5 ms·
I'm a data point that favors surrounding noise. For years, my most productivity-dense time of the week is when i bring my laptop to a local sports bar for prime
by liquidise 7y ago
I'm a data point that favors surrounding noise. For years, my most productivity-dense time of the week is when i bring my laptop to a local sports bar for prime time NFL games. Something about the consistent noise, available momentary distractions and wandering eyes keeps me on-task and cradled in thought in a way no office (home or formal) does.
- asdf21 7y agoCurious, did you grow up in a noisier / more frenetic household?
- liquidise 7y agoFascinating question. My mother ran a day care from our home, so almost certainly above what is the norm, though i wouldn't describe it as particularly noisy/rambunctious.
- asdf21 7y agoI tend to think a lot of our core personality traits are developed during an imprinting period (mostly between 7 and 11). I grew up as an only child on a fairly pastoral 15 acres, so very different environment compared to most people who have siblings. As an adult, office noise bothers me a lot more than most, especially conversations. The idea of being productive in a cafe / starbucks is almost absurd to me, like a Monty Python sketch. Although, I sort of feel the same about Open Office plans, which is less funny, especially in the Bay Area.
- ikeyany 7y agoI would imagine that anyone who uses the word 'pastoral' to describe their childhood would find much of the Bay Area to be Monty Python-esque.
- semiotagonal 7y agoThe vast majority of the time I don't notice noise at all, but when I'm doing something at the edge of my ability, when I can't quite nail it, noise becomes extremely distracting.
- rhizome 7y agoA game in the background provides structure to the noise and, for me, makes "random" background noise more tolerable and ignorable, the same mechanism that helps me focus when I'm listening to regular music. The thing about offices is that in my experience it's unstructured, so anything that can catch my ear might require my attention, and that takes a lot of focus away from the thing I'm actually trying to do. That is, the psychoacoustic form of the noise makes a difference, at least to me.
- Eric_WVGG 7y agoLikewise. I've worked almost exclusively out of cafes for the past twenty years. I find it akin to white noise.
- rhizome 7y agoAt least for me, that's because you can focus with the knowledge that the background noise will never require your attention. The same is not true for open offices, which is where it breaks down for me. Any voice I hear could be trying to get my attention, and I have to pay attention to it in order to realize that it doesn't.
- hinkley 7y agoI think you've got some cocktail party effect going on there. Conversely, one of the most distracting things for me is barely hearing people talking. My brain keeps trying to interpret the murmuring as words before it can reject it.
- reificator 7y ago> Conversely, one of the most distracting things for me is barely hearing people talking. My brain keeps trying to interpret the murmuring as words before it can reject it. Same! My family loves calling each other on speakerphone. Asking however politely and considerately for them to use a headset or hold the phone is a mortal sin. Coincidentally, when I moved out on my own, my ability to focus suddenly shot through the roof. Like putting on glasses for the first time when you're nearsighted. Going back home I don't lose that sense of focus. Until the phone calls start again...
- john-radio 7y agoI'm curious if you follow football (other than by osmosis through this experience)?