Architecture that enables alerts and notifications to have priorities and time/space durations. Non-critical alerts can be displayed in a non-obtrusive manner and alert/notifications coalesced. Alerts/notifications can be assigned priorities, thereby enabling the alerts/notifications to be non-intrusive to the user. Methods include detecting when the user is using a mobile phone (or other suitable device) and then sending the alert/notification in response to the detected use based on threshold criteria relative to an accumulated sum of alerts/notifications, and an importance level (e.g., of each). Additionally, alert/notification priority can be changed (e.g. elevated, lowered) according to time (when) and space (where), thereby enabling the user to be intrusively notified based on the level, even if not previously signaled. Time and space bounds (criteria) can be assigned to alerts/notifications for merger/grouping and/or set to be auto-dismissed if no longer applicable.