With so much data out in the world, there is one way in which we can keep on track of the stuff that matters to us. Notifications from our phones, iPad, and other such devices are a convenience. Still, I certainly know that some people see them as a bit of a burden, bothersome or even outright annoying. For my part, we need to have notifications. Not strictly for everything mind you, that would become problematic (as I will show you later on in this post). There has to be a line drawn for where notifications are needed and where they are not. I play with so many apps, and every single one of them asks to notify me of stuff that I have had to come up with some guidelines for myself as to when I would need notifications and when I would not.
When I use notifications;
1) They keep you on time – One of the things that I have come to rely on is my calendar. I have meetings and appointments and school plays and whatnot, and without something to keep me in line, I don’t know what I would do. I started working properly with my calendar about ten years ago, and I’ve been completely addicted ever since. I like the fact that I can (at times) have my day planned out, and I don’t have to think about where I’m going next, I check my schedule. Notifications are apart of that for me. I like getting a ping from my watch telling me about my next meeting and where I have to go to be there.
2) They let you know when things are available – I’ll be honest, a lot of this side of the functionality of notifications revolves around food. Well, food and cabs. I order a lot of my groceries through an app, and I like that I get a notification when whoever is bringing me what I want is close. I don’t particularly appreciate thinking that the driver has to wait long outside my door for me to get there (Certainly at this time of year), so I do my best to meet them at the door. I also had an interesting experience with Starbucks like this. There is always a lineup at the place that I go to in the morning, so I order ahead, so it’s ready when I get there. Sadly the crowd can prevent me from just going in and grabbing what I need. I was advised to enable notifications so that the app would confirm that my order was ready or not so I wouldn’t have to wade through the crowd to see. I have turned it on, and I will have to report back to see how it works out.
3) They tell you what you need to know – Over the past year, Apple has enabled a feature in the watches which recognizes a hard fall. This could mean that the person is having a heart attack or something, and if they don’t respond, then 911 is dispatched. Luckily I have not needed this service, but I can report that the notification works. I was building some shelves in my office, and I had to bang a couple of pieces together with my fist. When I did, the watch asked me if I had fallen. I also like it when I’m working out and I get notifications saying that I’ve closed either my move or exercise rings. It’s not critical information, but it gives me a bit of an ego boost knowing that I’ve accomplished something there.
I want to be clear here, notifications are cool, but I don’t use them for absolutely everything. Frankly, there are more apps that I don’t use the notifications for than the apps that I have them turned on for. For most of us, we need to be able to go through our day to day lives without having to look at our phones every five seconds or so. While I certainly have circumstances when I think notifications are necessary, I also have outlines for when they are not.
Why I wouldn’t use notifications
1) It’s not necessary – Every app, and I mean EVERY APP, wants to notify you about something that’s happening with them. If I enabled notifications for every app that I had on my phone, I would be, effectively, be creating a continual motion machine, but cause the thing would never stop buzzing. My general rule of thumb is that if I think I REALLY need to get notified about something, then I will enable notifications. For sure, I want to know if I get an e-mail from my boss, but I don’t need to be notified that all my lives have been refilled in Bejewelled.
2) It’s annoying – I get that every single day, apps are coming out with new features that are interesting and make apps more enticing to use. Still, I don’t particularly appreciate being notified when every single little detail has changed. Some apps have changed, some have weekly contests, some have both, and they all need to tell you about it. As I said, there are some apps that I like to get notified about what’s going on with them, but if I find that I get frustrated with an app’s updates, I turn them off.
3) It’s not relevant – I have been to a few different places on vacation in my time, and some of the resorts have their apps. They do this because they have so much stuff going on when you’re staying there that it’s an easy way to make you aware when their programs are on. It’s super helpful when you’re on vacation, but when you go back to reality and are working away, getting a notification that “Ricardo is doing Aquabatics in the main pool” is not really what you want to see on a Monday morning with deadlines looming. I certainly use these kinds of apps when I’m in places like this, but once the trip is done, there I turn off the notifications. If I think there is a chance that I will go back anytime soon, I might keep the app on my phone, but if not It’s entirely possible; I delete the app entirely.
At the end of the day, I think that notifications are important. I believe that having them can keep us on track for the things that are important in our lives. Whether it’s important to you right at this exact moment or far in the future, you need to be able to remind yourself of events that are coming up or new things that are happening in your life, and notifications can help you with that. The trick is not to have too many of them, because if you stop paying attention to some of them, it can be a slippery slope to merely ignoring all of them.
How do you feel about notifications?
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