a telecommunications terminal that intelligently determines whether to notify the user of an incoming message is disclosed . in the illustrative embodiments , the terminal has a processor that makes this determination based on one or more of the following : the time and date , environmental parameters , the user &# 39 ; s physiological parameters , the location of the user , the proximity of other wireless terminals in the vicinity , the semantic content of the message , the identity of the sender of the message , and whether the user is currently receiving another message . for example , a user might not want to be notified of an incoming message that arrives between 10 : 00 p . m . and 6 : 00 a . m . unless the user is awake or the sender of the message is a family member .