If your heart drops every time your phone buzzes, you may be in a toxic relationship with your notifications. You may feel the need to check each time, don’t worry I was once guilty of it too!
Whether it’s the dopamine rush of who liked your new Instagram post or the Snapchat notification that interrupts your train of thought, we’ve allowed ourselves to become digitally available all the time. Although we may think these interruptions don’t impact us, they do, whether it’s loss of focus or sleep.
By embracing the power of silence through a digital detox, we can break up with notifications.
According to a 2023 CNN news report: “Teens get as many as 237 or more notifications each day…”
With this amount of notifications, we are constantly switching tasks and lose time with these distractions. We feel pressure to respond to someone the minute they text us instead of prioritizing our needs or schedule. Instead of being proactive on our daily tasks and homework assignments, our days become shaped by others’ demands. I used to do homework, see a notification and stop the homework I was doing to do what that notification told me to do, and then go back to my homework. It was exhausting, especially when I was in the middle of doing math homework and didn’t know what I was calculating before I was interrupted.
In March, I turned off notifications for the social media apps where I receive the most alerts: Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. I did this because over Spring Break, I wanted to spend time with my family and be in the moment.
When I realized how much my screen time decreased, I didn’t feel so anxious. I wasn’t concerned about who was contacting me and I felt better about creating boundaries with my device. So, I decided not to turn these notifications back on.
Sometimes I leave my phone on “Do Not Disturb” for numerous days and can get better sleep and mental clarity. I changed my settings so that only certain people can contact me when my phone is on “Do Not Disturb,” and I encourage others to do this as well.
The first day I had my notifications off, it felt weird because I was so used to constantly picking up my phone. Now, though, it’s natural, and I can go hours without my phone, not even thinking about what notifications I’m getting.
I treat it like a game, trying to guess how many notifications I got in a certain timespan instead of feeling the need to check who needs my attention.
Spring Break inspired me to start my daily digital detox by switching off notifications and enabling “Do Not Disturb.” After seeing how many notifications I get in a day, I decided to make a change and have no intention of turning these alerts back on. I want to challenge everyone to turn off their notifications and see the impact it has on them.