Comment by throwaway8800 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwaway8800 | Hacker News Reader

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> I had a Pavlovian response to the sound of email arriving on my phone, to the point where it would be in my nightmares.

I went through a rough period last summer where a project I was involved in was a complete disaster. I basically spent 24x7 terrified that a new "emergency" was going to roll in on my phone via email with a stakeholder telling me how this new issue was ruining their life and how disappointed they were; an issue which I was expected to deal with immediately. After that summer and to this day I keep my phone in "Do Not Disturb" mode 24x7 and treat it as a passive communications device that I only check when I want to, because I have literally run out of notification tones on my phone that don't send a burst of adrenaline through my body upon hearing them.

This is even after that project is over. I feel like it permanently damaged my brain and my ability to deal with stress.

I have used smartwatches that notify you when an email comes in by vibrating on your wrist. I view these as modern-day human "shock collars" where the shock collar beneficiary is actually not you, but your employer. I actually warn others against falling into that trap of wearing a "shock collar for work". Having your arm vibrate the moment an email comes in is not healthy.

I just don't put work email on my personal devices. If I'm not at the office, I'm not working. Done. Otherwise you can pay me to be on-call, and that's a whole other discussion.

100% this. Last time I had work ask me to install slack or email on my personal device, I politely declined, but suggested they provide me with another mobile device specifically for that purpose. They didn't do that; but if they had done, I would have most likely kept it off of me after work hours.

Notifications has always been one of the dissonant topics in our industry. We constantly complain about interruptions in our jobs, how it kills our productivity, yet we keep inventing new ways of interrupting us.

I also use my phone like this. It's in my jacket pocket or shoulder bag, and I check it in the evening (sometimes).

I do still have a sound for incoming phone call, but thinking about it now, I am going to consider disabling that too. There aren't a lot of things these days that can't be communicated by a text message, if only to say "hey can we have a chat about <this or that>". I hate that phone call sound and the stress of running to get the phone, anxiety about possibly having to deal with some shit, etc.

> I view these as modern-day human "shock collars" where the shock collar beneficiary is actually not you ...

Heh. I grew up in the days before mobile phones. A friend observed, when I mentioned my shiny new pager indicating a certain level of Importance in the workforce, that these devices made both parties happy.

The carrier felt smug about being so important they were paid - whatever it was, some small number of $'s a day - to be on call.

The person on the other end of the equation had eager and proficient technical resources at their beck and call 24x7 ... for some small number of $'s a day.

And some people say that the tech industry keeps going in circles.

I was so pumped to get a smartwatch, but in stressful times I would nearly rip it off my wrist if it vibrated.

Eventually I set it so that only whatsapp messages alert me. Everything else can wait.

And the whatsapp messages can wait too - it's an asynchronous communications technology.

Work emails will never trigger a notification. If there's a genuine emergency, I can be reached over the phone

I handle everything through email for one reason, it's self documenting. My current job I don't have to worry, but i've worked jobs where this practice saved my butt a few times.

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