Note: this is a sample article from my weekly Finer Things in Tech Newsletter. Subscribe to get quick tips, occasional longer walkthroughs like this, and links to good reads from others in the community.

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 donā€™t need to be alerted in real time. I decided I wanted a place that:

  • is not my email inbox. Iā€™m trying to improve the signal vs. noise balance in there
  • did not alert me in real time as things are happening, because thatā€™s distracting
  • is easy to triage and go on about my day, and doesnā€™t 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 itā€™s 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 ā€œShow in Notification Centerā€ enabled

This way, I avoid noisy emails cluttering my inbox and push notification banners popping up and distracting me. Butā€”and hereā€™s the important partā€”I 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 ā€œClear All Notificationsā€ option. On iPad, itā€™s only two taps to clear a dayā€™s 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 donā€™t want to be alerted about their posts while Iā€™m 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.

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