How many notifications do you get at the end of the day? I, on average, I got 117 days of notifications last week. Not much, not at all (muting WhatsApp groups and professional email helps), but let’s think coldly. 117 notifications a day is 117 times your phone vibrates (or worse, the sound) to distract you and/or distract you. And I insist, 117 is not much.

To this we must add that these notifications also reached the hour (or they did before I took it seriously), which doubles the annoyance. Faced with this situation, I decided it was over in one afternoon. No need for the phone to vibrate anymore every once in a while (because I never, ever ring the phone). Solution? Disable notifications that do absolutely nothing and leave the necessary ones.

Notifications for those who want them

When I think of the applications I have installed on my mobile phone, I divide them into two categories: the important ones and the silly ones. WhatsApp messages sent to me personally, a message from my boss via Slack, or a call from my mom can be important. Absurd, it could be a meme in a WhatsApp group, an email you don’t know why it reached you, or a retweet on Twitter. I think you understand

The key is to be clear about what we want and what we are looking for. And show no mercy. FOMO is there, of course. It’s “normal” to be tempted to go to Twitter to see if you’re being mentioned, or check your email just in case, or open Instagram if someone DMs you. FOMO is also out.

The easiest thing was to get rid of the most ridiculous notifications from games (I can live without knowing that a Pokémon found a candy in ‘Pokémon GO’), like those sent by some apps. deliverythose from streaming services… If you’re not sure what they are, take a look at the pending and incoming notifications today. If you go olympic from them, without fear into the hole.

The button above does the magic.

There may be applications that allow you to configure which notifications reach you. For example, let’s consider the Instagram app. Maybe you’re interested in direct message notifications, but you don’t like your posts. Well, take a look at the settings and only leave the ones you don’t use active. In my case, social networks are like this: all notifications are disabled. Social networks are a lot of distractions and warnings that I spend too much time on anyway.

Almost the same with business applications. Messaging tool Slack lets you schedule notifications so you can After a certain time, you do not receive notifications on your mobile phone.. If the app you use at work allows it, my personal advice is to take advantage of the out-of-hours disconnect functionality. Same with mail: The Gmail app lets you disable notifications at the account level.

Good so far, but now we come to WhatsApp, which can be more complex. I as a rule mute all but two groups: those of my family (we’ll get back to that now). The group I’m in, group that silence. Once I’ve finished what I’ve done, I’ll be interested in updating myself if I see fit. If not, believe me, you may have missed the interesting conversation about Formula 1 between 12:37 and 14:58 in your friends’ WhatsApp group.

There may be groups that you don’t want to be muted all the time, in which case there is an option: mute by time. WhatsApp lets you mute the group for an hour, eight hours, or forever. The one hour option is great, so when they start talking about the unbearable lightness of being in the “Amigüitos 2022: Beach & BBQ Edition” band, the cell phone leaves you alone. Real health.

We’re more or less serving with this, but one more layer can be added: programmed “do not disturb” mode. I configured the phone to activate the “Do not disturb” mode from 11:30 pm until the alarm goes off. This means that absolutely no apps bother me when I’m in bed or relaxing on the couch watching a movie.

“Oh, but what if they call me for something urgent?” It’s the question that usually comes up every time I say this. In my 28 years of life, I’ve never received an emergency call at two in the morning, but I’m putting this aside: if you mark contacts as favorites (your mother, spouse, children…), their calls to you will reach you even if the “Do not disturb” mode is active. If you stay calmer this way, that’s an option.

Which notifications do I keep active? Those belonging to individual WhatsApp chats (it’s important to learn to distinguish between an important message, an urgent message, and a junk message), those of the calendar (because it’s my pointer to the personal organization path), those of the notes app (which I configure manually), bank’s apps, and calls.

It took me ten minutes to edit the notifications. And the best thing is, once done, built forever.