Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives in the 21st century and as American lawyer James Comey rightly said:"Our phones and computers have become reflections of our personalities, our interests, and our identities. They hold much that is important to us."
However, the devices also add to the stress that we go through every day. According to a research conducted at Duke University's Center for Advanced Hindsight in collaboration with the startup Synapse, turning off smartphone notifications won't help us to concentrate either.
Senior behavioral researcher Nick Fitz revealed at a recent American Psychological Association conference that batching notifications into sets, and letting them ping three times a day is the right way to go.
"Turning them off doesn't really work...But we can [get notifications] in a smarter way," said Fitz, according to Science Alert.
The researchers studied four groups, which received notifications normally, in a batch every hour, three batches thrice in a day (at 9 am, 3 pm, and 9 pm), and no notifications.
It was observed that the participants, who didn't receive any notifications checked their phones more "intentionally" and felt anxious about what they were missing out on.
On the other hand, receiving notifications normally and once every hour also didn't help.
However, the people who received notifications in three batches felt more productive and positive.
After the study, Fitz suggested that system that should be context-aware. The system should understand when is the best time for a person to receive notification and what notification should go through.
"Interruptions in general aren't great but it's better if they come at opportune times," added Fitz, as reported by the website.
Following the study, the Synapse team has also decided to release the app Daywise to the public within the next few weeks. Daywise is the same app the team built to regulate notifications during the study.
