I currently use both physics.SE and math.SE, and one difference I noticed was the new activity counters and notifications on PSE, which were absent in its math counterpart. Now, in my experience so far, these labels and notifications, albeit not intrusive, make it harder to concentrate while browsing the new/unanswered questions.
This made me wonder, what, if any, use do these little notifiers have? If not, should they stay or be removed? Any ideas or thoughts?
Edit: Added the relevant images.
Some clarification: These indicators are minuscule, one counter, read, "(#) Physics Stack Exchange" on title bar to indicate how many questions had new activity since the last refresh, and one bar in top of main page questions popping up whenever a new activity happens. The latter one is rather annoying since it moves the screen a bit down. The former, on the other hand, is a feature I rather not have.
Here is the title of phys.se vs. title of math.se, and here is the bar that appears whenever a new activity happens.