On the 68th episode of Enough that discussed Twitter apps, Myke asked Patrick whether or not he used any sort of “push” notification service. Myke did say he that he knew better than to ask, because the answer was “no”.
I’ve used push notifications on my iPhone and iPad ever since I unboxed them. At first, I used pretty much all of them. But as time as passed, I have whittled it down to a scant few, if any. Only appointment reminders and AwayFind push anything my way.
I think I’ve figured out why I’ve gone that route.
When someone opens a door from one side, they may be pushing it. That said, someone on the other side of the same door would have to pull it to open it. I look at notifications the same way — they are just outside my door.
There you’ll find the app developer, the iTeam, the email sender. They push the door, trying to find their way into my space. And at the same time, they are trying to pull me away from what I’m presently doing.
By selectively dealing with my notifications, all I’ve done is put “hours of operation” on my door. Some folks can come in before and after hours as I see fit, but the majority can only come through when I’m ready to see them.
So while they’re called push notifications, they’re really more like pull notifications…at least from a user perspective. These notifications are efforts from those outside forces that are trying to bring you into their space by pushing it into yours. But as a user, they pull focus.
Turning them off is one thing, pushing them aside notifies both the culprit and yourself that you’ve got more important things to do.
Like pulling out all the stops…and pushing out awesome results.
