Habits - Turn off your notifications

“Humans love being socially included and modern technology has found a way to tug at our sleeve to alert us to every moment of social interaction. Not only do we tell ourselves that we feel happier to be kept updated in the moment, but we also judge our own bosses on how quickly they respond to our own messages. But when we take a breather from this, it seems to have a disproportionately refreshing effect on us. Researchers from Telefonica and Carnegie Mellon University set out to see the impact on people’s well-being of them turning their phone notifications off for a week. They couldn’t get anywhere near enough people to participate. Cowed by the rejections, they revised their ambitions and asked people to turn notifications off for a day. The participants reported feeling they had clearer thoughts, and their concentration improved as their itchy need to check devices subsided. The researchers reported that – remarkably – half of those who had turned off notifications for a single day still hadn’t returned to their old alerts two years later.”

–Bruce Daisley, VP of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Twitter and author of “Eat Sleep Work Repeat: 30 Hacks for Bringing Joy to Your Job”