95 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
95 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
|
---
|
||
|
|
title: "Pull vs push: intentional notifications"
|
||
|
|
date: 2023-03-16T17:20:32-04:00
|
||
|
|
draft: true
|
||
|
|
toc: false
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Modern internet services heavily rely on push-based systems. YouTubers used to
|
||
|
|
say "smash like and subscribe!" at the end of videos because they wanted you to
|
||
|
|
get a _push_ notification when they publish a new video. When YouTube stopped
|
||
|
|
sending notifications for subscriptions and added the bell, YouTubers started
|
||
|
|
saying "smash like, subscribe, and hit that bell!" instead. Free Android games
|
||
|
|
often ask for permission to send notifications because they want to periodically
|
||
|
|
remind you that "hey!! you downloaded me! don't forget about me! come play me,
|
||
|
|
run out of energy, get annoyed, then buy some extra energy with your hard-earned
|
||
|
|
money! also, pay a bit more and remove the ads while you're at it! 😃"
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
E-commerce platforms often ask you to subscribe to their newsletter in exchange
|
||
|
|
for a small discount on your next purchase because they want to _push_ their
|
||
|
|
marketing to your inbox. Some news websites serve massive popups asking you to
|
||
|
|
subscribe to their newsletters so they can, again, _push_ their new content in
|
||
|
|
front of your face. In some cases, this tactic may be perfectly benign; there
|
||
|
|
are some individuals and companies with newsletters that might be genuinely
|
||
|
|
interesting and they just want to let you know that the newsletter exists in
|
||
|
|
case you want to subscribe. But they still result in content being _pushed_ in
|
||
|
|
front of their subscriber's faces.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Similarly, instant messaging is all about push notifications. It's in the name:
|
||
|
|
_instant_. When someone sends you a message, you usually want to know
|
||
|
|
immediately; maybe it's a family emergency, maybe your food delivery person just
|
||
|
|
arrived, maybe the sky is falling, etc. Those are all situations where you
|
||
|
|
genuinely do want notifications pushed in front of your face. But think about
|
||
|
|
while you're at work. Do you really need to know that there's no more coffee in
|
||
|
|
the lounge when you're waist-deep in a big code refactor and having to mentally
|
||
|
|
juggle variables and signatures and business logic and overarching structu— look
|
||
|
|
at this funny meme!
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Ah shit. Where was `x` set again? _Does_ this function duplicate the logic of
|
||
|
|
that other function 83 lines above? You've lost your train of thought and it's
|
||
|
|
going to take you about 30 minutes to get it back.[^1]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Maybe you're spending time with your family but that new hire keeps asking for
|
||
|
|
help with this snippet of code they can't figure out. You genuinely want to help
|
||
|
|
them, but time with family is incredibly valuable. It can wait until tomorrow.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
There's a time and place for push notifications. Intentionally setting
|
||
|
|
boundaries and being thoughtful with your time is important.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## Some suggestions
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Make heavy and extensive use of Do Not Disturb rules on as many platforms as
|
||
|
|
possible; on mobile devices, it's often possible to automatically enable DND
|
||
|
|
during calendar events as well as enable it while you sleep. Mark yourself as
|
||
|
|
unavailable in Slack (or Teams or XMPP or \_\_\_\_) outside of work hours.
|
||
|
|
Disable push notifications for YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, etc. Maybe consider
|
||
|
|
using alternative clients for those services that are more user-respecting in
|
||
|
|
general.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Get an [RSS reader!][rssr] Please!
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[rssr]: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/News_aggregator
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
They allow you to subscribe to multiple sources of information — like news
|
||
|
|
websites, YouTube channels, blogs, etc. — and aggregate that content into one
|
||
|
|
place. You can read what you want when you want without having anything thrust
|
||
|
|
in your face by The Algorithm™. Depending on the reader, you can sort sources
|
||
|
|
into categories or folders that allow you to focus on one thing at a time rather
|
||
|
|
than being treated to a firehose of the internet.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
If you're looking for a service, check out [Feedbin,][fb] [NewsBlur,][nb]
|
||
|
|
[Feeder,][feeder] [Feedly,][fdly] and [Inoreader.][ino] Be thoughtful about
|
||
|
|
enabling notifications though.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[fb]: https://feedbin.com
|
||
|
|
[nb]: https://newsblur.com
|
||
|
|
[feeder]: https://feeder.co
|
||
|
|
[fdly]: https://feedly.com
|
||
|
|
[ino]: https://www.inoreader.com
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
If you're into self-hosting, I very highly recommend [yarr.][yarr] At the time
|
||
|
|
of writing, I've been using yarr for 6 months and don't see myself switching any
|
||
|
|
time soon. I only wish it had a maximum content width so reading was more
|
||
|
|
pleasant on wide screens and that [the theme would switch based on your system
|
||
|
|
theme.][yarr-theme]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[yarr]: https://github.com/nkanaev/yarr/
|
||
|
|
[yarr-theme]: https://github.com/nkanaev/yarr/issues/46#issuecomment-798896310
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[^1]:
|
||
|
|
I've seen and heard 30 minutes cited many times from sources I remember
|
||
|
|
trusting, but I can't remember exactly which sources they were. After a
|
||
|
|
quick search, The Muse says [_It Takes Nearly 30 Minutes to Refocus After
|
||
|
|
You Get
|
||
|
|
Distracted._](https://www.themuse.com/advice/this-is-nuts-it-takes-nearly-30-minutes-to-refocus-after-you-get-distracted)
|