Un-Notify: Become more productive.

By Jeremy Porter

Under a hail of my own expletives I went notification-free. What caused such a violent reaction? A friend was using Skype as an instant messenger. In 30 seconds I got ten beeps, ten vibrations and my concentration was broken. It was the final straw. I turned off notifications on all my devices and I haven’t looked back.

Going notification free has removed almost all of the distractions in my day. It’s easy to forget what it used to be like before we all had smartphones and tablets. When away from the computer the only notifications we got were text messages and phone calls.

Things are different now. LinkedIn sends notifications when our most tenuous connection is having a “work anniversary,” news alerts ping us multiple times a day. Email alerts once confined to the desktop now follow us everywhere.

There are now apps that send notifications and do nothing else. One has sent 100 million messages notifications in a few months and is valued in the millions. We live in a world where publishers, developers, and the media want to notify us all the time. Most of the things vying for our attention aren’t important.

What’s changed since I went notification free? My phone, tablet and laptop no longer ping, chirp, or buzz. The popups have gone. No annoying vibrations. I am more productive. The distractions I am left with I can’t control or make excuses for. If I spend an hour on instant messenger it’s because I chose to be there, not because I got a popup that grabbed my attention and held it for an hour.

There are a handful of exceptions. I’m notification-free on my iPad and Macbook, but my phone isn’t quite there and probably won’t be. I am still alerted to phone calls, text messages, meeting reminders, and TripIt alerts when I am traveling. That’s plenty. When I really need to focus I turn on “Do Not Disturb”, and I get nothing.

If you’re on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad it will take a while to turn off notifications. The first thing I recommend doing is deleting any apps you don’t use.

On your iPad and iPhone, go into the Settings app and tap Notification Center. Click on the first app and turn alert style to off, deactivate the badge app icon, deactivate the alert sound, and deactivate ‘Show in Notification Center’. Rinse and repeat. Tedious stuff, but worth it. That’s why you want to delete any apps you don’t need.

On the Mac it’s easier. Open up System Preferences, click on Notifications, go through each app, click ‘None’ for alert style, uncheck every box (usually between two and five depending on the app).

That’s it. No more notifications. Less distraction, fewer expletives.

Jeremy is a freelance communications consultant based in Brooklyn, but working as a digital nomad for clients around the globe. Read more of his stuff and get in touchhere.