Sorry if you can’t reach me, I’m on ‘do not disturb’.
The bliss of no notifications.
Does your life ever feel like an endless flow of interruptions and distractions? The ping of a Slack message. The ding of a new email floating into the inbox. The buzz of a WhatsApp notification. The vibration of an incoming call. In my world there are six inboxes, multiple Trello accounts and Slack communities, five social media platforms with personal and business profiles, and every messaging app under the sun to deal with. It is, at times, relentless. As a business owner and Type-A personality who likes to stay on top of things, it can be a struggle to let even the smallest detail slide.
On top of the constant stream of intrusive notifications hurtling towards me, sometimes I go searching for a distraction too. Once after reviewing at my daily screen time I discovered I’d picked up my phone mindlessly to check Instagram or Twitter a grand total of 158 times in 24 hours. That night when I sank into bed to try and get some sleep, I could physically feel the neurons in my brain pinging from the continuous hits of social-media-induced dopamine. My brain was fried and I was wired, and not in a good way.
The lost art of concentration.
After recognising that my mindless phone pickups were bordering on the unhealthy I scoured the internet to see how often others do the same. Driven by a sense of phone-addiction-shame I was secretly hoping to find a stat that made me feel slightly better about myself and boy, did I find it. According to one study done in the US, adults pick up their phone an average of 352 times per day, or once every 2 minutes and 43 seconds. 352 times! If that’s accurate, it’s a miracle that anything ever gets done. Another prominent study by London’s Institute of Psychiatry found that people who were constantly distracted during the day by emails or messages saw their IQ drop by 10 points. Over the course of one day, responding to an onslaught of notifications had the same affect as losing an entire night’s sleep. Wild, but also not surprising. In the notification-era our time and attention is constantly being fragmented, slowly and insidiously eroding our ability to concentrate and get anything meaningful done.
Flipping the switch.
Last Christmas I decided enough was enough and that I was going to switch everything off. I opted out of the digital world in favour of becoming more connected to real one; the one with chirping birds, rustling trees and fresh air. With a burst of newfound resolve I logged out of six email accounts, turned off notifications and I even deleted social media from my phone. I told myself it was a two week experiment and that once the detox was done I’d flip them all back on.
When I finally plugged back into the real world I posted on Instagram noting “it’s amazing how much time opens up when your first instinct when bored or procrastinating isn’t to pick up the phone. It’s amazing how much can shift when you give yourself the gift of headspace.” And it truly was. In those two weeks I starting reading fiction again, escaping to 1930s Mississippi while devouring This Tender Land and getting lost in the high country of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild. I immersed myself in the outdoors and remembered what it was like to live a life fully and completely off the screen. After the summer break and wanting to carry some of this holiday zen back into my daily life, I decided to implement some permanent changes. A set of self-imposed boundaries if you will, to save me from returning to my reactive, slave-to-my-notifications self.
Am I selfish if I put ‘do not disturb’ on?
Figuring out what to switch on and what to keep off was an exceptionally hard process. If I turned off all work notifications and became less readily available, would that make me a bad person to work with? If I put limits on my LinkedIn or Instagram time (places where a lot of business chats happen and opportunities arise), would great things pass me by? If I turned off notifications for various WhatsApp friend groups would people find me aloof and stop inviting me to things?
After a session of mental gymnastics I decided to do the following. Firstly, I contained work emails to my laptop with personal ones still allowed on my phone. Secondly, I reduced Slack notifications, stopping the app from beeping but still allowing the little red dot to appear telling me an important message awaits. I put 15 minute limits on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter (my personal kryptonite and the app I find most addictive). And finally, each day for a period of three blissful hours I turn ‘do not disturb’ on across every device I own.
Every day, I look forward to my notification-free time.
In these hours I tune everything and everyone out and focus on whatever’s most important. Some days I work on an essay, others I put together a proposal for a brand. I may work on a business strategy or dive into a complex excel spreadsheet. Regardless of the task at hand, those hours are when I get the most done. It’s when I push myself forward. Instead of being reactive and putting out fires, I’m proactive and creating new sparks. After all, your inbox is simply a to do list that someone else has written, rather than one you’ve written for yourself.
A lesson in setting boundaries.
I fully acknowledge my privilege that allows me to disconnect in this way. I don’t have kids and I’m self-employed, and have a luxury that many others don’t to design my time. That being said, no matter who you are or the circumstances you find yourself in, you do have control over your boundaries. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout this entire process, it’s that time is precious and it needs protecting. Our creativity needs nourishing. Our brains need to rest. If you want my two cents, don’t spend your life responding to others’ requests without prioritising your own. For a minute or a moment, put your life on ‘do not disturb’.
For more musings on business, psychology, philosophy and personal development, follow me on Instagram @annaclmack on connect with me on LinkedIn.
