Too much notifications?

May is a #MentalHealthMonth and here is some piece of advice from me about the incessant notifications impact on human mind.

TURN OFF YOUR NOTIFICATIONS

Did you know that your nervous system is your body’s notification system? It automatically notifies the brain of hundreds of daily events such as “You are hungry”, Your back is itching, please rub it” or “Enough with today’s Netflix episode. Go to work now “

Humans need these nourishing notifications to survive and lead a balanced and healthy lifestyle. But with the social media binge, the notifications from these social networks overshadow our human notifications system. Let’s say your mind sends you a notification: “You’re tired. It’s time for a good night’s sleep.” At that same time, your Netflix notifications started popping up and muttered “There is a new show that is very popular in your area.”

So there you have it, wake up all night and shed light on those tiring eyes to complete the series, ignore the notifications from your mind via those tempting social media app notifications.

Similarly, there are hundreds of healthy notifications that we missed from our mind due to continuous pings from social media apps. The attention your device seeks from you costs you focus, efficiency and energy.

The average notifications a person receives in a single day are fearful. Like:

• “You have thirty-two new emails.
• You have memories to look back on from nine years ago.
• You have eight new connection requests.
• You should congratulate your co-worker Lisa for five years at their company.
• You might like this tweet about sports.
• You haven’t used this app in a while, here’s what you’ve missed.
• You have an update available.
• We found some people you may know.
• You have unspent in-app credits.
• Jane shared thirty-six photos of her children, some are blurry, many are duplicates.
• John re-shared Paul’s post.
• Gary is attending a virtual seminar on growth strategy.
• People are reacting to something that you do not care about.
• Five people viewed your profile, upgrade your plan to see what industry they work in.
• It has been three years to the day that you connected with this recruiter who offered you a role you aren’t qualified for, you should send them kudos.
• It’s time for your French lesson.
• We found a video that you might like.
• We edited this photo for you.
• We created this slideshow.
• We created this collage.
• We want to delete these screenshots.
• We found someone that once pinned a post that was vaguely similar to something you also pinned.
• Jonathan is interested in attending an event near you later today.
• Your meeting starts in ten minutes.
• Your meeting starts in five minutes.
• Your meeting starts in one minute.
• Your meeting is starting.
• How was the café you just bought coffee at? Write a review immediately.
• Your story is about to expire, see who viewed it.
• An ex-colleague you connected with is celebrating their birthday today.
• Here’s a thing you should buy.
• Something is trending on a subreddit you don’t subscribe to.
• Someone liked your photo.
• Someone reacted to your photo.
• Someone commented on your photo.
• Someone mentioned you.
• Someone wants to send you a DM.
• You have unread notifications.
• Your screen time is up 240% to thirteen hours a day this week.”

This notification overdose is right away replacing our cerebral notifications. We are getting out of control because the nervous system perpetually reports: “You need to rest”, “Hey, it’s time to work”, “There? You remember Mom. Time to spend some time with her.” and many such sympathetic reminders.

In a nutshell, incessant yet unnecessary notifications take over our cognitive abilities and we tend to deviate from our high-end goals. Let’s nip the evil in the bud by turning off our notifications. In this way, we can detoxify our minds and listen to the alarms of our brains.