Tech Tips: managing alerts and notifications
With a lot of technology tools and applications at our disposal, sometimes the alerts, notifications, updates and news we receive can feel like overload. And with many of us increasingly using some of the same devices for personal and work use, this can mean being diverted from our lives outside work by work-related messages and information, and the converse.
A useful way to manage this is to consider what alerts and notifications you have for various applications, and on which devices. If you are sitting at your laptop getting some work done, are you distracted by alert noises and banners on not only your computer but your phone and tablet nearby? While you are not working, are you finding you are getting distracted by work-related emails on your iPhone or android phone, or other devices? Are pop-up alerts telling you about messages you are not interested in, or not right now?
Consider what notifications you really want to receive, and what you don’t. Customise them to suit your preferences and how you like to receive information. Turning off devices, using ‘airplane mode’ or quitting applications you don’t want to look at, can help too.
In Microsoft Outlook, desktop alerts are turned on by default. This includes email messages and meeting requests. But it is easy to turn them off if you prefer. You can find out more here or here if you use a Mac. All apps have a setting for notifications that you can mute, so it can be a helpful exercise to assess what alerts you are receiving and whether they work for you.
Another helpful option, if you are using Windows 10, is Focus assist (also called quiet hours in earlier versions of Windows 10). Focus assist allows you to avoid distracting notifications when you need to stay focused, and is set by default to activate automatically under certain conditions. Apple also has its own version called Do Not Disturb which you can turn on so that you don’t see or hear notifications as they arrive: instead they are collected in the Notification Centre, where you can view them later.
Technology tools are there to help and inform you – but you’re the boss! Say no to alerts and notifications you don’t want to receive. Using ‘out of office’ replies on days you are not working can also be a practical way to let colleagues know that you are not available at that time, unless perhaps it is for something especially urgent.
In this world of increased working from home, we need to be even more conscious of protecting work/personal boundaries so that our own time remains our own and we can save concentrating on work for when we are working – with fresher eyes.