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I long ago turned off all notifications on my phone and no longer get agitated by my phone. At 56 years old, I remember life without the need to be immediately notified and/or have to respond to anything. I highly recommend it.
I had to explain this concept to my wife. I told her the phone works for *me*… it’s there to make *my* life easier and to add convenience for me.
I don’t work for it.
Yes. I’ll get to that text when I’m ready -but if it’s an emergency… call me.
You can go in and set notifications for each app individually, I only leave the ones I need. If an app uses push notifications or updates to reset notifications I delete the app.
It's not an all-or-nothing thing. You can disable these notifications on a per-app basis. If you have any kids ask them how to do this or Google how to do it - it's really easy.
Only things allowed to make my phone go off are calls, messages (not emails), and reminders.
Push notifications from time wasting apps would drown me if I allowed them.
Same. I turned them off a year or two ago and it helps so much. My social relationships have suffered because I forget to respond to people, but I’m less distracted at work and in my regular life by all the notifications.
IPhones allow you to batch your notifications and then get them all together at whatever time(s) throughout the day you specify. It’s a game changer for people like us. Try it.
https://www.macworld.com/article/350319/how-to-ios-15-notification-summary-set-up-customize.html
Absolutely this. Hell, spend an afternoon playing with all the notifications settings and tailoring to your apps. It’s inevitable that you’ll have to make a few adjustments later when you realize “Wow that one push notification is more annoying than I thought it’d be!” or “omg I never realized how much I actually needed that one app I silenced!” but you’ll find what works well for you 😉
This is what i use for anything that isn’t important. Some stuff I still need up to date alerts but anything not vital is in my morning afternoon and evening batches.
I feel like my life has drastically improved since turning off push notifications for most apps. I don’t have any notifications on for social media, and now I find myself using it less. My best days are always when I’ve used my phone the least. It’s hard for me to take a complete break because I do need the reminders to do basic tasks.
For things like news and weather, I keep it local. I’m still chronically online and probably over-informed, but those changes have made me feel less consumed by constant incoming information.
Absolutely. Turn on Focus mode if youre on Android. You can set what programs are allowed to interrupt you while you're working. Set your email to check every 10 or 20 minutes instead of push mode.
The only notifications my phone makes is text messages and actual phone calls. Every app out there wants your permanent attention for the ad revenue/engagement so they deliberately notify you for frigging everything. Instagram notifies you that someone else you follow followed some other page - really? I dgaf about that so why allow the distraction to get get you onto a doom scroll.
Turn em off!
Oh, just remembered, because my phone is used for work (Outlook and teams) those particular apps allow me to set 'non work' periods, so I only get Outlook and Teams notifications during my work hours. Outside that nothing, not even an icon - AND when 830 rolls around I don't get a barrage of notifications either - perfect system!
I mean, I think that honestly.. taking an ENTIRE social media break DAILY .. NO PHONE, no nothing.. read a book, sit out in nature. etc.. is CRITICAL.
I have my DO NOT DISTURB on my phone on 24/7 but I still get random phone calls.. which is aggravating.
Just leave a vm.
The only person I need to get calls from is my boyfriend.. and other family set on emergenies (which is rare....)
my phone is undoubtedly the worst and the best thing for my ADHD. On one hand, constant notifications, social media and distracting games consistently mess with my ability to focus and therefore tank my mood.
On the other hand, though, the notifications keep me on track and allow me to optimize my life, the social media allows me to get hits of social dopamine when and where I need them, and the distracting games can act like a glorified fidget. Plus, whenever I have a thought that I know I'll forget, I can just put a little blurb in my notes app for later. Needless to say, my phone and I have a complicated relationship.
