My wife and I discus this all the time. Not all jobs require the same level of thought. Her work involves a lot of mechanical movement, practice, skill, talent,

My wife and I discus this all the time. Not all jobs require the same level of thought. Her work involves a lot of mechanical movement, practice, skill, talent, and some thinking. But most of her day to day can be done listening to a podcast like she's driving. I can't do that. So no, We're not "all thinking", some tasks require deep thought and long periods of uninterrupted concentration. The problem is working in a team requires communication, and management of interruption, it is not useful to be like this dick with the headphones on, that creates barriers (the attitude, not the headphones) to communication.