Notifications are bad for you--especially for pointless trivial stuff like HN comment threads.
Consider the difficulty of checking on old HN threads a feature, which aids in Letting Things Go.
Just my own opinion, of course.
I had been very careful about email notifications unsubscribing and avoiding giving out my email address so it hadn't been a problem .... then I was laid off and decided to change careers and my email just exploded (sadly not with job offers yet). Turning off email notifications was really stress relieving.
When I previously used Reddit it felt like I would just sit there refreshing all day waiting until that envelope turned orange...
Since you never enter into a conversation you ensure all your replies are pointless and trivial.....
...except you will never know this. ;-)