Immediate connection has been a constant desire that’s led to many great technology inventions and innovations.

Prior to all of this communication, people would walk, meet, talk and exchange written letters (made easier by the post office). The connections people make build strong relationships but certainly not vast relationships that we could constantly communicate with.

The entire world is going mobile, and the position that notifications have is high in responsibility.

Notifications are responsible for alerting us of a form of communication we’ve opted in for two-way communication, whether that be from another person or just the service.

Living with notifications has become a growing problem due to all the options and services out there demanding for notification use.

Be sure to visit this article on iowastatedaily.net to view a creative video showing how we’re currently living with all these notifications.

But as with everything — I hate being so cliche — there are two sides to a possible solution.

1. Back away from the devices

This action was very easy when we all just had the dial-up internet and landline telephones. All you had to do was unplug that skinny cord that was made of that weird binding material that seemed to light.

Done. Your notifications were disconnected, and communication was put back in your control.

Now, we have mobile devices such as a smartphone or tablet and portable computers that are being called Ultrabooks.

The challenge is to back away from a device.

Devices are so sleek, fast, powerful and fun that they are addicting. While we’re addicted to them we’re also connected. Consider all of these devices combined to be an arsenal fleet of potential communication bursts.

Ignore the temptation, control your addiction or limit your devices and what you use on those devices.

2. Constrained to a selection

You have a telephone, an entertainment device and a work device.

So basically you could potentially have an iPhone, an iPad, and a MacBook Pro, Air or iMac.

Now how the heck are you supposed to constrain your selection when there are only three devices that serve different purposes?

What key here is the problem of using each of these devices in a similar manner across the board. You could entertain yourself on your work device, you could answer a call and write emails on your phone or even basically do everything except a call — which would be awkward — on a tablet.

Encompassing all of this functionality and flexibility is the option for notifications.

All of this could be put to rest if you only had one device allowed to send out notifications, but companies like Apple with their iCloud functionality have made it annoying.

Sure, their service is great if you aren’t next to one device and would like everything synced but a majority of the time you are by two devices. What happens? Both get pinged with a notification for you.

Even the technology behind the phone won’t allow that. If you’re in a call and someone else wants to call they get a busy signal.

Our world is being developed with more devices. These devices are beginning to talk and learn from each other, but until a true seamless and enjoyable experience is made where notifications are smart and less annoying, you’re in control.

Do you constrain yourself to only a couple of apps that can send you notifications or only to a device that allows notifications?

The day a single or few apps and the affected devices know how to work together we can start living healthier and more productive lives with notifications.