pull down to refresh

Email is the only thing everyone has to get notified about something next to visiting the platform yourself regularly.
True, but that doesn't mean it's a good system. The effort required to open and delete the emailed newsletter is bad.
The problem with newsletter subscriptions is that they give me an endless flood of emails that serve the purpose of notifications. I'm sure I could configure my email client to send them all to a folder that auto deletes after 30 days, but like many people, I don't take the time to mess with my settings.
I'd love an app that shows a grid of icons for all the writers I want to read with little notification bubbles on them if there is something new. Then I could click on their icon and immediately go to their blog. This probably isn't the right solution either: who wants another app that basically sounds like a RSS reader?
Really, I'd be fine if the notifications about new articles showed up in my email client just as an ephemeral notification. But the current practice of mixing it in with all my other email is unpleasant.