Francesca Rudkin: We have control of our notifications

There has been a clever marketing campaign from 2degrees this week.   The telco has released the results of a study it commissioned into the impact mobile phones are having on our mental health.   It’s not good.   While most telco’s like to concentrate on keeping us connected, 2 Degrees has taken a slightly different approach with this one, acknowledging the elephant in the room by talking honestly and openly about the damage phones can do.   It’s almost like they care.   Which is quite refreshing.   I probably sound a bit sceptical, but I’m less fussed about a smart approach to promote a brand than the more important point that it’s absolutely crazy we’re letting our phones negatively impact our lives.   It simply doesn’t need to be this way.    One of the things the survey looked at was the role notifications play in adults' daily lives.   What they discovered was 50% of Kiwis receive too many notifications.  37% feel overwhelmed, panicked, or anxious.  30% struggle to concentrate due to the notifications.  46% of Gen Z respondents and 40% find it difficult to concentrate.   The biggest culprits are social media (65%) and email (60%).   I told you it wasn’t great news.   But as concerning as these figures are the crazy thing about it is that this is on us - we can control our notifications. We can turn them off or silence them.   We can take control of apps by doing things like deleting and restoring them throughout the week so they’re not constantly available.   And if you don’t know how to do it, you do what I do and find a younger person to do it for you.   We can come to terms with never having an empty inbox, and not feel the pressure to try.   We can make rules about scrolling through emails after work. We can just put the phone down.   It’s interesting to understand how the brain works in response to notifications.   According to Kathryn Berkett, a neuroscience and digital wellbeing expert working alongside 2degrees on this project, notifications from phones trigger dopamine, making them highly addictive.   She says our obsession with our phones are physically altering our brains, damaging our relationships, draining our energy, and reducing our overall wellbeing.   I get it, it’s hard to make a change, but I'm absolutely certain that in 10 to 20 years we will look back and wonder what the hell we were thinking with the endless content, apps, notifications, likes and swipes.   We can’t keep blaming the tech companies, we know what they’re in it for.   We can’t keep blaming the tech, a lot of the tech is really cool and helpful.   At some point we have to step up and take responsibility for how we use it.   Thanks 2degrees for the reminder. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.