Turning off notifications is not the way to deal with digital stress. Instead, newly published research suggests that switching off notifications can increase people’s fear of missing out.

As there are not many people in the world without a smartphone, it is essential to understand how this impacts people. In 2024, there were more than 7 billion smartphones in use globally, and, in the United States, just over 80 percent of the population owns one. This demonstrates that they are for many an integral part of life, with many people spending more than 4 hours a day on their screens.

The downside of notifications

Turning off push notifications is often suggested as a way to reduce smartphone screen time, the idea being that it will help to improve daily experiences of digital well-being. Such recommendations stem from the fact that a higher number of notifications tends to lead to increased screen time and how often people look at the screen, presumably because the notifications grab the user’s attention and trigger an urge to check their phone.

The instant shifts in attention, due to notifications, tend to distract people from what they are doing and may affect cognitive performance negatively. They can also lead to excessive checking of the phone, even if there is no reason to look at it.

Not enough to switch notifications off

It may seem like a no-brainer to simply turn off push notifications, though a recent study suggests otherwise. More than 200 Android smartphone users, aged 18 to 30 years, were either asked to turn off their push notifications or not, for one week. No difference was found for the two groups for time spent using the phone or how often they checked it, suggesting that composure is not achieved by simply switching off the phone notifications. The absence of notifications also led to increased fear of missing out, suggesting that disabling notifications results in drawbacks rather than improvements in digital well-being.

It was also found that switching off the push notifications decreased perceived habitual checking, suggesting that users thought their smartphone use to be more intentional, something that may boost people’s feeling of control, which can at times lead to increased well-being.

No simple solution

While findings suggest that switching off push notifications is not enough to curb fear of missing out and reduce screen time, it may not be that straightforward. It is possible that one week may not be long enough to change how people think and act. If checking your phone has become habitual, more time is most likely needed to curb such a habit, somewhere in the region of 6 weeks may be more suitable. Furthermore, where the phone is kept can play a role in how frequently it is checked. The authors do acknowledge that there may be a case of “out of sight, out of mind” and should be part of recommendations made when trying to make improvements to digital well-being. This may also possibly reduce the fear of missing out, if people are constantly reminded by the sight of their phone.

Thus, the moral of this story is that it may just still be beneficial to switch off push notifications but should probably be done for a longer period and ensure that the phone is out of eyesight.