The Benefits of Not Clicking Notifications

If you force yourself to stop checking social media notifications, over time you may have less impulses to check them. With fewer impulses, you’ll lose less energy resisting temptations to check them while on your computer. With less frequent notification checking, you may get energy benefits from a mental economy of scale: efficiency from working on a singular task for a sustained period of time.

By cutting out notifications on social media, I detached myself from addiction, perhaps, to random reward. This random reward may cause us to continually and unnecessarily check social media for the presence of a reward whose benefits are truly not worth the costs of lost time, task switching, and not having a mental economy of scale while working.

By reducing my friends list and pictures uploaded, I reduced my vulnerability to online social interaction, which partially created the obsession with continual notification checking. I needed less energy to resist temptations to check notifications, and it was easier to detach from them.

Over time, I spent less time on news feeds and profile browsing, which in turn rid feelings of inferiority and insecurity from peer comparison that motivates people to upload more content and seek validation.

As Levitin wrote,

“The social networking addiction loop, whether itʼs Face- book, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, Pinterest, e-mail, texting, or whatever new thing will be adopted in the coming years, sends chemicals through the brainʼs pleasure center that are genuinely, physiologically addicting. The greatest life satisfaction comes from completing projects that required sustained focus and energy…. It seems unlikely that anyone will look back at their lives with pride and say with satisfaction they managed to send an extra thousand text messages or check social network updates a few hundred extra times while they were working.” Organized Mind, 2018

I sometimes start checking notifications when I’m tired, with the excuse of thinking it may give me energy. It may, but only temporarily. Soon it makes me feel more tired. It’s a foot in the door for browsing endlessly. It may be a procrastination tool to detach from reality and obligations, but it’s not a good one. A better way to get energy may be taking a nap, daydreaming, going on a walk, exercising, or talking to friends.

As Pirsig wrote,

“If these (sleep or coffee) donʼt work, it may mean deeper Quality problems are bothering you and distracting you from whatʼs before you. The boredom is a signal that you should turn your attention to these problems — thatʼs what youʼre doing anyway — and control them before continuing on the motorcycle”.

If coffee and sleep don’t help you focus after you make all these changes, your mind could be telling you you’re ignoring your interests and passions that may require more work and focus on. Sometimes, this involves makes other parts of your life harder, but it could be worth it.

Purchase my book on digital addiction Now: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781732182196

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