When you open preferences, Notifications is the top pane. Literally the top notification option is "Notify me about..." and an option is Nothing. In what sense can't you stop notifications?
It's fair to be frustrated by defaults or how your org uses Slack (or any other tool), but these discussions often cross the line to FUD by exaggerating annoyances.
Having it closed and only replying when I get a notification email for unread messages works quite well for me (if you know how to limit your email checking).
Same as donkeyd's comment I've communicated this to my clients and they've adjusted and it's a non-problem.
No, you don't.