Episode 31 Notify It Up
This episode of Level Up titled Notify It Up (Episode 31), hosted by Ziyaad, Nabihah, and Isa Plaatjes on Sunday 12 April 2026, covers a mix of global news and a deep dive into the psychology of digital habits.
Weekly News Highlights (0:07 - 8:43):
- Al-Aqsa Mosque: Celebrated the first Jumu'ah prayer at Masjid al-Aqsa in 40 days (1:38).
- Flotilla: Updates on the departure of the latest flotilla, with calls for public dua (2:13).
- Iran Conflict: Discussed a two-week ceasefire in the Iran conflict brokered by Pakistan and China (3:09).
- Space Exploration: Brief mention of the Optimus 2 launch (3:55).
- South Africa Updates: President Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to the Kusile Power Station to discuss energy stability (5:45), and a 15 million rand upgrade for Newlands and Boland Park cricket grounds ahead of the 2026 World Cup (6:33).
- Sports: Referees Abongile Tom and Zakhele Siwela selected for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and a recap of the Women's Cricket team's ODI series (7:15).
Main Topic: Phone Notifications and Mental Wellness (8:46 - 46:52):
The hosts debate the psychology of keeping phones on silent vs. the need to be constantly reachable. Key takeaways include:
- The Case for Silence: The hosts argue that keeping phones on silent—or completely muted—is a way to set healthy boundaries and protect cognitive resources (18:51).
- Cognitive Toll: They reference research suggesting that smartphone notifications disrupt concentration for approximately 7 seconds, with a significant recovery time to regain focus (20:50).
- Boundaries as Bridges: Rather than viewing boundaries as walls, the hosts describe them as "bridges" to more genuine, intentional, and less shallow interactions (30:26).
- The Importance of Presence: They discuss how being "always-on" can harm mental health and suggest that choosing when to be available allows for more thoughtful communication and better presence in real-life relationships (35:57).
Listen to Level Up with Ziyaad, Nabihah, and Isa Plaatjes on Radio Islam International MW 1548
Episode 31: Notify It Up
Sunday 12th April 2026 / 23rd Shawwal 1447AH 14h00 - 15h00 (CAT)
Watch Level Up with Ziyaad, Nabihah, and Isa Plaatjes on Radio Islam International MW 1548
Episode 31: Notify It Up
Sunday 12th April 2026 / 23rd Shawwal 1447AH 14h00 - 15h00 (CAT)
Transcript
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To dear listeners, it's just past 200 p.m. right here in South Africa and it's our favorite day of the week, Yom Aad.
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It's the 23rd day of Shawal 1447 ah alhamdulillah and it corresponds to Sunday the 12th of April 2026.
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I'm Zad Plachies and with me are my co-hosts Nabia and Issa Plachis. Welcome to Level Up where we listen, learn, and
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grow inshallah with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's guidance and we break down the week's news and talk about what really
42 seconds
matters to young Muslims today. Our WhatsApp line is open. The number is 0727861548.
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You can call in on 0185472 or DM us on I love.com. That's I L O V E
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Z A C O M on Instagram, Facebook X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tik Tok threads as well as upscrolled.
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Today we have a rather interesting topic in the program. After the half hour, we will be discussing the psychology behind those of us who keep our phones on
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silent versus those of us who can't miss a notification. But first, let's look at the week's news.
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I think um one of the big things alhamdulillah this week was besides the cease twoe ceasefire which we'll talk
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about with the Iran conflict um was the fact that we had the first jum salah at mashid al axa after 40 days.
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Alhamdulillah. Subhan Allah. Um it was quite a momentous occasion.
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There were lots of Malalis that came out alhamdulillah um for this Juma and
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Mashid ala and I think um everybody's been making dua and so the dua was duas
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were answered alhamdulillah alhamdulillah yes it was alhamdulillah and then with that um there's news of the flotillaa that is leaving today
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today yes today um they said you can uh make sure that inshallah everything will
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go smoothly. You can make sure to do so by making dua.
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Alhamdulillah. Yes. So you can make dua for them to have a safe journey inshallah. Amen.
