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Francesca Rudkin: We have control of our notifications · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There's been a clever marketing campaign from two degrees. This week,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the talco has released the results of a study it
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  Speaker 1: commissioned into the impact mobile phones are having on our
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: mental health, and it's not good. While most talcos like
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to concentrate on keeping us connected, two degrees has taken
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: a slightly different approach with this one, acknowledging the elephant
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  Speaker 1: in the room by talking honestly and openly about the
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  Speaker 1: damaged phones can do. It's almost like they care, which
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  Speaker 1: is quite refreshing. I probably sound a little bit skeptical,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm less fussed about a smart approach to promote
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  Speaker 1: a brand than the more important point that is absolutely
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  Speaker 1: that it's absolutely crazy that we're letting our phones negatively
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  Speaker 1: impact our lives. It simply doesn't need to be this way.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things the survey looked at was the
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  Speaker 1: role of that notifications play in adults daily lives, and
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  Speaker 1: what they discovered was fifty percent of KIW has received
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  Speaker 1: too many notifications, thirty seven percent fel overwhelmed, panicked, or anxious,
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  Speaker 1: thirty percent struggle to concentrate due to the notifications. Forty
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  Speaker 1: six of gen Z respondents say they receive farty notifications.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Forty percent find it difficult to concentrate, and the biggest
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  Speaker 1: culprit's a social media It's sixty five percent an email,
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  Speaker 1: It's sixty percent told you it wasn't great news. But
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  Speaker 1: as concerning as these figures are, the crazy thing about
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  Speaker 1: it is that this is on us. We can control
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  Speaker 1: our notifications. We can turn them off or silence them.
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  Speaker 1: We can take control of apps by doing things like
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  Speaker 1: deleting and restoring them throughout the week so they're not
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  Speaker 1: constantly available. And if you don't know how to do it,
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  Speaker 1: you do what I do when you find a younger
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  Speaker 1: person who's smarter than you to do it for you.
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  Speaker 1: We can come to terms with never having an empty
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  Speaker 1: inbox and not feel the pressure to try. We can
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  Speaker 1: make rules about scrolling through emails after work. We can
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  Speaker 1: just put the phone down. It's interesting to understand how
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  Speaker 1: the brain works in response to notifications. According to Catherine Burkitt,
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  Speaker 1: who is a neuroscience and digital wellbeing expert who's working
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  Speaker 1: along two Degrees on this project, notifications from phones trigger
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  Speaker 1: the dopamine, making it highly addictive. She says, our obsession
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  Speaker 1: with our phones are physically altering our brain, damaging our relationships,
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  Speaker 1: draining our energy, and reducing our overall well being. I
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  Speaker 1: get it, it's hard to make a change, but I'm
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  Speaker 1: absolutely certain that in ten to twenty years we will
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  Speaker 1: look back and wonder what the hell we were thinking
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  Speaker 1: with the endless content apps, notification likes, and swipes. We
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  Speaker 1: can't keep blaming the tech companies. We know what they're
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  Speaker 1: in it for. We can keep blaming the tech. A
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  Speaker 1: lot of tech is really cool and helpful. At some
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  Speaker 1: point we have to step up and take responsibility for
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  Speaker 1: how we use it. So thanks two degrees for the reminder.
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  Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: to News Talk Set B from five am weekdays, or
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.