I don't have issue with notifications that wait for me to review them but I do absolutely abhor notifications that think I exist to serve them.
This is fundamentally about respect. It's my currency and respect for others and their time is something I do my best to abide by.
When an app doesn't respect me, or my time, and interrupts me, it's indirectly saying it's more important than anything I'm working on. It might not mean to, but it's like someone showing up at your desk demanding attention for their question without any regard for what you're working on.
Example: I just switched to a Galaxy Android phone from an older iOS phone. This isn't Android's fault, I'm sure I'll find it elsewhere too.
My punishment for adding my accounts to a modern mobile OS? My notification center blinks like a Christmas tree.
I am a person that barely tolerates SMS or voicemail notifications. No problem is rarely that big that it can't wait an hour. Or two. Being the path of least resistance and being available to the whims of others simply leaves you drowned in more information than is humane. It's better to reward people who make requests as far in advance as possible, and reward them with those quickest, preferred emails.
I run a consulting business that primarily develops products. I am, by the way of having good systems and processes, able to work with this rule. I can reply to emails every few hours. Emergencies, still get dealt with as emergencies. Just put a Priority 1 in the subject of the email, or call the emergency voicemail, and it's a fire drill, with the minimum hour(s) we agree to every fire drill.
I don't care to receive a notification that a new meetup has been created. I don't care I received an instant message right this second. I wish Gtalk would stop harassing me for signing in with. I'm scared to hook up my other IM accounts.
I don't care what a single app has to tell me right this instant. Sorry, but it won't improve there quality of my life this instant, or the next 5 years. It's just noise, 99% of the time.
If it's a new attention economy, I'm not going to let others decide the rules of how I spend my most valuable currency -- my attention so easily. When I did, it robbed me of focus, productivity and momentum, and let others set the priorities in my life. Theres no imagining how users who aren't aware of how they're being distracted and overwhelmed might overcome this.
I personally feel that part of this is the fault of the Blackberry culture that I watched in total horror: Blackberries made people feel like they were being more productive.
The too oft reality? blackberries are great for the people asking the questions. For the overwhelming majority that answer the questions for a living, they are now busy doing other peoples work. They are busy dealing with the poor planning of others now disguised as an emergency.
Only one thing. Poor planning on your part doesn't make am emergency on my part. I now have to deal with this culture of interruption, packaged as notifications but it's just really lazy. It's not a new economy, it's not a new world. It's someone wanting to micromanage my time that doesn't understand my time. Thanks, but no thanks.
Sorry apps, but you aren't the center of my life, just because I installed you. You're not that important. I'm not that important, but I value my time and like feeling good about what I accomplish every day.
If I need your notifications I can turn them on. Otherwise, quit being an attention seeker. I find it pretty disrespectful that you think I exist to serve you, app; it's the other way around.
Instead of improving the signal to noise ratio in my life you are polluting my life with more nose.
What have I spent the last 3 days doing? Learning to turn off every single notification and only find apps where I can control them.