In the early 2010s, especially as smartphones began to appear everywhere, I noticed that, along with the desktop, we now had another perpetual Disturber of Peace. One of the worst things turned out to be Notifications, something not under your control, that derails your chain of thoughts/works/routine. Ever since, I had kept every notification disabled by default.
The world is becoming increasingly low-trust; hence, the default is no longer to “allow,” but to filter through a “whitelist.”
Disable all Notifications by Default.[1] This is best done at the time of app installation. When asked to “Allow Notifications,” disable it right then and there. Of course, depending on your occupation and needs, a few critical notifications should be kept ON. This will be less than 10% of your app. More than 90% of the apps on your device have no reason to notify you of anything.
And here is a weird but interesting thing - disable battery percentages everywhere. Personally, not on the phone and neither on the Laptop; if it dies, it dies.
A simple passive notification that can keep you on your toes and stress you out the most - phone battery percentage indicator. We have become so obsessed with ‘juicing up’ our phones that our levels of happiness and relaxation decrease exponentially as the battery percentage drops.
Even in 2026, I hear people’s phones make a sound when a message/email arrives. If I follow that, my phone will sing all day long.
“Never be so dependent on technology that a notification is the only thing that brings you hope.”
Personally, I have a different take on birthdays and have conflicting views. So, I’m sorry about that.
1. https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activi...