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Inshallah. Amen. And remember that we also have on sound our sound cloud on radio Islam international. Um we spoke
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to some of uh the crew members that were on the flotilla the last flotilla. Um inshallah we'll be able to get in touch
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with those who are traveling but just remember all of them in your duas inshallah that they have a safe journey and that they they reach there
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successfully inshallah I mean without any of the the things that happened the last time as well inshallah
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in a mean um so talking about the situation at the moment in Iran um so we
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said there's a twoe ceasefire which took uh place this week the 7th 8th of April.
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Um it was over a month of direct conflict. Pakistan brokered the
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agreement um from China and uh obviously both uh sides said that they were
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victorious in whatever they wanted to achieve over the time. Um in terms of the state of Hormos standoff,
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there has been talks of them reopening the state and also um you know making
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sure that everybody goes through safely inshallah. Amen.
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Then uh moving away from earth there was moving away from earth.
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Yeah. There was the Optimus 2 which actually um arrived was it yesterday or the day before came back with the launch
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on the 1st of April but um there's obviously lots of talk about it not being uh true not actually not going to
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space um only Allah knows um whether they actually went up but uh they're saying there's a lot of stuff that's
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been um fabricated uh but then if you you go online then
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they're saying that the stuff that the studios that they were apparently using that's apparently been fabricated. But
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like I said, it's it's a whole uh thing that I don't think we should really get into at the moment.
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Okay. But you can have fun with what's being shown online because it looks quite funny all the pictures that
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they've um shared. But even the videos because there's obviously talk that uh they use
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a green screen and but yeah like I said and someone said why did you not capture the stars in space? Yeah, there's a lot
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of things that we can, you know, we can actually go and nitpick and and say, you know, like were they really there? Was
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it really fabricated? Um, but I think we're not going to learn anything from it. And we're all about listening,
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learning, and growing. Inshallah, Allah knows best. uh if they did go and what their reasons were and inshallah if
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they did go we can learn from the experiences whatever they they they bring back inshallah
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that's true inshallah I mean yes Africa it's been a busy week we had the presidential visit to Kusel the Kusle power station in Pumalanga on
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Friday the 10th of April um sir Ramapora visited and was accompanied by the minister of electricity and energy the
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visit has focused on a briefing regarding the station's generation capacity and progress in stabilizing the national grid. Inshallah.
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Inshallah. So that means that maybe there's talks of um lowering the power electricity rate again.
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Uh that's what we hope. But it's just gone up now on the 1st of April. Um but yeah, I don't know if they're going
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to, but hopefully it stabilizes the grid in in the sense that when it comes to winter now, we don't experience load shedding or anything.
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Oh, in let's hope. Yeah, let's hope not.
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Then also on the 7th of April, the Western Cape government announced a 15 million rand investment to upgrade the Newand's cricket grounds in Cape Town
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and Bolan Park in Pal. So this infrastructure work is part of the formal preparations for South Africa hosting the ICC men's cricket world cup next year inshallah.
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Okay.
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So in terms of the economy, the South African rand has had a volatile but ultimately strong week. It surged earlier in the week following the
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announcement of the Iran ceasefire and is set to end the week roughly 3% stronger against the dollar. Um so
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inshallah we hope that that happens as well. Inshallah.
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In terms of sport, the South African referee Abong Tom made him headlines this week after being officially included in the final list of match officials for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
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He will be joined by experienced assistant referee Zakil Suela. And the South African women's cricket team
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concluded their ODI series in New Zealand on the 4th of April. While they suffered a 66 run defeat in the final match, they are now preparing to return
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home for a T20 series against India starting next week at Kingsme. If you would like to join the conversation, our
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WhatsApp line is 0727861548 or you can call in on 018547022
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or you can even DM us on.com on social media. That's I l
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a c. Let's go for a break and when we get back we will be discussing whether
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keeping your phone on silent silent or not missing a notification is best for your mental wellness inshallah.
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Tutoring, mentoring, homeschool assistance, concessions, facilitation and more.
