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Ask HN: Notification Overload

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Re: Ask HN: Notification Overload

#31

Post by zeroq »

I have all notifications turned off on my mobile devices, except for calls and SMS.

I use the same strategy for my computers as well.

If you send me a message or email I will eventually look it up and respond at appropriate time. If world is ending and someone needs urgent help they will call me.

Call me too many times and I'll put you on mute. I'll still get the notification but you'll have to wait till I have time to call you back, or more probable, I'll wait until you send me a text message stating your need.

One thing I hate the most is people calling on repeat. I'm old enough to remember times before mobiles and back then it had a purpose. Now it doesn't. If you call me once and I didn't picked it up that means I'm either busy or away. If you call again you're just annoying and I'll flag you as such.

One thing that may set me apart is that I still consider my phone to be just that. I lived the whole mobile revolution and from time to time I've tried installing different apps, but eventually the phone for me is just that - the phone. Calling and messaging. Sure I can browse, use maps, etc. but it's a communication device.

And when I don't want to communicate I just put it away. Problem solved.

[EDIT] Yes, you can still send me an email or a message through a messenger application, but unless I intentionally check the app I won't even know you're there.

Re: Ask HN: Notification Overload

#32

Post by geuis »

Have dealt with the same issue.

Prefer mobile web over specific apps.

On your phone, turn on contacts-only for calls. Should also work for regular text messages.

If also using apps like WhatsApp there may be a similar app-level setting.

Get a couple of well reviewed ad blockers for your browser. I'm still astounded when I see people on their phones and dealing with ads. Especially YouTube. There are browser blockers that work for YouTube.

Adding to the previous point, never install/use a company's native app. You have NO control over that. Use their web version.

Addding to the previous point, iOS safari has an option to view any website in desktop mode. I imagine Android has something like that but I dunno. If a particular site has an annoying mobile web interface, try the desktop web version. If they don't allow that, use a different product. One case in point: I use Reddit heavily. I use old Reddit on web. Their app and mobile website are complete garbage.

Some ad blockers may help with the "accept cookies? Gdpr bullshit". I don't personally bother. They're fairly innocuous and the sites are collecting all cookies anyway so it doesn't matter.

The reason I'm not mentioning the specific web extensions I use is because despite being common and easy to find, I'm EXTREMELY hesitant to provide a curated list in a public forum that will get vacuumed up and probably lead to circumventions within a few weeks to months. This stuff is easy to find, is completely available in the platform-relevant app stores and only takes a little extra effort to customize after a couple of weeks of running into minor inconveniences. This isn't a "compile Linux from scratch" kind of problem.

Re: Ask HN: Notification Overload

#33

Post by rkagerer »

Apps on my smartphone have a strict "one strike and you're out" policy. As soon as they raise an unwanted notification, the sledgehammer comes out and their privileges get permanently revoked.

Developers: I don't care how important you think your news is, uninvited notifications are a red line for me.

The software industry used to have a much more humane baseline in terms of the unwritten rules for how we treat our audience. Phone-home telemetry, intrusive interruptions, addictive design... it really grinds my gears how user-hostile computing has become. This will make me sound like a craggy old fart, but I liked it better when coding was harder and demanded more craftsmanship and skill... I feel like it attracted builders with better judgement and ethical standards more aligned to my own. In other fields, engineers bear personal liability for their work (eg. bridge fails, the professional who signed off will bear scrutiny). I sympathize not everyone is in a position to do so, but I would quit my job before agreeing to the kind of dirty tactics we're seeing from tech giants these days.

Re: Ask HN: Notification Overload

#35

Post by mlacks »

On the iPhone, you can hide or remove every app aside from settings, safari, sms, phone, App Store, photos, and camera. I started there, and put phone on silent, and in greyscale.

Instead of the ‘push’ notifications, I have set times throughout the day to check my mail. I’m never interrupted and it turned out that it’s ok to let some fires burn

Re: Ask HN: Notification Overload

#36

Post by al_borland »

> I find myself reinstalling, resubscribing

Why? What is so important about these things that you felt the need to do this after getting rid of them?

Move from push to pull everywhere you can. Don't sign up for email notifications from a website, subscribe to their RSS feed, if you really want to follow the site. Then you choose when you get those updates.

When a website emails me marketing material, I find it offensive. I don't care if it's a good deal, I don't want it on principle. You need to draw a hard line and have boundaries.

What needs an actual notification that will interrupt you, vs just being in an inbox that you can look at when you want?

I turned text notifications off from one of my best friends, because he never sends me anything meaningful that needs immediate response. I just look at whatever he sent when I'm bored. Be ruthless.

Each time a notification pops up, ask yourself if it's more important than your friend's birthday, because that noise is what caused you to miss the notification you cared about.

Re: Ask HN: Notification Overload

#37

Post by bix6 »

gordonhart wrote: post #29

If you’re like me and get inundated with spam texts from politicians begging for money, you can set up an app to filter texts from unknown contacts matching content patterns. I recently set up SpamHound but there are many options, and configured filters for the telltale begging signs like “text stop to quit”, “end2end”, and about 2 dozen other variants they come up with to sneak past these filters.

This is native on iOS now

Re: Ask HN: Notification Overload

#38

Post by bix6 »

airstrike wrote: post #17

Disable everything. I pretty much only leave them on for one email address, text, Uber Eats and the WSJ/Bloomberg.

Uber Eats is a plague. If you leave notifications on they constantly trigger one to make you open the app and clear it.

Re: Ask HN: Notification Overload

#39

Post by bix6 »

kilroy123 wrote: post #10

I made this open-source set of email filters. I've used it for years. The only email notifications I get are legit ones I need to know about. https://unfuck.email

How hard / possible is it to use the rules in another mail provider?

Re: Ask HN: Notification Overload

#40

Post by airstrike »

bix6 wrote: post #38
airstrike wrote: post #17

Disable everything. I pretty much only leave them on for one email address, text, Uber Eats and the WSJ/Bloomberg.

Uber Eats is a plague. If you leave notifications on they constantly trigger one to make you open the app and clear it.

yes, it's a tragedy but I need to know my food is arriving lol
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