System Under Review

Consumer applications that enable push notifications by default during installation or initial onboarding.

This includes systems where notification permissions are requested early and accepted implicitly, rather than requiring deliberate opt-in later.

Stated Objective

The stated objective is to keep users informed.

Notifications are positioned as a service feature: timely updates, relevant information, and awareness of important events within the system.

Secondarily, notifications support continued interaction with the system by prompting users to return.

Primary Signals Used

The system typically relies on:

• User installation or account creation
• Initial permission acceptance
• Subsequent engagement with notifications (opens, dismissals, ignores)
• Recency and frequency of interaction

These signals inform both notification delivery and internal measures of system engagement.

Architectural Decision

Push notifications are enabled by default.

This is an opt-out design choice.
The system treats silence as consent and action as resistance.

Once enabled, notifications persist unless the user takes explicit steps to disable or reduce them.

Implicit Assumptions

The system assumes that:

• Most users benefit from being notified
• Early acceptance reflects ongoing preference
• Increased interaction reflects system value
• Friction to disable notifications is acceptable
• Defaults are neutral starting points rather than behavioral levers

These assumptions are rarely revisited once the system is in motion.

Second-Order Effects

Because notifications are on by default:

• Users are exposed to system-driven prompts without deliberate choice
• Attention is shaped incrementally rather than intentionally
• The system gains a reliable mechanism to re-engage users
• Engagement metrics improve without requiring explicit user intent

These effects emerge from persistence, not from any single notification.

Failure Mode / Risk

The primary risk is misaligned consent.

Users may continue receiving notifications not because they want them, but because disabling them requires effort, awareness, or sustained attention.

Over time, the system cannot reliably distinguish preference from inertia, while engagement signals remain elevated.

Exit & Agency Analysis

Control technically exists.

Users can usually:

• Disable notifications
• Reduce frequency
• Adjust categories
• Turn off the channel entirely

However, these controls are often:

• Buried in settings
• Fragmented across menus
• Presented after habituation has already occurred

Agency is present, but exercising it requires intentional effort.

Generalizable Principle

Defaults determine behavior long before preferences are expressed.

When a system treats default acceptance as meaningful consent, it also shapes engagement patterns without requiring ongoing agreement.