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Hello, me. It's been a while

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Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#131

Post by rcxdude »

euroderf wrote: post #6
mmcdermott wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer silence but generally use music to focus. My choices aren't usually music or silence in practice, but music or office background noise. Since my ordered ranking is Silence, then Music, with Office Noise last, music it is.

But music as instrumentals, yes ? Words are very distracting.

For it's mainly how familiar I am with the music. I have a playlist that I've listened to hundreds of times so regardless of the style it doesn't become distracting. It all becomes 'as ignorable as it is interesting', as Brian Eno said ambient music should be.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#132

Post by jasode »

igleria wrote: post #105
jasode wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>most people today have headphones on all the time. I don't understand it. I'm not sure, but it would seem people hate their own voice? I can't generalize for everyone and maybe some of those people you observe are just listening to music all day long. In my circle, we have earphones all the time because we're listening to podcasts of news, tech industry commentary, macroeconomics and finance, etc. If one is working…

My non expert and personal opinion is that multitasking for a long time is not a free lunch and could lead to burnout for most people

>multitasking for a long time is not a free lunch

The multitasking I was talking about was combining a mindless repetitive task that has low cognitive demands such as walking on a treadmill, yardwork raking leaves, driving on non-descript boring roads ... with listening to a podcast about whatever topics are interesting. The mind is engaged while the hands and feet doing the work are on autopilot. In those cases, it can be a "free lunch" in the sense that the curiosity-seeking mind got fed while whatever physical task that needed to get done also got done with less procrastination and dread.

I wasn't talking about trying to edit a Excel spreadsheet while listening and concentrating on a podcast about the politics and protests of datacenter buildouts.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#133

Post by nozzlegear »

toasty228 wrote: post #120
jasode wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>most people today have headphones on all the time. I don't understand it. I'm not sure, but it would seem people hate their own voice? I can't generalize for everyone and maybe some of those people you observe are just listening to music all day long. In my circle, we have earphones all the time because we're listening to podcasts of news, tech industry commentary, macroeconomics and finance, etc. If one is working…

> maybe some of those people you observe are just listening to music all day long. Is that supposed to be better? Modern humans can't stand listening to their own thoughts

What?

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#134

Post by thebiblelover7 »

I've had a similar experience but more specifically with music. I decided a couple years ago to take a break from listening to music for 3 months. The first afternoon of this experiment showed to me that I was addicted to music and that I hated silence.

I now realize that taking moments to walk, eat, clean the house with nothing to listen to can be really productive and beneficial.

This article also reminds me of a recent video by Simple Lucas: https://youtube.com/watch?v=NZD5IFpyDcE

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#136

Post by embedding-shape »

inigyou wrote: post #125
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not convinced boredom was normal per se - people find stuff to do. It's just that the nature of stuff has changed, as has the availability. 20 years ago it was browsing the internet for hours. Before that it was watching TV. Before that there was Other Stuff, like going exploring with a friend (for me). But the 2000s changed things, people got mp3 players and an infinite library of music, smartphones and an infin…

"Going exploring with a friend" sounds infinitely more constructive than doomscrolling.

I'm not sure it was, at least growing up country-side, it usually meant "getting up to no good" one way or another, because there is literally nothing else to do, eventually you've done all the "normal" stuff. Going to scare/play with the cows, find an axe and cut some trees down, throw branches at the neighbor kid without them seeing you, build snow-walls to fuck the cars, among other things were common activities, and I don't think a single adult appreciated any of us doing these things.

Eventually the computer appeared though, which did well in keeping us more inside, at least in the non-summer.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#137

Post by [deleted] »

EinsDueTresFour wrote: post #97
bambax wrote: post #80

> Recently, as I reached for the play button out of habit, I stopped. I thought: what if I just do this chore in silence today? It seems most people today have headphones on all the time. I don't understand it. I'm not sure, but it would seem people hate their own voice? I just love silence. I can't work in anything but complete silence. In open spaces I wear earplugs. (If I'm not wearing earplugs it means I'm not do…

I am the same when I am doing deep work that I am interested in. I need absolute silence. My day-to-day mundane work is a bit different, but I still cannot listen to music with lyrics. I have found to my surprise that the soundtrack of 8-bit games (SNES et al) really helps. I now have a playlist full of those, with soundtracks from Star Fox to A Link to the Past. Really helps with the mundane stuff.

[deleted]
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