Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

ekin.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–158 of 158 posts

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#151

Post by 542354234235 »

adventured wrote: post #91
munificent wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> f it were an actual instinct, I would possess it as would essentially all people. I do not possess that instinct what-so-ever. The existence of variation does not disprove the existence of trends.

Of course. However the parent stated it as a "We" that was implied to span humanity. It doesn't.

When talking about all of humanity, does saying “we” really imply that every single person has this or that trait, or does it imply that people in general have this trait? We are social creatures. Do you think I mean every single human being that lives or has ever lived was social, or in general we are a social species? This just seems like intentionally reading their comment in the least charitable light as an excuse to argue.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#152

Post by queuebert »

gilbetron wrote: post #113
munificent wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may have established boundaries, but you almost certainly have your wife to thank for 99% of the enforcement of them.

Reminds me of a coworker that had a baby at the same time as me and my wife. He was shocked at how poorly ours was sleeping, as his slept all night. Then at the holiday party, we remarked to his wife how nice it must be. She laughed and laughed. Turns out she was getting up multiple times every night while he slept all night, oblivious.

That was me, too. But I'm trying to make it up to her now.

There is no manual on how to be a parent. Don't tell our kids that we're making it up as we go.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#153

Post by 542354234235 »

tarsinge wrote: post #131
munificent wrote: post #16

I've worked in private offices, cubicles, open plan offices, coffeeshops, libraries, and now many many hours in home both when other family members are around and when they aren't. I spend a lot of time thinking about sound and focus. The conclusion I came to is that humans have a few emotional needs in order to reach deep focus: 1. We need to not be distracted and we need to feel certainty that we will not be distra…

Your theory is interesting but what about the studies that link noise to stress and health issues?[0] Maybe background noises of voices have a different effect? [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5898791/

The study focuses on three main things: road noise, air traffic noise, and industry noise. As part of that, it shows the link between annoyance at a noise and the chronic stress, anxiety, and health issues that come from that. For instance, Fig. 7 shows people are far more annoyed by road and aircraft noise than other types, including “neighborhood” noise, and Fig. 8 that shows the link between annoyance and rates of various issues. So it doesn’t seem to be saying that any noise leads to negative effects, but that specific types of noises act as a kind of environmental pollution.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#154

Post by hackerfromthefu »

the_af wrote: post #121
randlet wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The boundary that the OP needs to enforce is actually with the caregiver more than the children (although even young children are capable of learning and respecting boundaries). The caregiver needs to buy into the fact that it's beneficial for the bread winner of the family to have uninterrupted work periods. When I read your statement it feels like you're saying you think the OP is just throwing proclamations over t…

Both parents are caregivers in a marriage, there's no single caregiver. What happens if both work during regular office hours (as in my marriage)? If you have very young kids, it's impossible to have a distraction free work environment at home unless you find someone to take care of the kids and enforce the no distractions rule. People often assume, somewhat unfairly, that this person should be the mother. But what i…

Its seems unrealistic for a couple to both have busy careers and also children and expect to have it all without compromises or another caregiver.

But many people I met seem sold on the dream they can 'have it all' without thinking about the price

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#155

Post by the_af »

hackerfromthefu wrote: post #154
the_af wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both parents are caregivers in a marriage, there's no single caregiver. What happens if both work during regular office hours (as in my marriage)? If you have very young kids, it's impossible to have a distraction free work environment at home unless you find someone to take care of the kids and enforce the no distractions rule. People often assume, somewhat unfairly, that this person should be the mother. But what i…

Its seems unrealistic for a couple to both have busy careers and also children and expect to have it all without compromises or another caregiver. But many people I met seem sold on the dream they can 'have it all' without thinking about the price

> another caregiver

Another caregiver is a viable option, but then again the pandemic hit and in some countries, for a while, it was forbidden to have strangers at home and daycare was closed.

Many people simply assume the woman must be the caregiver. This assumption by default will affect you even in workplaces which pay lip service to equality. Source: me.

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#156

Post by davidjytang »

munificent wrote: post #16

I've worked in private offices, cubicles, open plan offices, coffeeshops, libraries, and now many many hours in home both when other family members are around and when they aren't. I spend a lot of time thinking about sound and focus. The conclusion I came to is that humans have a few emotional needs in order to reach deep focus: 1. We need to not be distracted and we need to feel certainty that we will not be distra…

Some of my most productive sessions are at night all quiet just me and my computer with no music playing and for sure no one would be talking to me. (Sometimes I do to myself.)

Maybe I don't care for tribemates?

Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level

#158

Post by Karawebnetwork »

oldie wrote: post #86
Karawebnetwork wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever tried to monitor your CO2 levels? I thought it was all about temperature until I got one and learned that my home office climbs up to 2500 ppm. At this level, it creates: "Fatigue, loss of focus and concentration, uncomfortable 'stuffy' feeling in the air"

2500ppm? Good grief. I notice a slight blunting of my mental edge at about 1000ppm. I always maintain enough ventilation to keep below about 800ppm. I don't guess; I monitor. At work, in our delapidated office, I've seen up to 1800ppm by lunchtime. No wonder no one can concentrate in there. It's not cheap, but you can buy heat-recovery ventilation for domestic properties: stale air is pumped out, fresh air is pumped…

In the summer, I managed to have my apartment at 800ppm. But come fall we need to close the windows since it's too cold outside and 1200ppm is the new normal.

I open all the windows once a day to create a draft and it drops to 600-800ppm. But by then, I need to close them all again to reheat the apartment. This has the side effects of getting rid of all the humidity in the apartment and then the heating makes the situation even worst.

Most people I know go the entire winter without ever opening any windows. I wonder what their CO2 levels are.

Post reply on HN