How Fixing Notifications Changed My Relationship With My Phone

Until recently, I was stuck in phone-notification hell. 

Unread texts and emails piled up. Apps pinged me so frequently that I began to feel phantom vibrations in my pocket. I’d turn on Do Not Disturb, only to be met with a long list of alerts once I was ready to be disturbed. I wanted to throw my phone into the sea and go off the grid.