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Visit after fajak grant academy the dawn of excellence.
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and welcome back to Level Up. If you've just tuned in, we have been catching up on the latest news locally and internationally.
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If you've missed it, be sure to check the Radio Islam International Song. But
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right now, we are going to be split up into teams as we go head-to-head on
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team. I keep my phone silent and team I can't miss any notifications.
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If you would like to join the conversation, our WhatsApp line is open.
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The number is 0727861548 or you can call in on 0118547022
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or you can even DM us on.com. That's I l a m.
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So I see you want to make it interesting. you want to have a different team. Team silent and team I can't miss a notification. And this is a
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bit weird because um I think both of us are team silent and uh Issa doesn't have
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a phone or um uses it much.
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Yeah. So I think there's there's a like they said there's a whole psychology behind it and that's why um we can get
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the listeners can can also join in um the conversation as well.
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Uh but so the I think a lot of people are also in the mid-range right um so
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keeping your phone on silent means that you don't so I do this like constantly I my phone is on silent it means it
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doesn't vibrate the phone doesn't ring yours is actually completely on mute silent sometimes means it does vibrate
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but yours is completely muted so there's no vibration at all. There's no notification at all. Is there anyone
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else out there like Zad? Like I would have it on silent as in I have it vibrated a bit and I do have certain
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things on notification. Not all the apps but certain apps notifications and especially WhatsApp all groups are
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muted. So, but I do get certain notifications coming. But is there anyone else out there just like Zad? I'd like I really like to know is there
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anyone else out there like Zad who has it completely muted like it's not even on vibrate. I don't even know
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how how he would answer a phone call because it just it doesn't make any sound at all. It doesn't make any
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vibration at all. And then he doesn't have any notifications at all. Nothing.
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Okay. He's not he's not even on WhatsApp, right? But um for none of the apps, there's absolutely you know
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certain things. Oh, I have to speak about the Instagram app notification where you know sometimes you think
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you're getting an important message and then it's just someone entering a competition. I would get a messages for that.
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Well, you see that's that's the whole point and this is what we're talking about the psychology of it and your mental health and wellbeing. I used to
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have uh notifications for everything for every app. I had WhatsApp and that was a
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business line and I used to get notifications and messages at every hour all odd hours in fact but all the time.
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So, because we're running business accounts on social media and we're on Instagram, Facebook X, LinkedIn,
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YouTube, Tik Tok, threads, upscroll, there's notifications coming all the time because there's people liking,
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there's sharing, there's comments, there's all that. And that all used to come through on my phone.
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Yes. So, I have to also explain that none of those business um account stuff would be coming through on mine. It would just be my personal notification.
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So I suppose yes in a way maybe you were getting annoyed because you your number was the business number and
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No, but it's not annoying. It's more the fact and this is like I'm saying is that um
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at at what cost do you or you know like where do you draw the line
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essentially because yes you're running a business but at the same time um people are trying to contact you all the time.
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That's true. So even after hours um night extremely late at night.
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Yeah. And it's and it's usually something that can wait the next day, you know, like it's not really I'm trying to order something or want to,
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you know, like buy something. It's more like when is your giveaway ending because I want to know if I'm a winner type of thing.
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So I don't have to uh buy tickets that I am already going to buy tickets for.
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Okay. But can I tell you the psychology behind what I've Okay. So um so listeners you can tell us whether you
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are team um I keep my phone I keep my phone silent or I the team I can't miss any notifications or if you
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are in between and I honestly would love to know if there's anyone else out there who has it completely muted. No, but
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wait before you go on, I think, you know, like um not missing a notification like some
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people would actually go into each notification. So everything that comes up, they don't only just read it like um
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if you get a WhatsApp now, right? You see the message come through and you reply immediately. you get a
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notification from Instagram to say someone's commented or tagged you in a picture, you go into it immediately and you respond to it. That's what we're
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talking about. Don't miss a notification. So, we're going from the one end of the spectrum to the other end of the spectrum. Okay.