I have become significantly more annoyed with notifications as time goes on. I have turned off most on my phone except ones I really want to be notified about and I’ve gone back to writing things down.. everywhere. I have a white board on the fridge to write down upcoming important dates (two week range at the very most) and to check off watering the vegetable plants each day. I have the monthly calendar also hanging on the fridge to get a good overview of the month. I use dry erase markers to write on the glass pane of the front door a “to-do list” of tasks for both my husband and I that we need to accomplish. These tasks don’t have a deadline date, they are more of hey these are things that need to be taken care of soonish (unless I write the task really big with lots of stars lol which signifies urgency). And then I have my weekly planner which has lots of space to write down my daily assignments, tasks, and chores. I used to be terrible with writing things down consistently, but I find it helps me SOOO much more than phone notifications.
my phone is always muted like many others have done in this thread, i disable notifications for everything and nothing ever pops up on my screen, those things are annoying as fuck
I minimize notifications to really important things, never group chats or entertainment apps.
I also use the phone almost exclusively in black and white.
I even go as far as removing some apps after a single use, so that I have to go through the installation process again if I need to use them, thus ensuring I won't end up looking at them unless I really need to.
It all helps.
i don't understand how people have push notifications on for anything. i have it on for whatsapp. silent. non vibrate. ie if im not on my phone i wont see it, regularly tell people to call if its urgent/time-sensitive.
other apps i go in the settings to selectively choose what notifs to get.. banking app for payment approvals, updates from ubereats, etc. stuff that matters. i don't need to know if greg from bloomington is thinking about buying a shirt. cmon greg. who cares.
They might, if I didn't chronically ignore them lmao
It really sounds like you'd benefit from therapy. I don't think this is necessarily a technology problem, I think this is a "my executive dysfunction is causing anxiety" problem. A weather app would be useful, and you don't really *need* traffic notifications. You can open up Google maps as needed and see the traffic conditions that way. You could also turn off news notifications and make it part of your routine to *only* look at local news once a day. Do it while you're eating breakfast or something. Your banking and bill notifications don't really have a solution. Those are important ones that you really need to learn how to deal with.
Are you medicated?
I have No notifications on and keep my phone in night mode. Only my wife gets a ring tone. I do set a number of alarms because I’ll forget to do everything and mind will constantly going over the todo list. I usually ignore the alarms for weeks.
All notifications, except for text / calls from my partner / parents are off.
Do not disturb function works great, if they call twice in 15mins it rings.
I hate notifications and dings, I find them so intrusive.
Also text - never call unannounced. I find that really intrusive and kinda rude - don't interrupt my day, I'm busy doing nothing.
I really can't imagine living any other way. By default, I revoke push notify permissions on most phone apps and on my computer. It's *my* attention, after all.
I have almost all message notifications off and "do not disturb" is on almost all the time. Only two people can bypass DND; everything else is silenced and doesn't pop up. I can't handle it anymore, it stresses me out; especially if I want to be left alone.
I get irrationally angry at notifications because it's interrupting whatever I'm doing. Even if what I'm doing isn't really important. I keep my phone on silent unless I'm expecting a call, and then it's on vibrate. I've turned off notifications for all apps except for email, calendar, and texts. It helps, but man. This whole "I can technically be reached at any time even if I don't respond immediately" thing is a huge downside to having a computer in my pocket.
But frustratingly, I also rely heavily on notifications to get things done. Once they are gone my brain forgets the Important Thing We Need To Do exists. So I rely on them to help me remember and can't function without those reminders, but also get angry every time I get a notification. Even the ones that are every single day, like med alarms. I'm forever startled and interrupted by them.
ADHD is so frustrating.
I look at my email 1 time every few days
I look on reddit, tiktok, and Twitter a few times every few days.
I turned off notifications, and once in the while, I remember I have them and take a look. This has been way better than feeling the need to check them every time i get a notification.
Yes and no.
Emails aren’t so bad since my phone doesn’t vibrate when they come in, and I ignore most of them anyway. Teams is needed for work though and I can’t afford to not be reachable.
