have not received Telegram or WhatsApp messages that are not important during this period, but those who send them know that if they really need my immediate attention, they can call me and I I will take care of it immediately. Otherwise, I’ll read them when I can. Or rather whenever you want.
And in the latter lies the key, in I decide when and which notifications I read. It’s the way I stop being a slave to the iPhone, allowing me to be the one who decides in each moment whether I want to get in the mud to read ads or whether, instead, On the contrary, I prefer to devote my time to work or my leisure time.
Now you will think: “What should I do if I miss an important business notification? » Well, nothing because, at least in my personal case, there is no possibility that I would ever lose something like that. During my work schedule, I am always in front of the Mac with all the applications necessary for my communication with my colleagues, so I will not miss any notifications of any kind. And if I have to go out for some reason, I try to keep an eye on my cell phone. And in any case, as is the case in my personal sphere, my colleagues and my bosses know very well that they can call me if urgent and immediate attention is required.
The mental health gains outweigh learning the latest gossip from my friends later.
As I explained previously, I received many notifications daily and most of them were mundane. I admit to feeling a certain fear during the first days and weeks when I began to put into practice the (almost) total silence of my iPhone. However, this fear was nothing more than the excuse we impose on ourselves to always be aware of every warning that we receive.
My definition of peace of mind (Image generated with DALL-E 3)
I obviously do not want to say that all cases are the same and that each has its particularities. However, I invite you to do the same exercise by counting the number of notifications you receive daily. To a greater or lesser extent, I am sure the information will surprise you. And of course, I also bet that in many of these situations you stop what you’re doing to take a look at the iPhone. Probably more times than you’d like.
As it stands, I didn’t invent anything, but almost unintentionally I was able to see for myself how essential the exercise of putting a barrier between the iPhone and our lives is. Especially because This does not mean living disconnected. On the contrary. I live more connected than ever, both with my loved ones and with other events that happen on social networks. The key is to decide when we want to connect.
Cover image | Álvaro García M. with DALL-E 3
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