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Um, so you could be, let's say me, where you have your phone like you say muted,
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you get no notifications from any apps, right? So you don't even know when you do receive a message or anything unless
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you go into that and you know then you only then you would reply or do you have your
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notifications on and you have your phone with you so you just immediately go into the notification and you immediately reply. Are you that type of person?
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Yeah.
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Um, one thing I want to say is the phones that I use around the house, the
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only like thing that has like a notification on is like the messaging
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app like WhatsApp or like a SMS or you know the phone call like that. But the other apps don't have notifications. But
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the whole phone is silent. The volume's down, everything. So basically you're saying that messaging apps should be
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maybe um put on a notification because that's something more um that requires a
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instant reply. Other things like apps like Instagram, Facebook that doesn't really need a reply and you don't really
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need to check those notifications like so like like I even said like the SMSs and the phone calls and those things.
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Phone calls and messages are more important. We are old school here. Uh, you see, the thing is, we grew up in the
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'9s, and I mean, we had landlines, and I don't know if any of our listeners still do have landslines. There are a few people that still have landlines that that we know of.
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Interesting.
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Um, but if someone tried to phone you and you weren't at home, they didn't get hold of you.
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That's it. Unless they had a voice recorder machine.
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Yeah. But if you were asleep, well, that that obviously, you know, came later with technology and then there was
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caller ID. So, if you missed all those things, but I'm I'm talking about a phone that didn't have a screen, that
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was just uh buttons, you know, a proper landline that people used to phone you
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on and if you didn't if you didn't answer the phone, like say you were busy making salah or something and then the phone rings and you didn't answer the phone, you don't know who phoned.
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Mhm. You've missed it.
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That's true. and your life carried on and you weren't like I wonder who phoned and you know you don't go look at the phone and say oh you know I need to
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phone this person back and that's the thing is is about dedicating time to you
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know like responding to messages not everything is important and not everything needs to be done that is very very very important that
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you said say that again so that we can I can expand on that is dedicating time to responding to
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messages or uh answering calls or whatever it is.
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Exactly. Now, a lot of people don't seem to realize this. They they just say don't waste uh time. Don't waste money.
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And and they think that, you know, money is precious. But people don't realize that your time is also precious. Time is
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precious. Time is also a resource and time is also, you know, we always ask for baraka in our time. So time is something that also needs to be
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respected. My time needs to be respected. You need to I need to respect your time. Something like that.
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But but also I think the the the thing is that uh everything in moderation definitely
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and if you are making sure Islamically we know everything in should be done in
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moderation. So, we shouldn't um ascribe more time to us being on our phone than we should.
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Okay? But I'm going to to tell you psychologically um psychology explains people who always
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keep their phone on silent are not hard to reach, they're hard to interrupt. Yes.
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Okay.
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I agree with that. So the difference between those two things is the difference between between a person who decides when to be available and one who
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is simply who simply is available always at whatever cost. Yeah.
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Now now I feel like the second one is definitely going to impact your mental health. But anyway, let me continue.
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No, but I think also it's a type of person there are people that wouldn't mind being available at all costs,
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right? But I don't think I mean people that obviously are working for like a
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burial service they have to be available at all costs because if there's a janaza they need to be there to pick up the the
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the may you know do the hustle and everything you you know there are those people I mean if you're a paramedic and
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but not everybody is in those professions professions
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So, you know, like if you work I I don't even know I'm not going to say
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anything about different professions, but what I'm trying to say is that there's certain things where you have to be available. Mhm.
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Right.
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But not just professionally. I mean, I'm also talking like socially, you know, a lot of people just happen to be socially
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always available and that's up to them and that's okay. But like I said, it's not about uh being hard to reach. It's
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being it's it's valuing your own time and realizing that you know your time needs to be defi divided
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um wisely but can I continue with the psychological research that I found? Okay.
