Randomized field experiment · 2019
Batching smartphone notifications can improve well-being
Fitz N, Kushlev K, Jagannathan R, Lewis T, Paliwal D, Ariely D
What it found
People got notifications as usual, in three batches a day, or never. Batching made them feel more attentive, more productive, in a better mood and more in control of their phone. Getting no notifications at all brought few of those benefits and more anxiety and fear of missing out.
Where the evidence stops
Self-reported outcomes over a short field period. Tests batching in general, not any particular app.
How it shapes Pursue
Pursue
Fewer, grouped signals beat both a constant stream and total silence. Pursue sends at most one signal at a time.
A design input, not evidence that Pursue works.
Cited in
- 01Do phone notifications hurt focus, even if I don't check them?Yes. In a 2015 Florida State University experiment, simply receiving a notification hurt performance on an attention-demanding task about as much as calling or texting, even when people never touched the phone. In a field experiment with 221 adults (Kushlev et al., 2016), people reported more inattention in the week their alerts were on.Interruptions and attention
- 02Should I turn off notifications completely, or batch them?The best evidence favours batching. In a randomized field experiment with 237 people (Duke and Georgetown, 2019), getting notifications in three batches a day made people feel more attentive, productive and in control than the usual stream, while getting none brought few of those benefits and more anxiety and fear of missing out.Interruptions and attention
- 03Is there an app that notices when my day is slipping and suggests one next step?Tre-Up, an iOS app in development, is being built for exactly that, and it is not released yet: its AI, Pursue, is designed to notice when your focus or energy shifts and to answer with one small next step, one question, or nothing. Until it ships, your phone's focus modes and scheduled notification summaries cover part of the job.Timing and receptivity