steady

Focus and work · The phone

Three checks, not three hundred

Notifications off for everything except calls and one person. Check messages and feeds at three set times a day.

5 minEvidence: decent

Every buzz is a cue, and a cue you answer becomes a habit. In a two-week trial, people whose notifications were batched into three deliveries a day felt better and more in control than people getting them as they came. Evidence: decent

The surprise in that trial: turning notifications off completely was worse, not better. People got anxious about what they were missing. Three fixed times gave the benefit without the worry. Evidence: decent

Pick times that fit the day: after breakfast, after lunch, when work ends. The trial batched notifications; extending it to feeds is my addition. Evidence: worth trying Either way, the phone stops deciding when your attention moves.

Source: Fitz et al., 2019, Computers in Human Behavior (link)

Same theme: The phone

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