Phone notifications causing chaos
Do our smart phone’s buzzes and beeps harm us?
BUZZ BUZZ. Sophomore Delaney Ciotola scrolls through her notification center on her phone during aviator bell. Many SHS students keep their phone with them during class and at times the buzz or ding of their device disrupts class. Studies of the National Center for Biotechnology Information have found that push notifications can result in a decrease of cognitive function, or one’s ability to process thoughts. “when I am trying to work on homework I see notifications pop up and I have this idea in my mind that I have to answer right away so I get off task,” Ciotola said.
In the 21st century, it seems like there is a new technological invention everyday, or at least a big one every year. Whether it is a new iPhone or an Instagram update to make it even easier to communicate.
As the internet and tech world advances, it seems like we keep downloading apps to “stay with it.” In the past year, the app TikTok has become extremely popular with people downloading it as entertainment, as a joke, or to try and become “famous” by doing dances and comedy skits. But, as the number of apps we have on our phone rises and rises, the number of beeps and buzzes rise too.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), is a company dedicated to create new technology to help people to understand fundamental processes that control our health. It was founded by Senator Claude Pepper in 1988, and is now a part of the United States National Library of Medicine.
According to the NCBI, “smartphone push notifications produced a decline in task performance in the smartphone risk group, exerting a negative influence on cognitive function and concentration.”
Personally, I usually only have notifications on for important apps like messages and GroupMe, but do not receive notifications from social media such as Instagram and Snapchat. I know that the buzz or ding of a phone notification can distract someone, I did not realize how different my behavior would be by turning on Snapchat notifications.
Although, I had previously noticed the urge I had to check my text messages to answer my friend, this was different. I felt as if I needed to see what my friends were sending me, because I could not just read their message, I physically had to go to the app and open the picture.
After I answer my friend, I would check other things on the app like people’s stories or even watch a recipe video of fried ice cream from Bon Appétit. Finally going back to work, the routine would repeat itself the next time my phone buzzed. It seemed that the only way to stop this pattern was to silence my phone while I was working.
I have not turned off notifications for Snapchat, I try to turn my phone on “do not disturb” while I do homework to try to break the routine of checking Snapchat.
