Smile through every ping

Don't let alerts and notifications jump-scare you. Tune out, set boundaries and take reply breaks so you're not in reply mode all the time

- Tanisha Saxena

It started with the BlackBerry. Those pre-smartphone devices put, for the first time, every incoming notification on a single device. Early fans (you know who you are) would reach for the phone first thing in the morning, and start replying to texts and emails. Read receipts became tiny moral tests. Speed became a form of virtue.

Now, we're snowed under. Friends expect instant reactions to Reels. Colleagues interpret a five-minute pause on Slack as a crisis. Family groups treat silence as a personal slight. Can we even RSVP no to reply culture? Some of us are trying.

Reset your clock. Bengaluru-based mindful leadership coach Mansi Talwar encourages people to reclaim control by establishing a “response rhythm”. Think of it as building reply windows instead of being available to everyone all the time.