Fewer dings, please!

I have some important information. The average American—oh, wait. <ding!> New notification(通知). CNN: something about Taylor and Travis. Hmmm. <ding!> And our dog food is out for delivery. Whew. Why do they always send me such messages?

The average American gets about 70 smartphone notifications a day. And according to a new study, the number is far higher for teenagers, whose phones ding and vibrate with hundreds or even thousands of daily notifications. This constantly distracts us from work, life, and each other.

“Humans are not good at doing so many things at the same time,” Professor Smith, a behavioral scientist, reminded us. “It takes extra time and efforts to switch our attention. We feel more tired and get interrupted so many times a day that these effects can lead to a decrease in our happiness and social connection.”

I am grateful to get the latest news that my favorite basketball team has won. I’m eager for messages from my family. But I wonder why The New York Times feels it is urgent to remind me, as they did this week, about “The 6 Best Men’s and Women’s Cashmere Sweaters.”

This is, of course, a circumstance created by ourselves. It is true that instant communication has brought us too much information. So many urgent notifications, not many of which are truly urgent; and only a few are interesting. So many hours spent looking at the light of a small screen, while so often being unaware of the world all around us. So why not choose to check notifications just several times a day?

<ding!> Hey! My Cashmere Sweater is here!

In many countries, people work five eight-hour days or 40 hours a week. But some companies now want their employees to work just four days a week and still pay them for five. Is it too good to be true?

Planio, a German company, offered a four-day week to its employees earlier this year Schulz-Hofen, the founder of Planio, first tested the four-day workweek on himself. He said，“It is much healthier and we do a better job if we’re not working crazy hours. I didn't get less work done in four days than in five because in five days, you think you have more time, you take longer. ” Also, another company, called Guardian in New Zealand, tested how its employees reacted to a 32-hour workweek earlier this year. It said the workers reported feeling less pressured and more focused on the business.

In Japan, the government is urging companies to let their workers have Monday mornings off. And in the UK, Trades Union Congress (TUC) is pushing for the country to move to a four-day week by the end of the century, thinking that a shorter workweek is a way for workers to share in the wealth made by new technologies like machine learning and robotics. TUC’s Kate Bell noted，“It would reduce the stress of juggling working and family life. ’’

A study of 3, 000 employees found that nearly half thought they could easily finish their work in five hours a day if they did not have to stop and restart. The workers were from eight countries, including the United States，Britain and Germany. Dan Schawbel, working in Future Workplace, which carried out the survey with Kronossaid，“Because you always have the technology, you are always working, so you are getting burned out.   He expects more companies and countries will permit a four-day workweek.

This chart shows how much money Americans have in savings at every age.

The typical American household has an average of $ 8,863 in an account at a bank or credit union, according to a recent report from Bankrate that analyzed inflation-adjusted data from the Federal Reserve. That’s purely in liquid savings, so it doesn’t include retirement funds or other investments.

However, that amount varies greatly by age and household type.

Savings vary widely by household type and age

For many families, this amount of savings falls short, some experts warn. “The ultimate destination should be enough to cover six months’ expenses, perhaps 9 to 12 months for sole breadwinners or self-employed individuals,” Greg McBride, CFA and chief financial analyst for Bankrate, com, says in the report.

”Here’s the thing with emergency money: More is always better,” best-selling author and co-founder of AE Wealth Management David Bach tells CNBC Make It. “You hear all the time experts say, you should have three months of expenses set aside. Well, it depends. In the recession, when people lost their jobs, three months of expenses set aside wasn’t enough.”

Meanwhile, other research has found that 60 percent of millennials don’t have enough money to cover a $ 1,000 emergency.

In addition to building your emergency fund, you should aim to put around 15 percent of your income towards retirement savings, according to the financial services company Fidelity.

If you want to put more away each month, start by cutting back on Americans? three biggest expenses: housing, transportation and food. You can also research ways to trim (削减) your budget and look into strategies for boosting your income.