The Lighter Life series
I work in tech. I’ve lived inside notifications for years.
Slack. Email. Calendar invites. Little red bubbles. Pings that blur the line between urgent and unnecessary.
For the longest time, I just accepted it.
It felt normal — like part of the job.
Until I realized I hadn’t had a full moment of quiet in… who knows how long.
Not silence exactly.
Just non-interruption.
No buzz. No blinking. No tug on my attention every few minutes.
What I felt wasn’t burnout — not the dramatic kind. It was more like a slow erosion of focus. I was still functioning. I just wasn’t fully here.
So I decided to turn them off.
🛑 Not Just Do Not Disturb — Actually Off
I didn’t use Focus Mode or a scheduled break.
I went into my settings and removed notifications completely — one by one.
- No banners
- No badges
- No sounds
- No app previews floating across my screen
The only things I left on: phone calls (for emergencies) and calendar alerts (because I forget everything).
For the first day, I kept reaching for my phone like a nervous tic. I wasn’t even expecting anything — it was just reflex. But after a while, the itch faded. The habit loosened.
I started checking my phone when I chose to — not when it demanded my attention.
🧠 What Actually Changed
- Focus returned: I could write, think, or read without micro-interruptions. My thoughts stopped skipping like scratched vinyl.
- Doomscrolling vanished: Without constant news alerts pulling me in, I stopped looking for something “new.” Most of the time, there was nothing worth reading anyway—just the same political noise on repeat.
- I felt less frantic: Not calmer in a spa-day way — just less jerked around by tiny things.
- I got clearer about what mattered: Without constant nudges, I started noticing which tools I wanted and which ones I’d only tolerated.
- My battery lasted two days. I forgot phones could even do that.
🧭 What I Learned
Quiet isn’t boring.
It’s relief.
There was space again — between thoughts, between actions. Enough room to choose what I did next instead of reacting on autopilot.
I didn’t become magically zen. I still have habits, distractions, and moments of chaos. But the baseline shifted. And I liked the shift.
🔧 Want to Try This?
You don’t have to go all in. But if you’re curious, here’s how to start:
- Pick one category: maybe social media, messaging, or email
- Turn off notifications for just 48 hours
- Don’t replace it with another habit (like refreshing obsessively)
- See what changes — in your attention, in your body, in your mood
Then decide what to keep and what to leave off.
You can always turn things back on. But you might not want to.
