Relearning an Important Lesson on Work App Notifications While Taking a Holiday Break

While taking some days off around the holidays, I found myself absentmindedly checking LinkedIn. Normally, my Reddit feed is my go-to for boredom. You know those awkward social moments where you're not sure what to do so you put your face in your phone. I have that dialed in too - local info, news, things that make me laugh, and video game info. It's the personal side of my interests and mostly for entertainment. Notifications are off.

I realized what was drawing me towards LinkedIn is that I had allowed it to break through my work notifications barrier. Microsoft Teams, Slack, Outlook, Mail on iOS all have notifications disabled. I let LinkedIn...in. My rationale was that it had slowly become a communication platform for certain groups of friends, previous colleagues, and new connections. I also genuinely enjoy most of what the people in my feed are posting. My network has grown into an interesting, funny and insightful work-focused feed. I was afraid I'd miss something important.

No matter how I configured my notifications, I couldn't seem to pare it down to just direct messages. Little things slipped through. "You may know...", "...view your profile.", "Congratulate...on X years at...". And in I would go, scrolling away and reading updates. I caught myself doing it on Christmas Day! Or while taking my 3-year-old to the Science Museum! Hearing "Dada put you phone away" cuts deep.

They had really gotten me. I thought I was above this kind of social engineering. I guess I'm human.

LinkedIn activates me like a challenging work project, conversation, or activity. That's why I need to keep it within work boundaries. I was finding myself less present for the family time, my personal time and in the work I did need to focus on.

So I completely shut off notifications. And nothing changed. The engaging and interesting content from my feed is still there. I'm now treating it like work chat or work email. I'm intentional. There is time and a place for it and I give it the space it needs. It's a lesson I've had to learn multiple times and I'm sure I'll keep relearning it. Intention isn't abstract. It applies to how work shows up in tools, platforms, and our attention. With our work and life constantly evolving and changing alongside the technology that integrates our lives, it's even more important to keep this in check.

So my recommendation to everyone is: pick a noisy notification in your life and shut it off. Put yourself back in control to pull information when you need it. Don't let yourself get pushed into the machine.