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Okay. There's a research published in computers in human behavior found that receiving a smartphone notification
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disrupts a person's concentration for approximately 7 seconds with the frequency of checking a phone and the
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volume of notifications being better predictors of this distraction than total daily screen time. And I've I've
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actually um I can agree to this and I don't I think it's not only just you know um a phone notification. I also get
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distru disrupted when someone comes in, you know, I go so I have a concentration problem. I I go into one corner and I in
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in a room and I close myself off to try and get, you know, all the work I need to done, especially if I have to write
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articles. And even if someone comes in and doesn't interrupt me, but just does
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something in the room, my focus level has already dropped. if you come and just ask me one question or
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maybe you um come to do something. I don't know what it is but I am already distracted and
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then it actually it honestly does take me away from my thought process
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because I mean for for all the writers out there I'm sure you must also go through the same thing. writing is something that you know requires your
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creativity and if you're disrupted in between then um I feel like obviously you know it it
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takes you a long time you you know I don't feel like I can get back into it straight away so I suppose the same thing with a notification if my phone is
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there and if it's just some silly notification that comes through and it's not important then I get annoyed and you know you know what I mean so that's why
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I try to keep the phone away from me when I'm working but I think The most important thing that you have to take away from that is
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the 7 seconds per interruption and that is um a lot of people use their phones while they're driving.
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So if you distracted for 7 seconds sure you know what what could happen in that 7 seconds.
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Um, I've actually noticed like some um people like uh what's the word? Um
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like they look at their phone and then they like can't sleep and they're looking at the phone like through the
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whole night like like till like fast time and then they go to sleep like then only at 5.
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Okay. But from that you can also see that um um maybe being on the phone
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actually becomes an addiction. So you know a lot of people don't want to be distracted from what they're doing and then they keep scrolling. That's called
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doom scrolling. That's something else actually. But um I mean being distract you are you usually are
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distracted by your phone. Maybe they didn't mean to doom scroll. Maybe they were going to go to sleep and then they decided, hey, let me go check my phone
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because of a notification or something and then that led one thing led to another.
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Yeah. But um then you also have to put a boundary as to how long you spend um you know going through your
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notifications and you know like going through social media or whatever it is or or your work or
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um if you're setting it like maybe they set a time Yeah.
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after they've done everything during the day just to go through their phone but then that hour becomes 4 hours or 5
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hours. No, but like you also mentioned, you know, the 7 seconds per interruption, it's multiplied across dozens of daily
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notifications, it compounds into minutes or hours of fractured attention. The cognitive toll is not measured in the
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seconds lost to the notification itself, right? but in the far longer recovery arc required to re-engage with the
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interrupted task. Um you know the these implications are worth sitting with you know checking uh for particularly for
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anyone who has spent time in a corporate environment where constant responsiveness is conflated with competence.
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Yeah. So no because the thing is you see uh again there's some professions where they feel that if you don't respond immediately then you're not being productive.
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Yeah. Okay. So more research um Gloria Mark professor of informatics at the University of California Irvine puts it
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precisely silent phone users deliberately sidstep that toll. So the
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toll of um control of uh you know attention and you know productivity you know what
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we were speaking about and what this means in practice is that every ping
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every buzz and chime is not merely requesting attention.
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It's ex it's extracting a portion of finite cognitive resources. So what that means is people who keep their phones on
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silent have identified this hidden tax, you know, basically it's like a hidden tax and they decided that they're no
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longer paying it, right?
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That's basically what it's being, you know, what's being said. And then um
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so there's something counter in intuitive that um to the fact that silence makes someone
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uh more connected cuz you know you would think that you know a silent phone means you're not connected but this is basically
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counterintuitive to that fact that the shift to permanent silent mode actually tends to make a person more present.
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in relationships, you know, and and that makes sense because when one is constantly available, one is never fully anywhere.
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Do you understand?
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Yeah. Because you because you are uh like trying to split your attention but you can never split it evenly.
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Yes. Basically that's basically that the thing that I like to also say that u you know people who say they multi
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they multitask you're actually not giving one task your full attention so you really shouldn't brag about the fact
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that you can multitask because you're not giving your full attention to even one task.
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No but I mean sometimes you don't need to depending on the task the attention doesn't need to be full you know like unless you're trying to perfect
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something. So um you know I think that in terms of of multitasking
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it would depend on you know the type of task that you're doing um and what you you need to because it's
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basically like having a whole lot of tabs open on your computer. Exactly. Yeah.
