Prevent App Notifications From Escalating Alarms on Election Night
Today is Election Day, a day known as digital hell. Your poor device will be constantly attacked by every new application that can send a notification today. Some of you will accept this despite the fact that the burning wreckage of debris-laden cars that we call the 2020 election is more hyper-politicized than ever. However, you can avoid getting notifications throughout the day while staying on top of the major updates you need to be aware of. May be.
Find a sanity buddy and create a secret app with him
If I were you, I would just switch my phone to do not disturb mode around 6:00 pm ET – when polling stations start closing – but in fact, probably about an hour or two before that. Maybe all day. My colleague Beth has already followed this advice, and she hit the nail on the head:
“At the very least, you need to turn off notifications. If you ignore all of my advice, the absolute minimum you should do is set your phone to Do Not Disturb at the wicked hour that you finally return. “
I’ll take it one step further and tell you that you should choose someone more attuned to be your personal filter for the evening. Whitelist them on your phone if they call or text; Or better yet, agree to use one messaging app – perhaps one you rarely use – to stay connected. So when you look into your phone (yes you will) you can just see if you have any new messages from that person on that particular app. This is where you get the top news. And specifically instruct them on what “big news on election night” to share with you.
You are essentially setting up an Accountable Brother, the special person that your eyes and ears will be, so that you don’t get overwhelmed with 80 notifications every time a website, news channel, expert, or political enthusiast makes meaningless predictions today.
Crop but don’t turn off your notifications
If you don’t want to be completely disconnected from the outside world, I highly recommend tweaking and creating a firewall so you don’t get bothered by everything at once. This is how it works:
On iOS, consider setting the Idle Time feature for Screen Time to run all day — or at least during the prime time of crazy elections. Then use Application Restrictions to block the entire Information & Reading category (and possibly Social Media too). This will ensure that you cannot access any of their default news apps and none of their notifications will appear on your device.
From there, select one news app you like and add it to the Always Allowed list so you can access and receive notifications. (We recommend The Guardian app , but you can choose which one you like best.)
On Android, pull up “Your Digital Wellbeing Device Options” in Settings and use the “Focus Mode” option to block notifications from “distracting” apps — every app’s news, but one that will lead you through election night.
I’m also a big fan of Android’s “Flip to Shhh” feature if it’s present on your device. Leave your phone as it was on election night; If at any time you find that this is too much, simply place your phone facedown on a surface to automatically turn on Do Not Disturb mode. Once you’re ready to jump back, flip it over again.
Choose the right election night for you
It goes without saying that almost every news delivery application will have some kind of coverage on election night – and that’s just news. There are many other related programming to watch, from Showtime shows from our great savior Stephen Colbert to livestreaming The Daily Show With Trevor Noah.
I have no firm preference for one news application or service over another, other than more explicitly neutral entities (such as C-SPAN ). But even C-SPAN only has a radio app, and listening to everyone commenting on the election results in a matter of hours is likely to be more than phone notifications.
If you’re on iOS , you can simply tune into the Apple News app to receive minute-by-minute updates on the vote count. There are also apps like Brief or NBC News that you can use to place an election results widget on various pages on your home screen if you want to quickly browse without overwhelming yourself with news. As always, if any of these apps are sending out too much spam in their notifications, disable them – or at least prevent them from hitting the lock screen. Choose when and how you want to receive the latest election news.
On Android, you get a similar count in real time by searching for “Election Results” in the Google app. And if you want a widget that outputs results, say FiveThirtyEight , it’s easy enough to install .
There are many other apps you can rely on to update your election information, but it’s hard to tell which ones will be overwhelmed with their notifications. It’s going to be a crazy night, so I’ll stick with my previous methods if you want to try and take control of your notifications.
Of course, you can just stick to your web browser and a quieter, noise-free experience like 270towin live scorecard. If you’re lucky, tonight’s a one-night stand; In all likelihood, the 2020 elections will drag on for several days or weeks, so maybe you really don’t need to park in front of the computer this time.
Maybe Don’t Take This Generation’s Biggest Choice So Seriously
I don’t want to sound slick. The stakes are huge today. But if you’ve already voted (or plan to do so today), that’s all you can do – unless you want to participate in the phone banks at the last minute or drive people to the polls . For most of us, this is no longer in our hands. Why torment yourself at night over what, in all likelihood, will not dare tonight?
Do something else instead. Get Twitter, Facebook and Instagram out of your head, if not out of your phone. Step away from the light on election night, and try to enjoy the splendor of the 50 states that, in all probability, is about to experience a wild few months. At least that’s what I plan to do in this live stream from Calm meditation app and news organization NowThis:
I’m also going to spend some time playing games – specifically World of Warcraft , although I will have to log out of every in-game chat to avoid being taken over by the crazy political trolls.
If I feel like getting news about the election, I can chat on the Reddit thread where I will enjoy the news with a healthy dose of snare and GIFs. I can subscribe to notifications from one person on Twitter , not any news app, so that they can dictate news updates for my terrible (or amazing) evening. Maybe I ‘ll watch a movie . The possibilities are endless, but none of them involve “watching CNN for hours.” I did it back in 2016 and now I know better . Long hours of worrying and diving into scripts are detrimental to your mental well-being. Mix your politics with something fun.