Notifications are an issue.  We are overloaded with them.  A long time ago computers were invented to do things for us.  But now one of their primary purposes seems to be to sell us stuff or to get us to visit web pages or apps for longer (and of course that just leads to more advertising or selling).

My phone now  bombards me with so many notifications I have reached saturation point.  I just don’t care any more and I’m suppressing all notifications for an apps at OS level without a second thought.

It seems the latest onslaught seems to be the “no permanent opt out” UX anti-pattern which is starting to appear on websites, now that browsers are implementing notification APIs.

Just check this:

I can’t say “No”.  Just “Later”.  The website doesn’t trust me to answer the way it wants, so it will enforce the question on me, at regular intervals, for perpetuity.  I can hear the excuses from those responsible, “but the user might change their mind, how will they find the setting?”

Well, I’ve yet to change my mind.

Here’s another example of this nefarious anti pattern in action:

I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve now had to answer this question from Twitter.

It has become beyond irritating.