Imagine: you’re working on something on your computer that requires your full attention.
And some sort of sound and/or picture alerts you to the fact that you’ve just received an email.
Firstly, the sound and/or picture impinges on your brain.
Secondly, you might actually look at the icon to quickly see who the email is from.
Thirdly, you might decide to (or you might automatically) read the email.
All 3 responses negatively impact your ability to focus on that task that required your full attention.
Conventional wisdom advises you to turn off email notifications if you are working on something important.
I’ve no problem with that advice except to ask you this:
Why would you have email notifications turned on in the first place?
When you want to check your email, be that in between tasks and/or at certain times of the day then do just that – go with deliberation to check your emails.
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