Note by @fastfinge

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

There has to be a better system than windows and tabs for doing work on a computer. I don't know what it is, but there has to be something. I always end up with fifteen windows with 30 tabs each over two or three virtual desktops, and then can't find anything. Maybe the bad idea wasn't AI; maybe the bad idea was multi-tasking operating systems. Wouldn't life be better if all of our computers were single-user and single-threaded? No more losing windows and tabs! No more background notifications interrupting us every seven seconds! Just sit down, start a task, finish the task, then do something else. The human brain can only effectively do one task at a time. So we should force our computers to work the same way.

Pratik Patel @ppatel@mstdn.social

@fastfinge Isn't that what the mobile experience is like pretty much all the time? yes. I know the edge cases and tabs and such. But, for the most part, we end up working on a single screen.

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

@ppatel Accept that the notification spam is endless. And often your phone decides to do god knows what in the background, and now your battery is unexpectedly dead.

Pratik Patel @ppatel@mstdn.social

@fastfinge Putting the phone in do not disturb mode usually solves the notification problem.

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

@ppatel Accept that it doesn't, because the rest of society expects you to answer every message you receive within five minutes. The problem with instant notifications is that they exist and are expected. So everyone has to have them on. Opting out isn't a choice your boss, co-workers, or family will permit.

Pratik Patel @ppatel@mstdn.social

@fastfinge Meh. I don't usually respond to messages when I have do not disturb on. Unless I am doing something related to the message/s coming in, they can wait.

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

@ppatel Must be nice. Whereas I got an email from someone I have to deal with angry that he'd sent me a message at 2:37 AM, and it had been an hour with no answer from me. Yes, we were in the same timezone. And no, this is not a one-off; there are multiple people who do this sort of thing multiple times in my life. And based on the people I know, everyone else has people like this, too.

Pratik Patel @ppatel@mstdn.social

@fastfinge Oh I have people in my life like that. I won't deny it. But I've trained them to not expect replies from me immediately. 24-48 hours is what they get.

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

@ppatel That works if you don't depend on them for income/livelyhood, I guess.

Pratik Patel @ppatel@mstdn.social

@fastfinge In some cases, I've relied on them for income in the past.

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

@ppatel I doubt you could re-train them today, then. I'm increasingly convinced that the thing that'll destroy civilization isn't climate change, or AI. It's the expectation that everyone is always available at all times, and that we can all multi-task everything all at once. Notifications and multi-tasking are the sickness that's going to kill us all.

Terry @gtbray@allovertheplace.ca

@fastfinge @ppatel oh i so totally agree with this

Pratik Patel @ppatel@mstdn.social

@gtbray I completely agree. I'm in a position to not have to deal with people who need answers right away. Other than a few simple notifications, mine go to scheduled summaries. This way, I'm not tempted to respond to things. @fastfinge

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

@ppatel @gtbray And yet, here you are. Responding to my messages almost instantly. Even though they're not in any way urgent, or even important. I mean, I'm doing the exact same thing! Because that's how social media works now. But I'm not convinced it's a good thing. This conversation would probably be more productive, less distracting, and easier on all of us as a series of emails over several days. But that's not how the world works now. And that's not how any of the tools are designed to function. So we just don't interact that way. Even if it would be better for everyone involved.

Pratik Patel @ppatel@mstdn.social

@fastfinge Ah, But I'm responding almost immediately because I happen to be free right now, not working on anything that requires focus. That won't be the case in about 15 minutes. @gtbray

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

@ppatel @gtbray Sure, but is that the case for everyone else in the chain? Maybe, maybe not. The notification system doesn't care either way. And I bet we're all less thoughtful than we would be if we were conversing by email, or some other less real time medium. Because even Mastodon, the least exploitative of all possible social media, is not designed to promote thinking about replies. Speed first. When I send an email, I spend 15-30 minutes proofreading. When I post on social media, I'm lucky if I read it over more than once. Velocity is the only thing rewarded. Again, because of real time notifications and multi-tasking. And that leads to a lot of completely avoidable drama, conflict, and nonsense.

Daisy 🪺🔪📚 @greengaybles@sunny.garden

@fastfinge @ppatel @gtbray This is an interesting conversation. I'm fortunate to not have to worry about any of this as it pertains to employment, but I have had multiple friendships disintegrate due to my inability to maintain the expected pace of modern communication.

People want responses immediately because the option to receive them that way exists now, I think that's an inarguable fact. And they get upset/irritable/offended if you don't comply. I've been told that I'm not good at being a friend to anyone who isn't with me in person, that someone deserves better friendships in their life where better friendships meant quicker responses, etc.

But I'm not sure it's true that we have to act accordingly. I'll grant you that it might be when money is on the line, but in communication with friends and family, we teach people how to treat us and what to expect from us. I have most notifications turned off on my phone at this point and I check apps when I want to check them, and I turn on do not disturb at night, and I take time with my replies. Part of this is being a writer and caring about words, so even if it's a reply on a post, like this, I'm putting thought into it and proofreading it. Part of it is chronic illness and limited energy. That tends to mean that my conversations happen slowly, over days or weeks, and I feel guilt about that because I know it's not what most people want or expect. But it's what I can give.

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

@greengaybles @ppatel @gtbray The other thing that happens, and I've watched it happening to others with struggles that sound similar to yours, is that folks who must converse slower just get left out. By the time you've read something, and are able to reply, 763 other replies have already been posted, the conversation has moved on, and you're now totally excluded through no fault of your own.

clew @clew@ecoevo.social

Now I’m looking for an interface option to turn off the response notifications in mastodon! No beeps don’t change the page icon nothing. Just show me the new stuff when it occurs to me to ask.

ETA: I don’t think there is one, reply notifications are assumed to be of top level interest.

If there was such a dampener, would it help if other people could see I was using it? So they didn’t feel I was ignoring them?

@fastfinge @ppatel @gtbray

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦 @fastfinge@interfree.ca

@clew @ppatel @gtbray Maybe? But thinking through the privacy implications would need doing. Maybe opt in? Like how could someone use that info against you? Publish unauthorized nudes of you maybe because they know you will react slower? I’m not sure.

Pratik Patel @ppatel@mstdn.social

@clew I'm pretty sure that option doesn't exist on the web at least. you can set notifications as you like on various apps. @fastfinge @gtbray