Turn off those Social Media Notifications

By Ashley Rosson

Ding, Ding, Ding! Most of us all know that noise all too well. You just posted a cute picture of your cat, you shared an interesting article regarding some national news, you announced your engagement, and now everyone is letting you know how they feel about it! It’s always great to see responses from your friends regarding your post, but have you ever thought about the negative effects of being alerted about it could have on you?! Amy Blashchka, a contributor to Forbes magazine, recently wrote an article where she discusses how those notifications could be more hurt than help! Let’s see what she discovered when she turned her notifications off!

“You’ll start your day less anxious: The first morning I looked at my phone after turning off notifications, I felt a huge sense of relief. Instead of starting my day with a sense of dread, I felt calm and peaceful, knowing that I wasn’t allowing external forces to dictate my mood.”

“It redirects your behavior to support conscious and intentional consumption: I have reclaimed my time as my own, and I’m much more intentional with how I spend it. Instead of being in a near-constant reactive mode, I decide when I want to check and engage on social media.”

“You’ll have uninterrupted blocks of time to do deep work: One of the biggest lessons people can learn is to protect their time. Without the distraction of social media notifications, I’ve found it easier to have blocks of time to immerse myself in deep work.”

“You’ll be more productive and less busy.: As we all know, being busy is not the same as being productive, and the former can prevent the latter. When you’re not scrolling through and checking notifications, you’ll have more time to do the things that matter most.”

“You’ll be more present for others: Have you ever been deep in conversation with someone when your phone dings? It’s far too tempting to check it and even if you don’t, your attention is compromised because you’re thinking about it rather than actively listening to your companion. When your notifications are off, you’ll be more present for those that matter most.”

“It reminds you of what’s truly urgent and important: When you have notifications constantly bombarding you, it can feel like you have to respond to everything now. With them off, it’s amazing what falls away. If someone needs to reach me, they know they can call, text, or email. Not everything requires an instant response, and as it turns out, not much is truly important and urgent.”

Blaschka brought a lot of good points to light, I myself am going to take some time and turn off my notifications and see how it personally affects me. As she stated, I know if someone really needs to get ahold of me, there are other avenues to reach me. So for the month of October, I am turning off my social media notifications and simply going to enjoy dinner with my husband, call a friend instead of saying hi through Facebook, and not feel the urge to respond immediately to someone commenting on my recent status update. Hey, maybe I’ll have time to finally take that underwater basket weaving course I have been eyeing  !