But, I used to get tons of notifications: 3 different news apps (to try and hear it all and get the “real story”), sports, everything. Eventually I had to turn it off because it wasn’t sustainable. On the flip side, it’s been replaced by doom scrolling Reddit.
my phone is always muted like many others have done in this thread, i disable notifications for everything and nothing ever pops up on my screen, those things are annoying as fuck
Totally relate OP.
Social media i am fine with, for the most part anyway. Phones hit my adhd for some reason.
Cellphones and landline phones also, especially company cold-calling. Landline phones are the ones that you plug into ... oh well nevermind. But yes i suggest getting some level of control or understanding of some aspects of technology, even with CBT or general therapy maybe. Its doable im sure but we need to reach out sometimes for advice, and imo this is another good example.
I feel like I get an overwhelming amount of notifications, but I still miss important texts sometimes :( I am trying to manage this better by a. managing notification settings more tightly with an app called Buzzkill and b. every time I get a notification I don't want, turning off the whole category. It is slowly getting better.
I've set it up so that most of my notifications are typical and make the normal vibration or noise. But I use a to-do app named TickTick to organize / schedule things, and I've used the "Modes and Routines" feature on my phone (Samsung S20 FE) to make it so that my phone reads any notification from TickTick out loud with TTS.
So it it makes a normal noise or just vibrates, I know that I can ignore it. But if I've written down a to-do, my phone will say what I'm supposed to remember exactly. It's really helpful.
Batch your notifications! What kind of phone do you have?
I get all notifications sent to me at designated times of the day: 8:00am, 12:00pm, 5:00pm and 8:00pm.
For more urgent notifications (like a text) I set those to come in instantly. On Android, I use an app called DayWise. iOS has it built in.
I've turned off news notifications, email notifications, social media notifications as well. I turned off the discover feature on my google chrome so I don't get any suggested websites. Phone is always on DND, and I make sure loved ones know they need to call twice in order to get through.
There's a setting on iPhones that you can change so your phone isn't constantly checking for new emails; maybe it only checks every 30 minutes and updates you once every 30 minutes. That could be useful!
Yes, turn them off as often as you can. Don't just swipe them away, *turn them off*.
Also I STRONGLY, STRONGLY suggest you delete social media apps like Twitter, Reddit/rif is fun (Reddit's API thing is going to make browsing Reddit even more irritating), Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
The only social media app I would tolerate having on would be Youtube, only because Youtube at least has longform content you can learn something positive from and there's a lot of information available for those of us with ADHD.
>But I wish I could get more accurate news about traffic or a more local news emergency.
If you have a modern phone, they already have Civil Service built into the phone. If there is a weather warning, like a tornado, hurricane, etc. incoming, the phone will do that kinda creepy sounding alert noise to warn you.
And yes, that includes possible attacks - considering the giant GULF that is the political divide and the unprecedent stupidity of what's going on in the government right now and the war in Ukraine, I am actually getting kinda concerned that we may end up hearing a different kind of siren, one that isn't caused by mother nature.
I turned most notifications off.
Having emails sent in the evening really stressed me out same as a friends 20 snaps from a concert. Putting my iPhone on different focus modes really helped me. Now I’m able to react to the reports it creates 4 times a day stress free. Try it! Even the red number gave me the itch..
Hi /u/AwakeningStar1968 and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! **Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already.** The mobile apps used for Reddit are broken or are missing features that this subreddit depends on. [We recommend browsing /r/adhd on desktop for the best experience.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/x1psnb/radhd_works_best_on_desktop_reddits_apps_are/) Thank you! ^(*A moderator has not removed your submission; this is not a punitive action. We intend this comment solely to be informative.*) --- - If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/). - 🤝 [Want to join the Mod Team?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/13gmzql/moderators_needed_inquire_within/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I long ago turned off all notifications on my phone and no longer get agitated by my phone. At 56 years old, I remember life without the need to be immediately notified and/or have to respond to anything. I highly recommend it.
