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I had an idea a while ago that helped me in dealing with push notification and email overload. In short: I realized there are a number of things I want to be aware of, but I donāt need to be alerted in real time. I decided I wanted a place that:
- is not my email inbox. Iām trying to improve the signal vs. noise balance in there
- did not alert me in real time as things are happening, because thatās distracting
- is easy to triage and go on about my day, and doesnāt clutter things like search when I need to find important things later
After some testing with Notification Center on my iOS devices, I found a configuration that has helped me a lot, so maybe it can help you too. For each app and service that fits my description above, try this:
- Turn off all available email notifications. You might be able to do this in-app, but you might have to tediously log into their website because the company still thinks itās 2002
- Opened Settings > Notifications > name of the app
- Turn off the app badge
- Turn off sounds
- Turn off banners
- Turn off the lock screen option
- Keep āShow in Notification Centerā enabled
This way, I avoid noisy emails cluttering my inbox and push notification banners popping up and distracting me. Butāand hereās the important partāI can still get notifications about things that are important, and check them on my own time in Notification Center.
Any notifications I tap get cleared automatically. All others can be wiped out with a quick 3D Touch on the (X) button on iPhone, as that offers a āClear All Notificationsā option. On iPad, itās only two taps to clear a dayās notifications.
This can work for everything from sports scores to updates from your favorite bloggers. For example, I follow a lot of people on Tumblr, including a few artists whose work I thoroughly appreciate. I turned on notifications for those artists, but I certainly donāt want to be alerted about their posts while Iām working.
Now, with this setup, I can catch up on stuff like this on my own time, without it getting lost in the stream of my day to day work and life.