Mine are firmly off and have been for years. Emails, the lot. The only one I allow is WhatsApp, and even there I have a setting that doesn't allow anyone to know when I'm online or messages have been read, because I know the places that my own mind can go when wondering why someone hasn't replied to me after seeing the blue ticks of delivery and beginning the usually unnecessary story-building of what it means (99% of the time - nothing).
Removing notifications felt like the beginning of taking back control of social media and technology consumption. Followed by some apps going entirely. I get to decide how I use my phone, not the other way round. I think the least we deserve, if so often we or our attention is the product, is to decide when we are open to it. I am not 7/11. And even places I love to roam (YouTube and Substack for me) have boundaries. Email delivery is switched off for Substack and instead, I treat them like magazine sessions, where I get cosy and tuck in and really take in the words that someone has taken the time to write.
It will be ever encroaching, so I think it necessary to decide how and when we will engage with the world through our phones, instead of being dictated to.
I love what you said here Sasha: “Removing notifications felt like the beginning of taking back control of social media and technology consumption”. This 👏🏼 It feels like in so many aspects with regards to technology, we’ve given up our option of choice. What you said here reminds us that we still have choices and that we can take back our time and attention.
Love this!! You just inspired me to turn off my gmail notifications — I have everything else off and I removed the Substack app from my phone this weekend because I was going to to it too much! I just can’t take the distractions anymore either! I appreciate you sharing this, I think more and more of us are just DONE with the constant feeling of needing to be “on” it’s too much and it’s time to set up strict boundaries for our mental health and for our family life!
I don’t have any on anywhere and I’m so aware of it when one sneaks back in. On my new laptop my emails were popping up as I was working and I was like HOW does anyone deal with this?! 🤦🏽♀️✨
Yes! I want JOMO too! I think you’ve just inspired me to do the same thing. I’ve gotten so used to closing out the millions of little notifications that even the important ones sometimes get lost. I’ve turned off quite a few notifications and don’t automatically allow apps to send them anymore, but there is a lot more I could do to quiet the noise. Thank you for such a great idea and new phrase to live by!
JOMO is great. Thanks for that! WhatsApp alerts are particularly triggering for me, associated with ailing parents on the other side of the world or real time crises at work where people's safety was at stake. So goodbye to all sounds from my phone. Fortunately, it has a single button on the side to silence everything (except the number 13 bus outside my window).
Yessss! I switched notifications off pretty much everything a couple of years ago and loved how it changed my relationship with my phone (although I probably check different apps a little too much, but I still like that I'm making a relatively active choice).
I only kept notifications for text messages and an app that I use to message with my 9-year old niece overseas, and anyone who knows me knows that they should ring or text if they want to get hold of me quickly.
I love this, I too turned all notifications off of everything apart from WhatsApp and even then I used my do not disturb setting between 8pm-8am. It's reduced the overwhelm and brought a little peace.
I just came to Substack 2 month ago after quitting instgram, and i want te be very vigilant not to fall again in the same king of trap, so i decided to uninstall the app, and only use it on my laptop.
All of my notifications are turned off, excluding bank alerts; even WhatsApp is turned off, and every time I download an app, I turn its notificationn off, too. It's been years. I hardly even remember where I put my phone. Most days, it's just sitting somewhere and I only remember it when i need to make a call and get an OTP. In fact, when I was reading this, my mind was like how does it feel to have notifications pop on phone...
Yes, now that I’ve had notifications off for a few months now, it is so quiet and peaceful ✨ I can’t imagine ever going back to all of those constant interruptions!
Same! I weed through and get rid of notifications constantly. I like to give my full attention to engaging with platforms - so rather than boing-ing around with haphazard alerts, I'll save it for when I can sit down and spend some real time thinking and reading, responding and commenting and sharing. Glad to have found you here! I hope the next time you sit down with Substack, you'll also visit me at Moments, where I share weekly photography & stories about capturing moments of connection in nature and everyday life. :)
This was such an amazing and honest post. Thank you so much for sharing. I have had pretty much all notifications turned off for years, but even text banners and missed calls overwhelm me. That's the level of over-stimulation I've been experiencing for a while. And it isn't related to the people texting or calling, generally — it's related to the pressure I feel to respond in a timely, thoughtful manner. We're so accustomed to knowing each other's every move ("HERE'S WHAT I ATE FOR BREAKFAST") that we literally don't know how to go days, weeks, or months without hearing from others. I think of Laura Ingalls Wilder — when her family moved from the Big Woods to the prairie. I think of the expectation of her mother's parents — that a physical move might mean they would never see or hear from their daughter and grandchildren again. Months and sometimes even years passed before parents would hear from adult children. I recently read a book aloud to my kids that involved a fourteen-year-old boy "going out to sea" — there were certainly no smartphones and, on a ship, there was no way to send or receive mail. The boy's mother had no alternative but to pray, wait, and live — to entrust her son's safety to God and to move on with her own life, in the meantime. Things are so different now. We're now expected to react to photos, videos, and mundane updates ("HERE'S WHAT I ATE FOR LUNCH") with immediacy or risk hurting feelings. It's such a wildly different landscape and it is no wonder our collective mental health is at an all-time low.
