BOISE, ID — Garrett Holloway, 38, of Boise, Idaho, announced this week that his custom phone notification filter, configured last May to eliminate all digital distractions, performed exactly as intended for eleven consecutive months, silencing 14,200 alerts including his sister’s labor and delivery updates, his nephew’s birth announcement, and three subsequent birthday celebrations for the child he did not know existed.

Holloway, a project manager who described the filtering system as “life-changing,” said he became aware of the nephew during a Thanksgiving dinner when the eleven-month-old was placed directly into his arms. He was otherwise the last to know in a family of twenty-two, including two members who are not on speaking terms and one who lives in Portugal.

According to family members, Holloway’s sister, Dana Holloway-Prentiss, 34, attempted to reach him via text, voicemail, a Facebook post, a tagged photo, a group chat, and a physical card mailed to his home address, which was rerouted to a junk mail folder he configured in November 2024.

“The system worked perfectly. That’s the part nobody wants to acknowledge.”

“I don’t see how this is a technology failure,” Holloway told reporters gathered outside his home. “I asked it to block distractions. I don’t even know what a distraction is anymore. That’s the goal.”

Dana Holloway-Prentiss, reached by phone, confirmed she bears no lasting resentment, noting the child “absolutely loves his uncle Garrett” and that Garrett has since held him “at least twice, maybe three times, though he had his phone out one of those.”

Holloway has since upgraded to a newer filtering model he found on a technology forum. The forum notification that a family member had posted a reply to his thread was blocked automatically.

At press time, Holloway’s nephew had taken his first steps. Holloway’s phone notified him of a Flash Sale at a mattress retailer he visited once in 2021.