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Um but I mean now we've solved that problem by having more than one screen.
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You know what I mean?
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um not in our brain but physically if you're doing more than one task you have more than one screen open. Yeah. Um but
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in terms of you know like trying to split your your attention um with notifications and stuff you see the
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problem with lies in the fact that if I reply to this WhatsApp because I've got
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the notification right now what happens when the next notification comes. Mhm.
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Right. That's not WhatsApp. Then I'm going into Instagram for example. Right.
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So, um, now I'm split over WhatsApp and Instagram, but something pops up on my
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news feed on Instagram, which I then need to watch.
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Can you see? Can can you see? And then you you start spending more time on Instagram and instead of going now I've
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got another WhatsApp notification, but I'm still busy looking at that reel that I'm watching cuz it's caught my
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attention that I'm watching on Instagram. So, you're not effectively responding to or you're going to miss
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the essence of that reel. So, say for example, there's a a Juma lecture that that's caught your attention that you're
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watching now and it's it's a very important um lesson that could be learned. So, you're either going to um
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stop at midway because you need to respond. Your brain is wired now that you need to respond to the other
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WhatsApp notification that's come on. or you're going to give it your, like you say, your full attention and watch this
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reel. And that WhatsApp notification, we're not going to say it's going to be important, more important than than
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watching that reel, but it could be an important WhatsApp notification that you're going to now miss.
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So, yeah, that's okay. Okay. So, that's a perspective on it. Um, I have more research.
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Okay.
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Okay. So Sarah Mitchell, an author who has studied this phenomenon, observes that silent phone users have stronger
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boundaries, right?
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That makes sense, right? But now many people see boundaries as like this bad word, especially people who don't
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benefit when you don't have the boundaries. You understand? But she basically she's saying is that boundaries despite what the always on culture insists, they're not walls.
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Yeah. So don't think of boundaries and to anyone who suffers from this um not suffers from but like you know you you
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have a ple people pleasing type of personality and you want to put up a boundary but you're feeling guilty for it. Don't think of it as a wall. They're saying think of it as a bridge.
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Okay. So the thing is a boundary people normally think of it as like a 10 m wall
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but I mean if you think of it in cricket a boundary is a very small little rope that's around the cricket stadium.
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Okay think of it that way but also like I said think of if you don't follow cricket and you're not aware of the
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terms think of your boundary as a bridge. you know, it creates a space for genuine connection rather than constant shallow interaction.
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Um, and and it bears noting that boundaries are actually deter they actually determine the quality of relationships more than their quantity.
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Oh well you see the thing is people think that if you have put up this invisible wall as they would think for
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the for the boundary they think you are shutting off the world and uh you know like it's not to say that if you have a
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boundary you don't need to communicate with anyone or you don't talk to anybody you don't reply to messages or whatever.
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You're still replying to people and you're still uh communicating. It's just at certain times which you find is suitable.
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That's basically you know bringing in the control part of it. You are the one who are is controlling your communication
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um and and basically controlling your narrative in terms of you not being completely available all the time.
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You're not letting it control you.
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you're not letting that device control you because in that way you get to do what all the things you need to and then
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you've allocated that time to go through you know um well you see the the thing is now
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because we in the so-called connected world right um like I said if if like in the '9s if
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someone couldn't get hold of you they if you weren't at home they couldn't get hold of you right Now, say I go to the
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masid, right, in the '9s. Someone tried to phone me while I'm making salah at the masid.
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No one's going to be able to get hold of me and they'll have to try when I come back from the masid. But now, you'll
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notice people will check their phone before they start making salah and as soon as they finish finish making salah.
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They're not even outside of the masid boundary. Right? there's the boundary. Mhm.
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Um but they they feel that they have to check their phone if they have any notifications before making salah and
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and I think that that also like you said the concentration and it's very important you're speaking to your creator
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you know even if it's that um I mean 15 or 20 minutes that you take out and
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you say I'm not going to look at my phone now before I get into the masid.
