Reclaiming Peace: Turn Off Your Push Notifications

These posts are our favorite kind: easy to do and good for you. Turning off push notifications is a win-win.

Jump to the How-To

Better for Your Brain

There’s no shortage of psychological research confirming what most of us already suspect: push notifications are terrible for our mental health. They spike anxiety, contribute to depression, and can even make symptoms of ADHD worse.

Health researchers call them exogenous interruptions (which is a lot of letters for “annoying”). In short: your brain likes it better when it’s not constantly interrupted.

The fix is simple: turn on Do Not Disturb mode and set your essential contacts as “Favorites” so their calls still come through. Gizmodo has an easy step-by-step guide for both iPhone and Android: How to Lock Down Your Phone So Only Certain People Can Reach You.

Better for Your Privacy

But here’s the part that might surprise you: push notifications aren’t just annoying — they can also be a privacy risk.

Late last year, Apple confirmed that it had been quietly sharing push notification data with government agencies.

At first glance, that might not seem like a big deal. But when we talk about metadata — things like what app sent the notification, when it happened, and how often — it starts to add up. Governments (both foreign and domestic) can use this data to link anonymous users to specific identities, addresses, and more. Once that connection is made, it opens the door to further tracking.

The (somewhat) good news? Both Apple and Google are now publishing transparency reports that outline these requests. You can check them out here:

• Apple Transparency Reports

• Google Transparency Reports

Ideally, more transparency will lead to more caution when it comes to handling user data. Ideally.

How to Shut It Down

Spend five minutes this weekend turning off unnecessary notifications. You’ll be calmer, less distracted, and more secure.

• For Android: How to Turn Off Notifications on Android

• For iOS: Change Notification Settings on iPhone

Enjoy the quiet. You’ve earned it.