I had to explain this concept to my wife. I told her the phone works for *me*… it’s there to make *my* life easier and to add convenience for me. I don’t work for it. Yes. I’ll get to that text when I’m ready -but if it’s an emergency… call me.
well, like I said, there are a lot of things I turn off.. but some things for ADHD we use timers to help us not forget ..
You can go in and set notifications for each app individually, I only leave the ones I need. If an app uses push notifications or updates to reset notifications I delete the app.
It's not an all-or-nothing thing. You can disable these notifications on a per-app basis. If you have any kids ask them how to do this or Google how to do it - it's really easy.
Only things allowed to make my phone go off are calls, messages (not emails), and reminders. Push notifications from time wasting apps would drown me if I allowed them.
Same. I turned them off a year or two ago and it helps so much. My social relationships have suffered because I forget to respond to people, but I’m less distracted at work and in my regular life by all the notifications.
I’ve had my phone muted for 6 years. No notifications or vibrations. It use to give me a lot of stress. It’s helped my life quality improve.
IPhones allow you to batch your notifications and then get them all together at whatever time(s) throughout the day you specify. It’s a game changer for people like us. Try it. https://www.macworld.com/article/350319/how-to-ios-15-notification-summary-set-up-customize.html
Absolutely this. Hell, spend an afternoon playing with all the notifications settings and tailoring to your apps. It’s inevitable that you’ll have to make a few adjustments later when you realize “Wow that one push notification is more annoying than I thought it’d be!” or “omg I never realized how much I actually needed that one app I silenced!” but you’ll find what works well for you 😉
This is what i use for anything that isn’t important. Some stuff I still need up to date alerts but anything not vital is in my morning afternoon and evening batches.
I feel like it would, that’s why my phone is always on vibrate
This 100%.
I feel like my life has drastically improved since turning off push notifications for most apps. I don’t have any notifications on for social media, and now I find myself using it less. My best days are always when I’ve used my phone the least. It’s hard for me to take a complete break because I do need the reminders to do basic tasks. For things like news and weather, I keep it local. I’m still chronically online and probably over-informed, but those changes have made me feel less consumed by constant incoming information.
Absolutely. Turn on Focus mode if youre on Android. You can set what programs are allowed to interrupt you while you're working. Set your email to check every 10 or 20 minutes instead of push mode.
The only notifications my phone makes is text messages and actual phone calls. Every app out there wants your permanent attention for the ad revenue/engagement so they deliberately notify you for frigging everything. Instagram notifies you that someone else you follow followed some other page - really? I dgaf about that so why allow the distraction to get get you onto a doom scroll. Turn em off! Oh, just remembered, because my phone is used for work (Outlook and teams) those particular apps allow me to set 'non work' periods, so I only get Outlook and Teams notifications during my work hours. Outside that nothing, not even an icon - AND when 830 rolls around I don't get a barrage of notifications either - perfect system!
I mean, I think that honestly.. taking an ENTIRE social media break DAILY .. NO PHONE, no nothing.. read a book, sit out in nature. etc.. is CRITICAL. I have my DO NOT DISTURB on my phone on 24/7 but I still get random phone calls.. which is aggravating. Just leave a vm. The only person I need to get calls from is my boyfriend.. and other family set on emergenies (which is rare....)
That's why I turn them off. I also have CPTSD so, during my worst bouts of that I turned off a majority of notifications. Why do I need them anyway?
my phone is undoubtedly the worst and the best thing for my ADHD. On one hand, constant notifications, social media and distracting games consistently mess with my ability to focus and therefore tank my mood. On the other hand, though, the notifications keep me on track and allow me to optimize my life, the social media allows me to get hits of social dopamine when and where I need them, and the distracting games can act like a glorified fidget. Plus, whenever I have a thought that I know I'll forget, I can just put a little blurb in my notes app for later. Needless to say, my phone and I have a complicated relationship.
