Interruptions are deadly. Well, maybe that’s a little bit of exaggeration. But even three second interruptions can cause problems. I’ve decided to take back the notifications on my phone.
First stop was the phone ringer. Apple doesn’t have a silent ringtone on the iPhone, so I had to search. In my searching I came across the article iPhone tip: Use a Silent Ringtone to Screen Calls in Your Sleep. It not only contained the silent ringtone but also directions on using it. My default ringtone is silence, and a different ringtone is set for those people for which my phone should always right.
Next up was text alerts. The iPhone has a silent text alert, so that part was easier than the ringtone. Then I also went in and added a tone for just a few people.
Finally, I went into Settings -> Notifications and turned off the sound notifications for most of my applications.
Now I have a nice, mostly silent phone which doesn’t interrupt me.