> There is almost no email I get that needs instant action.

Different people get different e-mails.

Also, some people just don't check e-mail otherwise. Why would they? Notifications tell them the 5 times a day they get a new e-mail, so they don't need to manually check their e-mail 2-3 times a day. It actually makes a lot of sense. Notifications mean you never have to check your e-mail.

I’m a little confused by these comments about not checking stuff unless you get a notification.

Do you get notified of every article on HN that you read? Or what about YouTube or other content that you consume?

I’ve had email notifications turned off for years, and have no problem checking my email once or twice a day, just to see if there’s anything worth reading. (Spoiler alert: there almost never is.)

Just like HN, and a couple forums that I visit. I’ll check occasionally to see what’s going on.

For all of these things, it’s never anything urgent or time sensitive. Even if I went a couple days without checking, it’d be fine.

If somebody needs to reach me for anything time sensitive (outside of work), there’s SMS (with notifications) or phone (of course, notifications).

I think much of the issue with these comments — and this whole thread, in general — boils down to:

1. People use things outside of SMS and phone for time sensitive things (solution: move time sensitive things to SMS/phone)

2. People overestimate the criticality/time sensitivity of these things sending notifications

I’d rather check my email (or other X app) once or twice a day, if that, and catch up on low priority things, rather than get interrupted 5-10 times a day for these low priority things.