Phone notifications are great, right?
Ah yes, the little messages at the top of our screens, telling us what we NEED to know. What we NEED to shift our attention to RIGHT NOW!
But...what if you didn't need to suddenly do a total 180 every 5-30 minutes, because no one was interrupting you? What if you could just enjoy social media at your own pace? What if you weren't on call for your business 24/7?
As a small business owner who works from home, let me tell you, turning off nearly all of my notifications was one of the best business and personal decisions I've ever made. PERIOD.
What happens when you turn off Etsy message notifications?
Ohhhh boy. Turning off Etsy message notifications was a freaking life changer. Whenever I'd get a new message on Etsy, I swear I'd start sweating. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it gonna be stressful?! And I'd just keep staring at that icon, procrastinating. Putting off reading it. Feeling more and more stressed.
But why?
Am I a doctor? Am I on call? Does my businesses not answering a message for a day or two cause some kind of emergency? Oh. Hell. No!
Turn that shit off, people.
You know what you can do instead? Log in to etsy once or twice a day, specifically to check and answer messages. It's on purpose. It's meaningful. All the stress just goes away because it's a normal, standard part of your day.
I personally hop on somewhere between 7-10 am, answer messages (or don't, because my auto-reply already got them!! Hot tip: set up your auto reply on etsy messages NOW and refresh it every 5 days when it expires) and...that's it. I will come back the next morning to respond to messages again. I'm not gonna see a single message that was sent after my morning message block is over. And...
It's totally fine? Yes. It's totally fine.
So get rid of etsy message notifications from your phone already!!
Keep the sales notifications though, unless they stress you out. But they make me happy :)
Email notifications? Gone.
Personally I've never used email on my phone. I have gmail installed of course, so if for whatever reason I need to send an email I'll just quickly jump in, but I've never once checked my email on my phone (except for a password reset kind of thing). That is a task reserved for my laptop and only my laptop! It's just not necessary.
Think about how many damn emails you get in a day that you just throw away without reading. You need notifications for that?! Are you losing it?!
Let that shit go.
Instagram? Seriously?
Look I absolutely love instagram. TBH I would probably use it less if I didn't use it for my business account, but I do love it.
But you know what ranks even lower than etsy messages on the emergency list?
Instagram messages. Or any notifications from instagram in general.
You know what makes social media a whole lot less fun? Being forced to use it because "so-and-so left a comment!" or "so-and-so has sent you a message!" If you only see your messages, likes, comments, and new followers when you open the app, you can spend more meaningful, purposeful amounts of time on it. You're not being forced or told to get your butt over there, you made the choice to chill, relax, and spend some time on your fav social media app.
Same goes for any other social media. Hush! Don't tell me what to do!
I'm working, shut your mouth, facebook! Look, old friend from high school, I'm looking forward to reading your delightfully sarcastic comment on my post later, on my terms, when I log in. Thanks. I actually only use the facebook app to upload multiple photos or videos from my phone, otherwise I use the website on my browser and keep the app off. It's sooo much better that way.
News? On MY phone?
This one is hard to do, because I think most people get that feeling of FOMO - fear of missing out - whether it's not owning the latest electronics or missing out on current events. What you're afraid of missing out on differs for every human, but personally I find really it hard to stop reading the news once I start. So I have to disable all notifications for any news sources or hours of my life will just disappear. Reading the news is a choice I have to make, and be okay with giving up time for it.
The only notifications I have turned on are text messages
Because they actually matter. They're from human people I actually know in real life. (Also, from USPS, UPS, and FexEx giving me package updates lol. I have my priorities straight okay.) But if I really don't want to be interrupted, I can always put my phone on "do not disturb" mode and even quiet those! But I don't generally don't do that because, you know, family emergencies and stuff. But I could. You could!
Take what you will from this post
Obviously I'm not trying to be like your phone and tell you what to do with your time. But I really do think everyone should consider turning off more notifications; it really does improve your life. Make the time you spend on your phone more meaningful. You're not doing it because you're being forced to, you're not just wasting endless time on your tiny screen for no reason. Instead you're enjoying your time on instagram or facebook or tiktok or whatever; you're purposefully dedicating work time for email and message responses instead of stressing about that notification.
Just...chill those notifications, yo.
Tags: Personal Blog, Small Business Tips & Tricks
