Notification abuse

Notifications are now everywhere, whether on the web or on mobile devices. They can be quite useful at times, letting us know when food order is on its way, the battery is running low, or a buddy has sent us a text message.

Nevertheless, there is another side to the coin: they are bothersome. A notification from Amazon says, “Maybe this product is interesting for you,” while one from a bank app suggests, “Take advantage of this promotion on this credit card.” It’s irritating to receive them.

Jim highlighted it well in his post:

“Push notifications in particular are a powerful tool — and where there’s power, there’s abuse.”

Instagram, which contains tons of categories, is an example of notification abuse:

I’ve made it a habit to silence or deactivate all notifications for every app installed on my smartphone. The same thing happens with web browsers: I quickly cancel any attempt to receive notifications from websites.