With the constant bombardment of notifications from our phones many of us feel the need to distance ourselves from these distracting alerts. So instinctively it makes sense to turn them off so we check our phones less. However, a recent study by Liao and Sundar (2022) presented research that may call into question this practice. The authors used an app to track 138 iPhone users for four days. The app tracked: Whether notifications were turned on or off The number of notifications...

I turned notifications off on a couple apps that I was using and I found it very helpful. In fact, I also deleted another social media app altogether and I dont feel the need to check it. I dont have a strong fear of missing out. I do notice though that these apps do their best to try and get you back, by maybe sending emails or other types of notifications to entice you to come back. I wonder about the methodology of the research that gave the results that they got.

Thanks Peter for your response! I noticed that as well, especially when I haven’t used an App in a while I would get a notification saying get back on the app or else you will lose this feature or this deal etc. As far as your question, the authors analyzed the study data they collected using the tracking app. Hope that answers your question!

It's so funny, I find that when my phone is on silent I check it more than if it's in front of me and I can see what notifications are popping up (and can dismiss them or open them). This was what a lot of high school students said when I was working with them and we asked them to keep their phones out of sight, it's almost like the FOMO was too much and they felt better keeping them in view. Like Peter, I feel better when I switch notifications off for most of my apps and only have the most...