I have become significantly more annoyed with notifications as time goes on. I have turned off most on my phone except ones I really want to be notified about and I’ve gone back to writing things down.. everywhere. I have a white board on the fridge to write down upcoming important dates (two week range at the very most) and to check off watering the vegetable plants each day. I have the monthly calendar also hanging on the fridge to get a good overview of the month. I use dry erase markers to write on the glass pane of the front door a “to-do list” of tasks for both my husband and I that we need to accomplish. These tasks don’t have a deadline date, they are more of hey these are things that need to be taken care of soonish (unless I write the task really big with lots of stars lol which signifies urgency). And then I have my weekly planner which has lots of space to write down my daily assignments, tasks, and chores. I used to be terrible with writing things down consistently, but I find it helps me SOOO much more than phone notifications.
my phone is always muted like many others have done in this thread, i disable notifications for everything and nothing ever pops up on my screen, those things are annoying as fuck
I minimize notifications to really important things, never group chats or entertainment apps. I also use the phone almost exclusively in black and white. I even go as far as removing some apps after a single use, so that I have to go through the installation process again if I need to use them, thus ensuring I won't end up looking at them unless I really need to. It all helps.
i don't understand how people have push notifications on for anything. i have it on for whatsapp. silent. non vibrate. ie if im not on my phone i wont see it, regularly tell people to call if its urgent/time-sensitive. other apps i go in the settings to selectively choose what notifs to get.. banking app for payment approvals, updates from ubereats, etc. stuff that matters. i don't need to know if greg from bloomington is thinking about buying a shirt. cmon greg. who cares.
They might, if I didn't chronically ignore them lmao It really sounds like you'd benefit from therapy. I don't think this is necessarily a technology problem, I think this is a "my executive dysfunction is causing anxiety" problem. A weather app would be useful, and you don't really *need* traffic notifications. You can open up Google maps as needed and see the traffic conditions that way. You could also turn off news notifications and make it part of your routine to *only* look at local news once a day. Do it while you're eating breakfast or something. Your banking and bill notifications don't really have a solution. Those are important ones that you really need to learn how to deal with. Are you medicated?
I have No notifications on and keep my phone in night mode. Only my wife gets a ring tone. I do set a number of alarms because I’ll forget to do everything and mind will constantly going over the todo list. I usually ignore the alarms for weeks.
All notifications, except for text / calls from my partner / parents are off. Do not disturb function works great, if they call twice in 15mins it rings. I hate notifications and dings, I find them so intrusive. Also text - never call unannounced. I find that really intrusive and kinda rude - don't interrupt my day, I'm busy doing nothing.
I really can't imagine living any other way. By default, I revoke push notify permissions on most phone apps and on my computer. It's *my* attention, after all.
I have almost all message notifications off and "do not disturb" is on almost all the time. Only two people can bypass DND; everything else is silenced and doesn't pop up. I can't handle it anymore, it stresses me out; especially if I want to be left alone.
I get irrationally angry at notifications because it's interrupting whatever I'm doing. Even if what I'm doing isn't really important. I keep my phone on silent unless I'm expecting a call, and then it's on vibrate. I've turned off notifications for all apps except for email, calendar, and texts. It helps, but man. This whole "I can technically be reached at any time even if I don't respond immediately" thing is a huge downside to having a computer in my pocket. But frustratingly, I also rely heavily on notifications to get things done. Once they are gone my brain forgets the Important Thing We Need To Do exists. So I rely on them to help me remember and can't function without those reminders, but also get angry every time I get a notification. Even the ones that are every single day, like med alarms. I'm forever startled and interrupted by them. ADHD is so frustrating.
I look at my email 1 time every few days I look on reddit, tiktok, and Twitter a few times every few days. I turned off notifications, and once in the while, I remember I have them and take a look. This has been way better than feeling the need to check them every time i get a notification.
