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I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

nytimes.com

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Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#81

Post by adamzerner »

venutip wrote: post #58
adamzerner wrote: post #20

1) Sound isn't necessarily distracting. Sometimes it could be helpful. Focus@Will ( https://www.focusatwill.com/science/science-primer/ ) is based on this. 2) You can usually find quiet if you want to rather easily. 3) If you're going to argue that society (or parts of society) should be more quiet, you have to be specific about what parts, and about why restricting sound outweighs the costs. The costs of restricting…

What are you basing this on, exactly? About half the people on this thread a) have been reduced to wearing sound-canceling or over-the-ear headphones; b) work in open office setups where there is no quiet to be had; or both. That might be your experience, but it certainly isn't the experience of the people on this thread; of the author of the original post; or of most people I know.

I meant that you can find quiet when you have the choice of where you want to be. If you're in an office that's noisy, obviously you can't really leave and work somewhere else. But even in a noisy office... you could just use earplugs. Because it's so easy to find or create quiet, it doesn't really seem worth it to restrict noise.

Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#82

Post by tomasien »

pg wrote: post #68

It's so true. I can do routine work with noise, but not the kind that requires insight. The sad thing is that noise is yet another example of the phenomenon of "the tragedy of the commons." Which means things tend to get noisier and noisier. In fact, what has surprised me most about living in Palo Alto is how noisy it is. You'd think living in the suburbs would at least be quiet. It is on weekends. But the problem wi…

A mild level of ambient noise is proven to increase creative cognition aka make you a better CREATIVE thinker.

Just saying

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/665048 from coffitvity.com

Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#83

Post by pasbesoin »

pg wrote: post #68

It's so true. I can do routine work with noise, but not the kind that requires insight. The sad thing is that noise is yet another example of the phenomenon of "the tragedy of the commons." Which means things tend to get noisier and noisier. In fact, what has surprised me most about living in Palo Alto is how noisy it is. You'd think living in the suburbs would at least be quiet. It is on weekends. But the problem wi…

At this point, I'd gladly take the leaf blower. Car stereo sub-woofers and straight pipe Harleys: Two things that, in my opinion, should be outright outlawed. Live on a street where they are frequent, and your life will be difficult. Live next to someone who tinkers on them incessantly, and your life will be hell.

Work is another problem. I wore out my health trying to cope with the "standard environment". (Which, of course, was spun as "collaboration". [Cough - "cost savings" - cough.]) No more. For my own sake, as well as to no longer support people who promote such environments.

Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#84

Post by GigabyteCoin »

>...people who are not philosophers lose whatever ideas their brains can carry in consequence of brutish jolts of sound.

This makes me wonder if the brutish jolts of sound being emitted from the many casinos throughout the world are accomplishing the same task (and emptying people's wallets more easily?)

"I think I should be goi.. >BINGK!I can't agree with this article more, however. I should probably read it again so I can better explain myself when asking that somebody not address me while I'm working.

I sometimes listen to white noise in my headphones if surrounded by incessant noise.

Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#85

Post by Anechoic »

gms wrote: post #77
pg wrote: post #68

It's so true. I can do routine work with noise, but not the kind that requires insight. The sad thing is that noise is yet another example of the phenomenon of "the tragedy of the commons." