Every time when I watched a course video on CGCookie, I subconsciously and periodically look at the notification bell on the top-right of my screen, and anticipate some “surprising notification” or “rewarding gift”, which is nothing but a release of dopamine in my brain, so that checking notification become an addictive and high dopamine activity, which is similar to some people who get addicted in checking their email boxes or Facebook accounts after every 15 minutes.
This is also similar to Pavlovian conditioning.
Yes, turning the notification off is an effective strategy to fight against this obsession. I find that another way which works to me is to simply decrease my interaction between CGCookie and me – so the only interaction I have with CGCookie is to just watch course videos quietly. This makes my mind calm and peaceful.