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And when I leave the masid at least, you know, maybe when you leave home and you get home, you know, it could be extended
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to to to that time. And I mean, that's at least five times a day. Yeah.
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So, you're already putting that small boundary in place. But yeah, it's it
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because I think already you losing your concentration because for example, if I'm looking at my phone just before I
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make salah, right? And I get this notification and I see this horrible message from somebody and I feel like,
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oh, I need to reply to this, but now I'm thinking of the reply, what I need to reply while I'm making salah. Then you've lost your concentration.
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Yeah, that's true. That's true. It actually uh that that also brings a whole thing to it where you can it
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actually um it can change your whole mood. It can change your whole um thought process because one notification
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could change you know your your your what's in your mind.
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No, but also again again you know getting on on that like horrible message. So now if you are the type of
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person that has to respond immediately, you are going to respond in to that message out of anger.
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Anger. So you now responding irrationally because of what
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you have just read also because I need it's the karma is going now. I need to make salah, right? Everyone's getting into
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their stuffs and I need to respond to this message now because I need to tell that person what I think of the message that they sent.
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Yeah. So basically Yeah. No, no. I that's that's actually the whole point, you know, when when someone chooses when
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to be available, it brings a full self to that moment, you know. So um yeah you
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mentioned in the in in masjid and Islamic type of view which is very important to think about you know because like you said we speaking to our
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creator but in like socially also you know if a friend uh receives a response 3 hours later you know like to say you
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you you get a notification but you don't have it um no you don't get a notification like let's say that and
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you're checking your phone only after say your cell or something like that, then you check it like maybe 3 hours
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later. You you actually going to think of a more thoughtful reply. Exactly.
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Not a rushed thing while you're walking down the street or while you you know trying to quickly get it typed out before you start your salah or something
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like that. So yeah, um the difference between that that type of you know boundary uh one might argue is that it's
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felt on both ends of the exchange. No, but I think also, you know, like with that type of of boundary, it's also the
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fact that if you are practicing it, people will start respecting it. That's true.
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Because if, for example, um like our our internet package finishes at 6:00 at night, right? So
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between 6:00 p.m. and the next morning after F, you're not going to receive a message from me. I'm not going to reply.
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I'm not going to see any of your your messages, right? So, people have now learned to respect that and they know
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that they're not going to be able to contact me after 6 6 p.m. at night. But also, if you are not in the habit of
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replying immediately and people know, okay, he has kind of uh a certain time that he replies to messages, right?
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then they kind of anticipate that if I didn't hear from him at that particular time or that whole day, then there's something wrong.
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Yeah. You you know, you know what I mean?
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Yeah. No. And I like the fact that you also said that um when you have that boundary um and you continuously have it
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then people respect it because I've noticed that when we don't have bound boundaries as in we're we've made and
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we've done this many times where we've been available for people. We've actually not been available. We've always made ourselves available. They
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actually disrespect you. They actually expect you to always be available and
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don't appreciate the fact that you know actually they actually think that you got nothing better to do in your life.
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Yeah. So you see they start taking advantage and that is the reason why I started detoxing from social media and
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also switching off my notifications because the thing is um yes we were
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doing it as as a business but any business I mean if you message any business even if it's on Facebook you
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email them whoever is behind that account even if they have a whole call center a whole uh department dedicated
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ated to responding to messages. They're not going to respond immediately unless it's some chatbot or something. Mhm. You know. Yeah. A chatbot. Yes.
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Um and then they will put you in touch with whoever it is.
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And in most of the cases in terms of our business, it's not as urgent as someone uh defrauding your account or something,
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you know, like oh like a banking like a bank. Yeah. like a bank, like an institution, a financial institution, then yes, you need to contact them
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immediately, right? You need to speak to somebody. But so yeah, you know, it's you have to at the end of the day think
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of um you know, how is it going to affect you
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not now but also in the long run because there's going to come a point where it's
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going to be tiring, right? As you get older, you can't be responding to every single person. And I
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mean, I don't know if you No. And people really need to realize that your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Your
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mental health actually affects your your your your body.