You shared an interesting perspective Heather which I appreciate. You are right about Laura Ingalls Wilder and the time that she grew up and lived through. It is interesting how inter-connected we are and half the time, we didn’t ask to be.
Congratulations on your break up :) "How do you handle notifications?" I don't have a cell phone, otherwise I would turn into a mindless pigeon checking for treats. Having a laptop is hard enough and I keep it in my husband's office during the day to avoid checking behaviour. I am not on any social media besides Substack, but this platform is just as prone to hack our social affirmation addictions as any other (maybe even more so, given the nice people and deep discussions...).
Yes, I have found that Substack, especially the Notes section can be habit forming and it feels very “social media-ish”. I’ve cut way back the amount of time that I spend there ✨
Agreed. I cut ties with Notes a while back, and only use it to restack references to my articles. There is just too much going on there, and there is so much real life that I want to pay attention to instead....
“There is just too much going on there, and there is so much real life that I want to pay attention to instead.” This!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Yes, I was losing huge quantities of time to there and not doing the things that I wanted to do like actually writing.
Welcome to the quiet side, Mackenzie! 🤣 This is honestly so great that you’ve switched off notifications and that constant attack for your attention has been silenced.
I’ve had notifications switched off for years (apart from text, calls and WhatsApp which I genuinely need for my business) and it’s been a game changer. I’m also very good at using the ‘do not disturb’ function when I really need to carve out some protected time where I can’t be interrupted. I have it set to if someone calls more than once then it will notify me, but generally people only ring once.
I have no idea how people manage to get anything done with all the notifications 😅. Turn them off people! 🤣
Good for you. I too am overwhelmed with Substack ... an embarrassment of riches. So many good creatives. But, as my daughter wailed when I asked her to subscribe to my page, "Who has the time?" Refusing to install the app, the only place I find Substack posts are in my email. Every day a harvest of bounty! HELP! So, like you, I scan and enjoy those things that really ring my bells ... the ones inside my mind and heart. I've become well acquainted with that little trash icon. Eventually, after hours of reading wonderful things, the trash is full, ready for more. sigh
Yes, so many great writers on here and so much to see and do, right? That is interesting that you don’t have the Substack app on your phone. It seems more and more people are choosing to just access it through their desktop. You’ve given me something to think about! 💛
I'm paranoid about apps and hackers. Don't know how much of my personal information is actually guarded by a platform, so I don't install apps. I don't really need them. My laptop, however, is my world.
Any time I add a new app to my phone, the first thing I will do is go into setting and turn off notifications. There's just no point in them IMO. I turn a lot of email notifications off as well. I also have Do Not Disturb times set on my phone with exceptions for family. I'm not sure when I decided it, but I came to the conclusion that I don't need to be connected at all times. Even though I often have my phone with me at all times, I don't need it making noises at me and basically yelling "Notice me, Senpai!" There is more to life than checking what's going on FB.
“I'm not sure when I decided it, but I came to the conclusion that I don't need to be connected at all times”. YES! 👏🏼 We need breathing room, right? Our lives are in front of us, not in our notifications 🤗💗
Live in the moment. Don't worry about snapping a pic for the 'gram! Every so often I have those moments, too. I think I could take a picture to share, but then I don't because I want to savor the now.
Mine are firmly off and have been for years. Emails, the lot. The only one I allow is WhatsApp, and even there I have a setting that doesn't allow anyone to know when I'm online or messages have been read, because I know the places that my own mind can go when wondering why someone hasn't replied to me after seeing the blue ticks of delivery and beginning the usually unnecessary story-building of what it means (99% of the time - nothing).
Removing notifications felt like the beginning of taking back control of social media and technology consumption. Followed by some apps going entirely. I get to decide how I use my phone, not the other way round. I think the least we deserve, if so often we or our attention is the product, is to decide when we are open to it. I am not 7/11. And even places I love to roam (YouTube and Substack for me) have boundaries. Email delivery is switched off for Substack and instead, I treat them like magazine sessions, where I get cosy and tuck in and really take in the words that someone has taken the time to write.
