The Link Between Constant Notifications and Increased Stress
We all know the feeling, the anticipatory stress of something always taking away our attention. Our phones, computers, tablets, smart watches etc. That email from work, a text message you want to respond back to thoughtfully, maintaining your snap streak, or staying in the know is important to us. That's why notifications are around to remind us that there is something we need to do, watch, or move forward on.
But at what point does it become too much?
Are You Chronically Online Without Realizing It?
Nowadays, you visit a website and immediately you’re greeted with a box asking you to turn on notifications so that you never miss an update. To some being ‘chronically online’ comes with a badge of honor. However with our 24 hour news cycles and a curated online culture it can be difficult to know what is real and what is just content or fodder to feed algorithms.
While notifications can be helpful tools to remind you of a task or to check in on something, the line between helpful and too much can be blurred. According to the study “Meta-stress in the digital age: how social media and constant connectivity create new layer of stress” (Hasan, 2025), it is mentioned that “ In a digital context, constant alerts, comparisons, and information feeds trigger initial stress reactions, and then meta-stress kicks in as users stress over being so stressed.”
How Constant Notifications Put Your Brain in Fight or Flight Mode
Whether it be your watch notifying you to stand the end of each hour, your desktop sharing a “Breaking News” story, or your weather app informing you there is reported lightening in the area, it can overwhelm our mind by believing there is a threat or future stress that we need to attend to right now. Multiply that by the near constant barrage of notifications anyone of us receive on any given day, it can be hard to know what is actually important and leave us in a state of fight or flight.
Furthermore, “This persistent engagement with stressors – without adequate break – can lead to chronic stress responses similar to those seen in high-pressure jobs. Over time, the inability to disconnect fosters cognitive fatigue and leaves users more reactive to new stress.” (Hasan, 2025).
How to Stay Informed Without Overwhelming Your Nervous System
So what can be done if you want to stay informed in a hyper connected world without constantly overwhelming yourself? First, it might be worth trying to note the function behind your specific notifications in the first place. Such as, if you have notifications on for when friends tag you in a social media post or send you a DM, is that serving a positive purpose?
Especially if you are not an online content creator, your attention may be consistently split between work you actually need to get done and catching up on not as important conversations that may not necessarily need your attention at this very moment. Consolidating your notifications to your messages app for people that do need to get in touch with you can help reduce the need to multitask.
If you would like to be more intentional with your time, you can easily customize the types of notifications you receive as well. While these solutions are band-aids for longer standing issues of regulation and policies needing to be enacted for companies vying for our engagement, we are not powerless.
There are current organizations providing resources, lobbying, and sharing knowledge on how we can take back control of our attention. In the time we find ourselves looking to reach for our phone, replacing that with asking yourself “How would I like to spend my time in this moment?” can help break you out of the cycle of reaching for technology just because its convenient.
How We Can Help
If you have noticed that stress feels harder to shake, your focus is scattered, and you rarely feel truly present, the constant noise of notifications may be playing a bigger role than you realize. Therapy can help you understand what is driving the overwhelm and build real strategies for managing it. We work with people navigating anxiety, burnout, and chronic stress in a world that rarely slows down. Schedule a free 20-minute phone consultation today to take the first step toward feeling more grounded.
Author Biography
Marie Clyne is a licensed social worker and provider at Catalyss Counseling. Her focus centers on adults struggling with depression, anxiety, and ADHD. Marie's passion lies in getting to know you, who you want to be, and working together to help translate those goals into reality. Follow Catalyss Counseling on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
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Here at Catalyss Counseling, we want to meet all of your counseling needs in the Denver area. Our supportive therapists provide depression counseling, therapy for caregiver stress, grief and loss therapy, stress management counseling, adhd and more. We also have specialists in trauma and PTSD, women's issues, pregnancy and postpartum depression or anxiety, pregnancy loss and miscarriage, and birth trauma. For therapists, we can also provide clinical supervision! We look forward to connecting with you to help support your journey today.
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