expand intentional notifications post
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---
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title: "Pull vs push: intentional notifications"
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date: 2023-03-16T17:20:32-04:00
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date: 2023-03-20T12:15:00-04:00
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draft: true
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toc: true
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categories: ["Technology"]
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tags:
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- Health
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- Internet
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- Mindfulness
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- Productivity
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- Web
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---
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Some kind of intro here
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I've recently noticed that many of my peers are sometimes overwhelmed by the
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internet; they feel as if they're stretched too thin and that their attention is
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constantly shifting between too many different platforms. I think a _portion_ of
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that feeling comes from systems that bombard them with push notifications. In
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games, this introduces a sense of urgency because you want make the most of your
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time and use your "lives" or "energy" or whatever efficiently. With social
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media, these reminders tend to incite a fear of missing out (FOMO), making you
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feel like you need to open the app to connect with friends and avoid missing
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out. With news apps, the notifications are usually click-bait headlines
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specifically selected to make you open the app so you can see what's going on.
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But most of that isn't _really_ necessary. If something on social media is
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genuinely that urgent, it should be a call or an instant message. Social media
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can be checked at the end of the day. The same goes for news; if a headline is
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really that important, it'll still be there in a couple hours. If a game needs
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to remind its players that it exists, it's probably not particularly fun or
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memorable.
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On Android, when users first open an app, they're often asked to give that app
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permission to send notifications. They hit `Allow` without thinking because they
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just want to use the app, exactly like what happens when asked to agree to a
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privacy policy and terms of service. Most of these apps would be able to fill
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their purpose just as well _without_ sending notifications, but we're more
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concerned with _using_ the app so we just don't think about it.
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On their phones, my peers usually have a list of notifications a mile long, full
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of new emails and YouTube videos and Slack messages and "your lives are
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restored!" messages from mobile games and so much more. I think reducing that
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barrage — on all systems, not just phones — is a great way to start building a
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healthier relationship with technology.
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## Pushed-based
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@ -52,7 +88,13 @@ boundaries and being thoughtful with your time is important.
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## Pull-based
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With a push-based system, you receive notifications on others' schedules, which
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might not line up well with your own. In a pull-based system, you receive
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"notifications" on _your_ schedule. You see what happened on social media when
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you log in, you receive emails when you explicitly fetch them, you see chat
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messages when you open the app, etc. This allows you to decide when you're ready
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to interact with that system, whether "ready" is every ten minutes, once you're
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in the office, or during breakfast.
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## Some suggestions
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@ -64,32 +106,35 @@ Disable push notifications for YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, etc. Maybe consider
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using alternative clients for those services that are more user-respecting in
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general.
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Religiously unsubscribe from everything that clutters up your inbox. If you
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don't actively want to see it, unsubscribe from it or write a rule that marks it
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as reads and immediately shoves it in your archive. Inboxes are for pertinent,
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Religiously unsubscribe from everything that clutters your inbox. If you don't
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actively want to see it, unsubscribe from it or write a rule that marks it as
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reads and immediately shoves it in your archive. Inboxes are for pertinent,
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important information; the latest shoe sale at your preferred big-box store is
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neither.
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Get an [RSS reader!][rssr] Please!
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Get a [feed reader!][rssr] Please!
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[rssr]: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/News_aggregator
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They allow you to subscribe to multiple sources of information — like news
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websites, YouTube channels, blogs, etc. — and aggregate that content into one
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place. You can read what you want when you want without having anything thrust
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in your face by The Algorithm™. Depending on the reader, you can sort sources
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into categories or folders that allow you to focus on one thing at a time rather
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than being treated to a firehose of the internet.
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in your face. Depending on which feed reader you select, you can also sort
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sources into categories or folders that allow you to focus on one thing at a
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time, rather than being treated to a firehose of the internet.
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If you're looking for a service, check out [Feedbin,][fb] [NewsBlur,][nb]
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[Feeder,][feeder] [Feedly,][fdly] and [Inoreader.][ino] Be thoughtful about
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enabling notifications though.
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[Feeder,][feeder] [Feedly,][fdly] and [Inoreader.][ino] Changelog, a
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developer-focused podcast, [interviewed the creator of Feedbin][cif] and I quite
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enjoyed the episode. Be thoughtful when enabling push notifications in readers
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that support it.
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[fb]: https://feedbin.com
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[nb]: https://newsblur.com
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[feeder]: https://feeder.co
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[fdly]: https://feedly.com
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[ino]: https://www.inoreader.com
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[cif]: https://changelog.com/podcast/240
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If you're into self-hosting, I highly recommend [yarr.][yarr] At the time of
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writing, I've been using yarr for 6 months and don't see myself switching any
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@ -100,11 +145,12 @@ theme.][yarr-theme]
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[yarr]: https://github.com/nkanaev/yarr/
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[yarr-theme]: https://github.com/nkanaev/yarr/issues/46#issuecomment-798896310
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If you do adopt RSS, I strongly recommend migrating your _important_ newsletter
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subscriptions to [_Kill the Newsletter!_][ktn] It generates an email, you
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subscribe to the newsletter with that email address, and it appends each email
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to a unique RSS feed generated just for you. At the time of writing, I receive 7
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newsletters as RSS feeds and it's a pleasant experience.
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If you do adopt a feed reader, whichever it is, I strongly recommend migrating
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your _important_ newsletter subscriptions to [_Kill the Newsletter!_][ktn] The
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service generates an email address, you subscribe to the newsletter with that
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email address, and it appends each email to a unique feed generated just for
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you. At the time of writing, I receive 7 newsletters as feeds and it's a
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wonderful experience.
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[ktn]: https://kill-the-newsletter.com
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