It will be ever encroaching, so I think it necessary to decide how and when we will engage with the world through our phones, instead of being dictated to.
I love what you said here Sasha: “Removing notifications felt like the beginning of taking back control of social media and technology consumption”. This 👏🏼 It feels like in so many aspects with regards to technology, we’ve given up our option of choice. What you said here reminds us that we still have choices and that we can take back our time and attention.
Yes! We still do have aspects of choice, limiting and operating within. I choose. I choose!
🥳🥳
I also have been guilty of ploughing through them as well 🙈🙃
Love this!! You just inspired me to turn off my gmail notifications — I have everything else off and I removed the Substack app from my phone this weekend because I was going to to it too much! I just can’t take the distractions anymore either! I appreciate you sharing this, I think more and more of us are just DONE with the constant feeling of needing to be “on” it’s too much and it’s time to set up strict boundaries for our mental health and for our family life!
Woo hoo! 👏🏼 That’s awesome Jennifer! Yes, we need to get not just our time back but also our minds. Glad this resonated with you 🥰
I don’t have any on anywhere and I’m so aware of it when one sneaks back in. On my new laptop my emails were popping up as I was working and I was like HOW does anyone deal with this?! 🤦🏽♀️✨
It feels so calming not having notifications, doesn’t it? I don’t feel as frazzled 💛
Yes! I want JOMO too! I think you’ve just inspired me to do the same thing. I’ve gotten so used to closing out the millions of little notifications that even the important ones sometimes get lost. I’ve turned off quite a few notifications and don’t automatically allow apps to send them anymore, but there is a lot more I could do to quiet the noise. Thank you for such a great idea and new phrase to live by!
Oh, you’re welcome Rebekah! Cheers to JOMO! 🥰
JOMO is great. Thanks for that! WhatsApp alerts are particularly triggering for me, associated with ailing parents on the other side of the world or real time crises at work where people's safety was at stake. So goodbye to all sounds from my phone. Fortunately, it has a single button on the side to silence everything (except the number 13 bus outside my window).
Yes, I have heard that about WhatsApp and it’s alerts. JOMO is such a better feeling isn’t it? 🙂
Girl! Yes to all of this!
Thank you!
Yessss! I switched notifications off pretty much everything a couple of years ago and loved how it changed my relationship with my phone (although I probably check different apps a little too much, but I still like that I'm making a relatively active choice).
I only kept notifications for text messages and an app that I use to message with my 9-year old niece overseas, and anyone who knows me knows that they should ring or text if they want to get hold of me quickly.
It has made such a difference having notifications off! I’m wondering why I didn’t do this sooner 😊
I love this, I too turned all notifications off of everything apart from WhatsApp and even then I used my do not disturb setting between 8pm-8am. It's reduced the overwhelm and brought a little peace.
Cheers to reducing the overwhelm in our lives! We need all the peace we can get 🌿💗
Oh yes!
All of my notifications are OFF.
I just came to Substack 2 month ago after quitting instgram, and i want te be very vigilant not to fall again in the same king of trap, so i decided to uninstall the app, and only use it on my laptop.
Thank you for sharing this !
That’s a great idea Johanna about only using it on your laptop 💛
You’re welcome!
All of my notifications are turned off, excluding bank alerts; even WhatsApp is turned off, and every time I download an app, I turn its notificationn off, too. It's been years. I hardly even remember where I put my phone. Most days, it's just sitting somewhere and I only remember it when i need to make a call and get an OTP. In fact, when I was reading this, my mind was like how does it feel to have notifications pop on phone...
Yes, now that I’ve had notifications off for a few months now, it is so quiet and peaceful ✨ I can’t imagine ever going back to all of those constant interruptions!
