Notifications were designed to help.
A way to stay informed. A way to not miss what matters.
But somewhere along the way, they became a burden.
Every app wants attention. Every service has something urgent to say. And users are drowning in pings they didn't ask for.
The response is already visible.
People are turning notifications off entirely. Not selectively — wholesale.
And apps that interrupt too often are being uninstalled, not muted.
This changes the calculus for product teams.
A notification is no longer a free touch point. It's a risk.
Every ping is a chance to remind the user they can leave.
The apps earning trust now are the ones that respect silence. That only speak when something genuinely matters. That treat attention as a finite resource, not a target to maximize.
Restraint is becoming a feature.
That's the shift worth noticing.