The best way to stop your endless Slack notifications at work is ridiculously obvious

The best way to cut down on direct messages is to speak to the person sending them

"Going directly to the person is almost always the best thing to do," Amy Colbert, professor at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business, told Business Insider.

"The norms around electronic communication are always shifting because of our increasing use of it," Colbert said, so it's better to address issues upfront and in the old-fashioned way.

Nope, you can't get away with ghosting your boss or coworker. The best way to cut down on Slack messages is to leave your desk, walk over, and talk to them.

If it's a boss or coworker who pings you with tasks throughout the day, you can propose a weekly or daily meeting, said assistant professor Atul Teckchandani, who teaches management at California State University, Fullerton's Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.

"You can pose an alternative approach that hopefully will nudge them away from sending you repeated direct messages all the time," Teckchandani told Business Insider.

Send your Slack-obsessed boss or employee something like this: "I want to stay connected with what's going on in the office, but I'm personally not able to keep up with a lot of direct messages while focusing on work. When would be a good time to check in for a few minutes each day to set the schedule?"

As for a work friend, you can bring up the topic the next time you grab coffee or lunch. "I love talking to you, but I'm not able to concentrate on my work when we're chatting so much. Why don't we schedule lunch or drinks after work one a day week to catch up?"

Check if there's a company-wide policy on Slack

Teckchandani suggests a Slack policy to ensure the chat app is being used correctly, company-wide.

Ask your boss or HR team if there's a Slack user guide for your company or how to help make one.

"I've learned that I have to set the expectations and give people a little bit of a primer on what Slack is and how to use it, so people use it correctly," Teckchandani, who uses Slack when working with a group of researchers, told Business Insider.

Guidelines can also be made for a single channel. Teckchandani suggested that admins could write basic guidelines and pin it, so users can be aware of the channel rules.

"It would be good to have the organization make sure the right expectations are being set," Teckchandani said.

Try this list of guidelines to get you started:

This channel, except for crucial information, can only be used between 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time. Direct non-work-related chatter, gifs, and jokes to a different channel. Use @here, rather than @channel, which notifies everyone. Using the @handle of the specific few people you want to notify is even better. Per company guidelines, any abusive, or hurtful language is banned. Ask @insertadminhere for any questions, suggestions, or concerns.

Don't be afraid to take an hour or two every day to unplug

You can set a Do Not Disturb schedule. Decide that, perhaps, 1-3 p.m. will be your time to deep work without the possibility of notifications.

"Everybody needs sometime during the day where they can unplug," Colbert said.

Before you choose a time to be offline, make sure to clear it with your boss and settle on a time that works for you both

Tell your coworkers something like this (and you can just send it over your team's channel): "Hey, team! I'm getting distracted by Slack, email, texts, etc. from my work, so I've decided to set a few hours a day for working uninterrupted. From 1-3 p.m. everyday, I'll turn off all social media, email, Slack, and so on. If there's something urgent you need help on, just come by my desk!"

You'll be joining ultra-successful changemakers like Bill Gates, Theodore Roosevelt, and Steve Jobs — all of whom took some time during the day to focus on nothing but their craft.