Same! I weed through and get rid of notifications constantly. I like to give my full attention to engaging with platforms - so rather than boing-ing around with haphazard alerts, I'll save it for when I can sit down and spend some real time thinking and reading, responding and commenting and sharing. Glad to have found you here! I hope the next time you sit down with Substack, you'll also visit me at Moments, where I share weekly photography & stories about capturing moments of connection in nature and everyday life. :)
“Haphazard alerts” is a perfect name for notifications Sydney. Thanks for sharing! ✨
This was such an amazing and honest post. Thank you so much for sharing. I have had pretty much all notifications turned off for years, but even text banners and missed calls overwhelm me. That's the level of over-stimulation I've been experiencing for a while. And it isn't related to the people texting or calling, generally — it's related to the pressure I feel to respond in a timely, thoughtful manner. We're so accustomed to knowing each other's every move ("HERE'S WHAT I ATE FOR BREAKFAST") that we literally don't know how to go days, weeks, or months without hearing from others. I think of Laura Ingalls Wilder — when her family moved from the Big Woods to the prairie. I think of the expectation of her mother's parents — that a physical move might mean they would never see or hear from their daughter and grandchildren again. Months and sometimes even years passed before parents would hear from adult children. I recently read a book aloud to my kids that involved a fourteen-year-old boy "going out to sea" — there were certainly no smartphones and, on a ship, there was no way to send or receive mail. The boy's mother had no alternative but to pray, wait, and live — to entrust her son's safety to God and to move on with her own life, in the meantime. Things are so different now. We're now expected to react to photos, videos, and mundane updates ("HERE'S WHAT I ATE FOR LUNCH") with immediacy or risk hurting feelings. It's such a wildly different landscape and it is no wonder our collective mental health is at an all-time low.
You shared an interesting perspective Heather which I appreciate. You are right about Laura Ingalls Wilder and the time that she grew up and lived through. It is interesting how inter-connected we are and half the time, we didn’t ask to be.
Thank you for sharing! 🌿
Congratulations on your break up :) "How do you handle notifications?" I don't have a cell phone, otherwise I would turn into a mindless pigeon checking for treats. Having a laptop is hard enough and I keep it in my husband's office during the day to avoid checking behaviour. I am not on any social media besides Substack, but this platform is just as prone to hack our social affirmation addictions as any other (maybe even more so, given the nice people and deep discussions...).
Yes, I have found that Substack, especially the Notes section can be habit forming and it feels very “social media-ish”. I’ve cut way back the amount of time that I spend there ✨
Agreed. I cut ties with Notes a while back, and only use it to restack references to my articles. There is just too much going on there, and there is so much real life that I want to pay attention to instead....
“There is just too much going on there, and there is so much real life that I want to pay attention to instead.” This!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Yes, I was losing huge quantities of time to there and not doing the things that I wanted to do like actually writing.
On that note, I have real-life dishes to get to, and a real-life teenage son to pick up from work :) Keep your focus on your writing....
Welcome to the quiet side, Mackenzie! 🤣 This is honestly so great that you’ve switched off notifications and that constant attack for your attention has been silenced.
I’ve had notifications switched off for years (apart from text, calls and WhatsApp which I genuinely need for my business) and it’s been a game changer. I’m also very good at using the ‘do not disturb’ function when I really need to carve out some protected time where I can’t be interrupted. I have it set to if someone calls more than once then it will notify me, but generally people only ring once.
I have no idea how people manage to get anything done with all the notifications 😅. Turn them off people! 🤣
Thanks Sophie! 🤣
I have felt so much calmer since turning off notifications, I can’t believe I waited so long to do it!
Good for you. I too am overwhelmed with Substack ... an embarrassment of riches. So many good creatives. But, as my daughter wailed when I asked her to subscribe to my page, "Who has the time?" Refusing to install the app, the only place I find Substack posts are in my email. Every day a harvest of bounty! HELP! So, like you, I scan and enjoy those things that really ring my bells ... the ones inside my mind and heart. I've become well acquainted with that little trash icon. Eventually, after hours of reading wonderful things, the trash is full, ready for more. sigh
Yes, so many great writers on here and so much to see and do, right? That is interesting that you don’t have the Substack app on your phone. It seems more and more people are choosing to just access it through their desktop. You’ve given me something to think about! 💛
I'm paranoid about apps and hackers. Don't know how much of my personal information is actually guarded by a platform, so I don't install apps. I don't really need them. My laptop, however, is my world.
Any time I add a new app to my phone, the first thing I will do is go into setting and turn off notifications. There's just no point in them IMO. I turn a lot of email notifications off as well. I also have Do Not Disturb times set on my phone with exceptions for family. I'm not sure when I decided it, but I came to the conclusion that I don't need to be connected at all times. Even though I often have my phone with me at all times, I don't need it making noises at me and basically yelling "Notice me, Senpai!" There is more to life than checking what's going on FB.
“I'm not sure when I decided it, but I came to the conclusion that I don't need to be connected at all times”. YES! 👏🏼 We need breathing room, right? Our lives are in front of us, not in our notifications 🤗💗
Live in the moment. Don't worry about snapping a pic for the 'gram! Every so often I have those moments, too. I think I could take a picture to share, but then I don't because I want to savor the now.
Absolutely! 💗