Editing Alpha channels/ Masking Mode without activating a Layer each time

In former Versions of Photoshop it was able to click on an alpha mask or use the masking mode without having a layer activated. Now you always get a error by doing so.
It is pretty annoying that you have to do a few clicks in order to continue working: click "ok"> choose layer>choose alpha channel that should be edited.
This workflow is pretty inconvenient. Could you please fix this?