I started building Jottings because I was tired.

Tired of notifications pinging my phone at random hours. Tired of the constant pressure to engage now or watch my post disappear into the algorithm graveyard. Tired of writing something I was genuinely proud of, only to feel anxious watching the engagement numbers flatline.

But mostly, I was tired of the urgency.

The Problem With Modern Social Media

Social media thrives on one thing: keeping you constantly plugged in and reacting. Notifications create little hits of dopamine—someone liked your tweet, a group chat is exploding, a trending topic demands your take. The platforms have engineered a system where now is always the most important time to post, engage, and respond.

This creates a psychological treadmill. You start writing something thoughtful, and halfway through, a notification pulls your attention away. You finish your post and immediately start refreshing to see who's engaging. You see others posting frequently and feel pressure to keep up or risk being forgotten.

The irony? This urgency makes us worse writers and communicators. We post half-formed thoughts. We react emotionally without reflection. We craft content for maximum engagement instead of maximum authenticity.

And we're all exhausted.

Why I Built Jottings Without Notifications

When I started designing Jottings, I made a deliberate choice: no notifications, no algorithm, no urgency.

There's nothing pinging you to come back. There's no feed designed to keep you scrolling for three hours. There's no algorithm deciding which of your posts gets visibility and which gets buried. There's no pressure to post frequently or respond immediately.

This isn't a limitation—it's the whole point.

Jottings is built for a different kind of writing. The kind where you sit down when you actually have something to say. Where you take your time. Where you don't feel rushed to publish before your audience moves on to the next thing.

Write When You're Ready, Not When You're Forced

Here's what happens when you remove the urgency:

You actually think before you write. You're not chasing a trend that will be irrelevant tomorrow. You're not racing to be first; you're free to be thoughtful.

You finish what you started. Without notifications interrupting, you can actually focus. The quality goes up because you're not trying to squeeze posts into gaps between disturbances.

You write for yourself first. Without an algorithm analyzing what "performs," you write what matters to you. And paradoxically, when you write authentically, people connect with it more genuinely.

You don't feel pressure to respond. Someone commented on your post from three days ago? That's fine. You'll get to it when you're ready. No notifications shaming you for being slow. No sense that the conversation has moved on.

The Mental Health Shift

I've noticed something interesting in how people use Jottings: they seem calmer. Less anxious about engagement metrics. More reflective about what they're sharing.

This might sound simple, but it's profound. We've normalized a constant state of digital urgency that wasn't normal until about fifteen years ago. Before Twitter, before Instagram, before algorithmic feeds, people wrote on blogs. They posted at their own pace. Readers came back when they were ready.

That rhythm was healthier. It created space for deeper thinking, for writing that had more substance, for reading that wasn't just skimming.

Removing urgency also removes comparison. You're not constantly measuring your posts against what others are posting right now. You're not stuck in a FOMO spiral wondering if you should have posted more frequently or used different hashtags or engaged with the algorithm differently.

It's just... writing.

Quality Over Speed

One of my favorite things about slow social is that it rewards good writing naturally.

When everyone is posting constantly and racing for engagement, quality gets buried. The fastest, snappiest, most provocative posts win. But when there's no algorithm, when there's no urgency, good writing stands out simply because it's worth reading.

This means you can write longer pieces. You can go deep. You can explore ideas without worrying they're "too long" for the internet's shrinking attention span.

It also means you can be vulnerable. You can share something real without immediately regretting it or obsessing over how people are reacting. You can write about doubt, failure, complexity—the stuff that makes writing actually interesting—without it being optimized for engagement.

Not for Everyone, and That's Okay

I know this isn't what everyone wants from social media. Some people like the energy and engagement and rapid-fire conversation. They like notifications. They like the game of going viral.

Jottings isn't for them, and that's fine. I built it for people who are exhausted by that game. People who want to write without performing. People who want to be read by humans who genuinely chose to show up, not people who were algorithmically served your content.

If you've ever felt the sting of social media pressure, if you've ever had a great thought get lost in the noise, if you've ever written something you were proud of only to feel disappointed by how social media handled it—there's a better way.

An Invitation

Jottings isn't about being anti-social. It's about being differently social. More intentional. More human-paced.

Write when you have something to say. Say it well. Share it with people who want to read it. Move on with your day. Check in tomorrow or next week, not compulsively every five minutes.

That's slow social.

And it's remarkably peaceful.

[Jottings is a microblogging platform for writers who want to publish without the pressure. No algorithm, no notifications, no urgency. Just good writing, at your own pace.]