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So mental space, it's not a luxury. It's a necessity. you know, the best ideas, the clearest thinking, the most creative
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solutions, they all they all come from room to think, you know, not from being constantly pinged with other people's priorities.
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Yeah. If if you think and and we always say like Islam is such a beautiful way of life. Alhamdulillah. Subhan Allah.
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If you think of the fact that our beloved prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam
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would say something three times right or do something you know and repeatedly so
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that there's a point you know that comes across and you must think that like we say if
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you're going to reply to a message are you going to say that message three times okay
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you know or the fact that we read before we make an important decision.
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So, do you have to respond to that message immediately if takes let's say a
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minimum of 7 days for you to get a a clear answer? Okay. So, practice the pause. Yes.
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Practice the pause because like you said also, you know, anything anything could happen with a response and you always need to take the time to respond well.
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Yeah. And know exactly what you want to say.
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So that it also um I mean also we we've we've grown up with the fact that words hurt. Yeah.
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So I mean your words on whatever you write down. So just try and but I think it's it's also the the the
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fact that you know we have these tools like we'll use WhatsApp again and you've got these ticks. So it's either
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delivered or it's read or whatever it is, you know, the different ticks and people have um feel that they can't
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leave it read but not responded to, right? And I suppose that's where the notifications come in where you can read
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someone's message, not go into it so it's delivered, you know, but not respond immediately. So that also is a,
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you know, could be a buffer. So, there's pros and cons to having notifications, right?
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Um, you know, and there's pros and cons to not having notifications cuz I mean, for
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example, I could uh, you know, miss a message, right? Because I haven't been into that particular app.
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Yeah.
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But as far as I'm concerned, and everybody's different, is that it wasn't meant for me. Yeah, if Allah will I would have opened WhatsApp at that time.
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That's how we That's how it basically is.
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My baraka would, you know, come from whatever that that was. But if I missed it, then whatever is meant to be.
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Oh yeah. Yeah. This is very interesting.
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I'd love to know, you know, what what do our listeners think? You know, are you um constantly pinged? Do you feel like
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you really need to respond to um you know any type of notification there and then are you I would love to know if
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there's anyone else out there who has it completely. I really would like to know.
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Please tell me, you know, um during the week, if you're listening to this on Soundcloud, if you're listening
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to this on radio and you know, you don't manage to get through on the WhatsApp, just send us a DM on I think maybe our
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Instagram um account and I will check it. I will go into Instagram.
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He will go check. But I would love to know, are you the type of person who does not put it on anything on no vibrate? Um, no notifications at all.
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Um, how how do you go through what what do you do? What if you are a person like what do you do? I'm very curious as in
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your profession or or what do you do with your day? I just want to know. It's it's not judging at all. I just want to know, you know, if there's someone else
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out there. Um it's very weird that you know we in we have um we are on all
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these social media accounts but we we don't have any notifications for these things but the thing is I make sure that I have
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time out of the day to go to check and I do respond to people so it's not like we and if you need me to respond then then only I will go and check.
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Yeah, but yeah, this is very interesting and um just most importantly, you know,
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look after your mental health, look after your space, your mental space, you know, and it's okay if someone hasn't responded to
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you immediately and it's not something that needed to be responded to. I'm just saying. Okay. Hey, once again, if you'd
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like to join the conversation during the week, you can do so on our social media pages at iilovves.com. That's i ov z a
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m. We are on Instagram, Facebook, x, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tik Tok, thirds, and upscroll. You're welcome to also read the articles on our website, ilza.com.
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Um and you are welcome to check out Radio Islam International Soundcloud for all the level up um podcasts that you
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have missed. If you have missed or if you want to just go back and listen to us, it's okay inshallah to our dear listeners for joining us on
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this lovely Sunday afternoon. Please join us every Sunday right here on Radio Islam International from 2 to 3:00 p.m.
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Inshallah.
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from myself, Nabiha, from Isa and from Zad. Enjoy your Sunday and we wish you a wonderful week ahead. Inshallah.
