A phone notification audit you can finish over lunch
Notifications compete because they all use the same doorway into your attention. A short audit lets you decide which interruptions are useful and which can wait until you open the app yourself.
Begin with the last few alerts
Look at recent notifications and identify the ones you repeatedly dismiss without acting. Open the device or app settings to adjust those categories. Keep messages you genuinely need for work, care responsibilities or account security.
Change one group at a time
Turn off promotional alerts or quiet a busy group rather than silencing everything immediately. Check whether an app offers separate controls for direct messages and general activity. Settings vary, so read the labels before saving a change.
Check the consequences
After a few days, ask whether you missed anything important or simply saw fewer distractions. Restore a category if needed and try a different boundary. If you use scheduled quiet hours, make sure essential contacts can reach you in the way you intend. The outcome should reflect your life, not a universal rule that phones must always be silent. An interruption is worth keeping when it helps you do something you have chosen to prioritise.
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