Less Beeping, More Living! 📣

I was deep into a project with a tight deadline.

👨‍💻 Focused on my laptop, trying to make progress.

But then, my phone made that "beep" sound with notifications.🐝

I peeked— it was a message from my college WhatsApp group.

I figured it was just some casual discussion.

Probably interesting, 🙈 but I had to focus on my deadline.

A little later, an email notification popped up, offering discounts for an upcoming festival sale.

I love a good deal, but not right now.

As I was trying to concentrate again, my phone buzzed once more— a WhatsApp message from a client, asking for a project update.

I had to respond, no way around it.

Now that I had touched my phone, I couldn't resist checking my college WhatsApp group.

Group had 72 new messages. (Only 72, right?🙂)

Forced myself back to work.

☠️ But in the next few hours, I received 10 more notifications from 10 different apps.

I tried to ignore most of them, but they were seriously distracting me.

Can you relate to this?

If your answer is yes, then read on.

In today's hyper-connected world, notifications have become a double-edged sword. ⚔️ 

On one hand, they keep us informed and connected.

But on the other hand, they can be a major source of distraction and stress.

Okay, but what’s the problem?

If you’re an active Snapchat user, you know how many snap notifications you receive every single hour.

Those InShorts news alerts.

Reminder from Candy Crush, “You now have full lives!”

New video update from YouTube.

The constant messages on Slack, WhatsApp, and DMs.

I could go on.

🥸 I've been there— struggling to stay focused, only to be constantly interrupted by pings, buzzes, and alerts from our mobile devices.

It's like a never-ending battle for attention.

I agree, but what can one do?

So, what did I do to tackle this problem?

Well, for the past few years, I have turned off all of my mobile notifications.

❌ However, I'm not suggesting you do the same. (Actually, I am, but I know you won't do it.)

So, I have a 3-stage solution for you.
You can start with stage #1 and based on your comfort level, try next stages.

Stage #1

Completely turn off all unwanted or unused app notification.

• Games

• Shopping Apps

• Utility Apps (Uber, Zomato, Etc.)

• Any other apps that you don’t frequently use.

Once you turn these notifications off, you won’t notice any difference in your life.

Well, that’s the reason you’re turning them off.

Stage #2

Customize the notifications for everyday apps.

• Mute all the casual group chats.

• keep the notification sound off.
  (Whenever you check your phone, you'll receive the notification, but it won't make an alert sound to grab your attention.)

• Customize the notifications banners.

Stage #3

Turn all notifications off.

Trust me; you won’t miss out anything if you keep mobile notifications off.

Within the first week, you’ll realize half of the apps on your phone are useless. You only used to open them because they were reminding you with their push notifications.

👉️ Here are videos to change notification settings on Android and iOS.

Remember, you can always reset to your old settings. ✅

Simple!

So, consider turning off your phone notification. Start with Stage #1 today.

That’s all for this week.
Thank you so much for reading 🧘 Mindful Scroll.

Talk to you next Sunday at 10 AM.

Cheers!
Hardik