Are you ever annoyed with how many notifications your phone receives, and alerts you to, while you’re trying to focus on something? Or when you’re trying to stay present with friends/family?

It’s a well-known fact that you can turn off those notifications. Why don’t we? Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus dives in between chapters eight through ten, but what does stress have to do with it?

There are many things that can cause stress: having less savings for crisis, structural changes to the economy, the amount of work you’re given at your job or school. It’s also the increase in use of tech!

Tech companies make more money based on how much screen time you’re spending on their app with targeted advertisements. Those targeted ads are made so that they catch your attention, keep you distracted, and ultimately spend more time on the app. The kinds of ads are usually outrageous, trying to get a response out of you. The more they can activate your “internal triggers,” the more they can target at you. Outrageous material that incites anger is how the algorithm works, that material receives the “best” response. Programmers aren’t looking for what you’re engaging in, but how you’re engaging in it.

It can be stressful to find discouraging or angering content, or the non-stop interruption in your day with notifications. The app developers and programmers designed them to specifically function like this. The more time you spend on your apps, the more money they make. That is their goal, and it’s unfortunately not their goal to look out for our well-being.