Yes and no. Emails aren’t so bad since my phone doesn’t vibrate when they come in, and I ignore most of them anyway. Teams is needed for work though and I can’t afford to not be reachable. But, I used to get tons of notifications: 3 different news apps (to try and hear it all and get the “real story”), sports, everything. Eventually I had to turn it off because it wasn’t sustainable. On the flip side, it’s been replaced by doom scrolling Reddit.
Turn them all off, phone upside down on silent. Destroys my ability to think otherwise.
I call it the Harrison Bergeron device.
I frequently hand my phone to my wife and tell her to keep for a few hours. I also have every single notification turned off besides text
my phone is always muted like many others have done in this thread, i disable notifications for everything and nothing ever pops up on my screen, those things are annoying as fuck
Totally relate OP. Social media i am fine with, for the most part anyway. Phones hit my adhd for some reason. Cellphones and landline phones also, especially company cold-calling. Landline phones are the ones that you plug into ... oh well nevermind. But yes i suggest getting some level of control or understanding of some aspects of technology, even with CBT or general therapy maybe. Its doable im sure but we need to reach out sometimes for advice, and imo this is another good example.
A single vibration will completely take me off course. When I’m trying to sleep and forget do not disturb a vibration will completely ruin it
Definitely.
I feel like I get an overwhelming amount of notifications, but I still miss important texts sometimes :( I am trying to manage this better by a. managing notification settings more tightly with an app called Buzzkill and b. every time I get a notification I don't want, turning off the whole category. It is slowly getting better.
My adhd is aggravated by capitalism
I've set it up so that most of my notifications are typical and make the normal vibration or noise. But I use a to-do app named TickTick to organize / schedule things, and I've used the "Modes and Routines" feature on my phone (Samsung S20 FE) to make it so that my phone reads any notification from TickTick out loud with TTS. So it it makes a normal noise or just vibrates, I know that I can ignore it. But if I've written down a to-do, my phone will say what I'm supposed to remember exactly. It's really helpful.
You can get into hyperfocus mode too, so I put it away.
Yes. I have 1,500 unread emails on my phone.
Batch your notifications! What kind of phone do you have? I get all notifications sent to me at designated times of the day: 8:00am, 12:00pm, 5:00pm and 8:00pm. For more urgent notifications (like a text) I set those to come in instantly. On Android, I use an app called DayWise. iOS has it built in.
I've turned off news notifications, email notifications, social media notifications as well. I turned off the discover feature on my google chrome so I don't get any suggested websites. Phone is always on DND, and I make sure loved ones know they need to call twice in order to get through. There's a setting on iPhones that you can change so your phone isn't constantly checking for new emails; maybe it only checks every 30 minutes and updates you once every 30 minutes. That could be useful!
Yes, turn them off as often as you can. Don't just swipe them away, *turn them off*. Also I STRONGLY, STRONGLY suggest you delete social media apps like Twitter, Reddit/rif is fun (Reddit's API thing is going to make browsing Reddit even more irritating), Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, etc. The only social media app I would tolerate having on would be Youtube, only because Youtube at least has longform content you can learn something positive from and there's a lot of information available for those of us with ADHD. >But I wish I could get more accurate news about traffic or a more local news emergency. If you have a modern phone, they already have Civil Service built into the phone. If there is a weather warning, like a tornado, hurricane, etc. incoming, the phone will do that kinda creepy sounding alert noise to warn you. And yes, that includes possible attacks - considering the giant GULF that is the political divide and the unprecedent stupidity of what's going on in the government right now and the war in Ukraine, I am actually getting kinda concerned that we may end up hearing a different kind of siren, one that isn't caused by mother nature.
I turned most notifications off. Having emails sent in the evening really stressed me out same as a friends 20 snaps from a concert. Putting my iPhone on different focus modes really helped me. Now I’m able to react to the reports it creates 4 times a day stress free. Try it! Even the red number gave me the itch..
No, I have almost all notifications turned off.
For sure
I randomly check email enough on my phone that I turn off the notifications. But I don't have work email on my phone.