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Office noise bothers some people more than others

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Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#51

Post by gnode »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #43
gnode wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although not about noise pollution, it does bring to mind the question of how well some of these studies might have controlled for the effect of noise pollution, which would likely have an effect on cognition, and correlate with air pollution.

Not sure how controlling for noise pollution affects studying air pollution - can you elucidate? Still, I don't understand how noise pollution anecdotes are relevant to an article on air pollution.

I think the anecdotal comment was actually meant for a different discussion (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21565841).

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#52

Post by tempguy9999 »

flatline wrote: post #30
tempguy9999 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a very, very stupid thing to do. https://latterdaysaintmag.com/the-parable-of-chestertons-fen...

The logical conclusion to this is that we should not take any action in the face of incomplete information or uncertainty. This is typical of the dogmatic approach to reasoning that you find in many religious texts. The action of taking down the fence may not be based on ignorance, so much as curiosity. This could be viewed as subversive, and we can’t have that now can we?

> The action of taking down the fence may not be based on ignorance, so much as curiosity

While I sort of agree, it's not about a fence but getting as much info as reasonably possible before acting. Next time you change something you don't understand because of curiosity, there may be injuries or deaths.

> This is typical of the dogmatic approach to reasoning that you find in many religious texts

That's pretty much what you've done here; taken the extreme view of what I'm trying to say.

Back on the subject: the dot matrix printer was not the guy's property and it may have been streaming a hardcopy of some server's intrusion log. That would explain why it was there but nobody looked. It's there in case someone ever needed to.

(edit: it's printed door movements, not server stuff. If the doors are opened by badges, it's still movement detection, at least of the most basic, people-y, sort)

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#53

Post by dang »

tempguy9999 wrote: post #11
zabzonk wrote: post #7

People put with noise far more than they have to. Here are a few of my experiences: - moved into an office where a very noisy dot-matrix printer printed out every opening and closing of a door in the building. Nobody ever looked at the printouts. I unplugged it and put it in a dumpster. Nobody ever complained. - working for an oil company, my boss was sitting next to a big HP plotter that was horribly noisy - he wore…

That was a very, very stupid thing to do. https://latterdaysaintmag.com/the-parable-of-chestertons-fen...

When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#54

Post by jv22222 »

t34543 wrote: post #35
nkrisc wrote: post #3

Constant coughing and throat clearing drive me up the wall . I despise working around most smokers as many of them have this unconscious, horrid smoker's cough that they do a few times a minute on average, it seems (I haven't actually counted). But any constant throat clearing sets me off and I usually have to leave or I can't focus on anything. The type of throat clearing I'm talking about is when someone really jus…

I can’t stand mastication noise. I must leave the area or drown it out, block any visible signs of eating, and take a few deep breaths.

Same here, it drives me nuts. I just have to get away from it or drown it out with headphones asap.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#55

Post by dilyevsky »

zabzonk wrote: post #7

People put with noise far more than they have to. Here are a few of my experiences: - moved into an office where a very noisy dot-matrix printer printed out every opening and closing of a door in the building. Nobody ever looked at the printouts. I unplugged it and put it in a dumpster. Nobody ever complained. - working for an oil company, my boss was sitting next to a big HP plotter that was horribly noisy - he wore…

Anecdotally, when I'm playing speed rounds on lichess if there’s any kind of background noise my score drops by 200 point instantly. I find that a good proxy for high-concentration activity and this realization made me change my routine to spend at least half of my office hours when there’s no one around.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#56

Post by asdf21 »

liquidise wrote: post #40

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.

Curious, did you grow up in a noisier / more frenetic household?

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#57

Post by tempguy9999 »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #49
tempguy9999 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a very, very stupid thing to do. https://latterdaysaintmag.com/the-parable-of-chestertons-fen...

This is one of these interesting issues that you can use to tell conservatives from progressive types. In some cases, there might indeed be some valid reason behind some old rule that currently seems elusive, but in many cases it's just superstition, and in any case you often can't find it out unless you challenge the rule.

Agreed! - so walk down the corridor and find out why.

Think: someone must have been feeding the printer paper or it would have run out years ago. It's there for a reason. See possibly why in my other comment.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#58

Post by Kye »

tempguy9999 wrote: post #11
zabzonk wrote: post #7

People put with noise far more than they have to. Here are a few of my experiences: - moved into an office where a very noisy dot-matrix printer printed out every opening and closing of a door in the building. Nobody ever looked at the printouts. I unplugged it and put it in a dumpster. Nobody ever complained. - working for an oil company, my boss was sitting next to a big HP plotter that was horribly noisy - he wore…

That was a very, very stupid thing to do. https://latterdaysaintmag.com/the-parable-of-chestertons-fen...

Chesterton's Fence works when the people in authority are willing and able to change things with adequate understanding and justification. Sometimes no one knows why the thing is there and the options are remove it and see what happens or keep devoting resources and accommodations to it while it reduces quality of life.

I'm usually critical of SV style creative destruction, but sometimes asking for forgiveness instead of permission really is the only way to get things done. As long as it's a strategy, not the strategy.

Asking someone why the printer does that would have been good. It would have been an opportunity to show initiative to superiors either way. One way you get to remove something everyone hates. Another way you get to find a less intrusive system to solve whatever problem the printouts solve.

It may not have been a problem as they suggest, but not hearing anything is not the same as not causing a problem. I've had people just do things thinking I was making up the issue with what they wanted to do. Of course, it caused the problem, and I didn't know the source until they mockingly said "I did it and you never complained!"

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#60

Post by liquidise »

asdf21 wrote: post #56
liquidise wrote: post #40

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.

Curious, did you grow up in a noisier / more frenetic household?

Fascinating 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.
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