Do you ever put your phone on mute or “Do Not Disturb” to avoid distractions? A new study found it might actually do the opposite.
Researchers tracked 138 iPhone users for four days. Half left their alert sounds on . . . 42% set their phones to vibrate . . . and 9% were totally muted with no vibrations either. And that last group actually checked their phones the MOST. They also spent the most time scrolling through social media, and experienced more stress. So silencing your phone might actually be more stressful than hearing it ding all day. The researchers chalked it up to FOMO, or the “fear of missing out.”
They say the best strategy for people with really bad FOMO is to leave your volume up, but pick and choose which apps you want to get notifications from.