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Pasquale D'Silva
Animator & Product Designer at Elepath, San Francisco.

Turning off push for email

For some reason, we’ve accepted the behavior of checking email constantly. Once upon a time, there was a less annoying ritual of checking email on desktop computers - when we felt like it. Mobile email is noisy and feels overwhelming, because we get buzzes and badges all the time. People hate email as a result. The number of times I’ve heard “did you get that email?” within 5 minutes of it being sent is astronomical. There’s no separation between email and instant messenger / SMS.

Choosing when I want to digest my inbox makes me better about responding.

I recently turned off push to fetch and all notifications for email, and immediately felt happier. Check it on the bus/train/downtime and not as soon as your pocket rumbles.

I like email now. You should try it.

43 notes
  1. stephenlovell said: Did this about a month ago and I love it. So much nicer.
  2. internet-haze reblogged this from psql and added:
    Yup. That’s why it doesn’t really bother me that Sparrow doesn’t have push.
  3. jameswelch reblogged this from psql and added:
    add taking work email off your phone to this, and you find perfection ^_^
  4. kevinbarbee said: I’m with you PSQL. Here’s my e-mail signature: “We consider e-mail a non-urgent form of communication. We respond to e-mails twice daily. We’re doing the real work the rest of the time! Thanks for your understanding.”
  5. marnieb reblogged this from psql and added:
    A good idea.
  6. kylesteed said: Way to go dude. I turned off email notifications years ago. Was the best decision I ever made. :)
  7. djsteen reblogged this from psql
  8. guillee said: I did that, and my phone’s battery life instantly tripled. So happy.
  9. yowhatsthehaps said: Agreed. I did it months ago and it’s so much better this way. I like getting emails on my own schedule.
  10. psql posted this