Agree, to have agency in the digital world requires us having control over our initiative. There's both behavioral and technical ways to do this today:

1. Look only at certain times each day (see habit chaining, e.g. 'look at email after I get lunch')

2. Set a focus mode that allows notifications from email at certain times

3. Allow email notifications only from specific high-importance contacts

4. Just set a timer, calendar event, or or recurring reminder