Notification Overload
Bruno Fonzi
CTO at TeamSystem in Milan and CODAME co-founder, ART+TECH non-profit in San Francisco.
Not only on your Smartphones…
I came across this wired post by Mat Honan and got inspired to write this post.
Why Notifications Are About to Rule the Smartphone Interface https://t.co/yUqQYXwitF via @Wired_Design an opportunity for the Smartwatch?
— @BrunoFonzi June 7, 2014
The recent notifications changes in iOS8, to interact with a notification message without leaving the current running app, is great progress.
On the other hand, we are going to be experiencing a notification overload and it’s not going to decrease.
For me, I usually turn off notifications for all apps, especially on the desktop. I then will turn notifications back on for the apps I care about the most. The notifications will stay on until I get the “messaging overload syndrome” and turn off all notifications yet once again. It’s not a very fun cycle ;)
“Smartwatches” and other IoT devices will play a great role in the notification space. IoT will help in capturing data, but at the same time will also increase notifications!
If designers and developers can do their job right, notifications will be context driven. They will help us not look at the same screen again (just a different one) and potentially better manage the overload.
Another complexity is that we might end up with similar notifications on different devices. You might see the same notification appear on your watch, car and phone.
Maybe even the refrigerator at home! Since some of the messages might be duplicated, there is even more risk of a potential notification overload. This also may require management settings on our side.
I see contextual smarter notifications that are based on data, locations and sensors as the ideal future. The smart cloud should also help us to manage all of our interconnected devices. This will avoid the duplication problem, reducing, or at least delivering only the messages we care about at the right time and context.
As a gelato, coffee and chocolate freak, I would not mind being notified if passing by the best gelato in town. Or if I am running out of chocolate at home while I am shopping at the supermarket. If my phone sensors notice I am nervous about an upcoming important event in my calendar, my device could suggest a coffee place near by. I might take that message! Coffee relaxes me and my phone knows it!
In the meantime, we will all just have to deal with the notification overload.
Originally published on Medium