This post reads to me as another snowflake in the very justified avalanche of "Internet is drowning me in pointless chatter" complaints that define our time.
I use Slack this way with my team and it works wonderfully for me:
- I disable all notifications
- I tell people to PM me if they need me to act
- I tell people to carry on discussion in the relevant project/topic channel if they need to chat about said project/topic
These points are ordered by importance. The first is vastly more important than the others and extends beyond Slack. I aggressively disable notifications of all kinds from all things. If I can't disable them I at least disable their ability to make sound or vibrate. I have one way to be immediately "notified" and that is to call my mobile. I can count the people who know and use that number on one hand. They're so close to me that they know if I truly need to be informed of something now - in their respective sphere of family, friends, or work - and they call me and I pick up.
The PMs I read and act on when it's my Slacking time. I open up Slack and crank through them. Slacking time happens one or more times a day depending on my bandwidth.
The other channels I read if and only if I have a justified need to know what's going on with that project/topic. Or if I have downtime and am curious about something. Grazing on info about what my team is up to in project X is a nicer distraction than watching TV.
I am also that crazy guy who actually uninstalled Facebook from his phone and just goes to the website when he feels like catching up with friends. So I'm not subject to that megacorp's constant interruptions either. I don't feel like my life has lost anything at all by doing this.
The problem isn't Slack, it isn't Facebook, it's notifications, turn them off and tell the world that if they want your attention they have to call you and they can't have your number unless you love them.