> Realistically where would you position these monitors?

I have a 34" main monitor positioned directly in front of me, a 24" in vertical orientation I use mostly for multiple terminals and my MPB screen below the 34".

I don't think this is an unusual setup.

> Tilt your head in those directions

This applies to large single monitors too. I think (hope?!) most people have a setup where their main work is right in front of them.

> If you think modern notifications are less distracting I'll respectfully disagree.

No I'm saying they are more distracting, so reduce the relevance of old articles claiming a single monitor reduced those.

Respectfully disagree all you want but don’t come here claiming studies that don’t exist.

Three monitors along a curve on a curved desk with a rotating office chair (or just one on wheels) is perfect. It might be OCD but I don’t like two monitors because there is a gap between screens in the middle. I can physically rotate to face one side monitor or the other. I am never tilting my head for more than an occasional glance and this setup provides sone kind of task repartition in space, which helps me with switching contexts.

From an ergonomic point of view this is no different than using a single monitor. They are at the right height and the right angle and with a good chair. The trick is to rotate the chair rather than your head. And it does take a bit of space.

I had two 4K monitors in portrait mode. Meant less vertical scrolling. I generally put different contexts on different screens, eg. code/terminals on one monitor and browsers with results on the other. Laptop screen left open as well for email, Slack, etc.