Last week I used a few tangentially related studies to show that the decision to allow notifications on your smartphone could have large implications on your productivity.

The decision to turn off notifications from an app completely is seemingly inconsequential yet challenging at the same time. In this post a middle ground is provided through a few settings where “grey” is added to the “black or white” decision. 

This “grey” allows you to receive an alert but lessen the interruption to your flow. 

The end goal of this evolution in configuration and thinking is that when you get a notification on your phone, it has meaning. 

If this is done right when you

get an alert, hear a sound, or see a badge

you know there is some kind of action for you to take or information that you want/need to consume.

To set up your phone for minimal interruptions AND maximum actionability make a few independent and sequential decisions/updates to the following notification configurations:

sounds, on lock screen, in notification screen, and badges. 

Sounds

While not all applications give you the option to control this configuration is the next largest workhorse to accomplish your objective of reducing smartphone distractions.

According to a recent study, reducing your noise distractions can increase productivity by up to 38%, reduce stress by up to 27%, and increase job satisfaction by up to 174%.

With those kind of stats we should don Bose noise canceling headphones 24/7. Since for most this isn't realistic, you should limit apps with sound enabled to only those which you must know the information as it happens.

A good example of this is travel based apps applications. American Airlines, my airline of choice, is set to alert me when a gate changes or my flight delay. This information is critical to know as it is happening to adjust my actions and plan for the day. 

On lock screen

This is the place where I allow most notifications to fall. The on lock screen setting essentially creates a personalized feed of items that are important in your life. Last week, I mentioned that I allowed notifications from the CBS Sports app during the March Madness tournament. These notifications found their way to my on lock notification screen (without sound enabled) so I knew what was going on with the tournament but it didn't interrupt my flow. 

The mindset for allowing notifications on the lockscreen should be: 

“I want to know nearly immediately but it isn't worth a 27% increase in my stress levels.” 

In notification screen

I have no beef with this setting. It's quiet, in the background, and at least personally, introduces nearly zero distractions. 

This configuration establishes a quasi log of notifications received throughout the day. This log could come in handy say if you are in a rush when getting into your phone and have to bypass the on lockscreen notifications. However to rely on this you have to establish the same notifications on the lock screen as you do the in notification screen. 

Personally, the notification screen is the Bermuda Triangle. Notifications go there and are never seen or heard from again. As write on Friday evening waiting for my wife to get home for date night, there are notifications in this space from the previous Friday. Given that fact, I am going to save the battery, “eat my own dog food” and turn off this type of notifications. 

Badges

Last but not least, these pesky little buggers can grab your attention after unlocking your phone. Most people turn these on by default thinking “what is the harm?”

I'd like to challenge your thoughts to make this alert mean something. 

When I started this evaluation, nearly every app on the second page of my phone was attempting to draw my attention via badge. It had become visual noise. I couldn't care less about any of them and there was no action worth taking. 

One by one, I picked them off, eventually determining that none were worthy of attempting to grab my attention in this manner.

A no-brainer was an app like Bitmoji. What is the benefit of knowing that a new 6 pack of bits of your caricature has been delivered? A hard one, the app store. At the end of the day, was it necessary for me to know/take action the instant an app needed to be updated? No. 

In closing, this evolution is more related to your mental approach to your device. The device in your hand or pocket has more computing power than those which put a man on the moon.

This power can be used to empower your day to be productive or it can be the enabler in your addiction to Clash of Clans… Choose wisely!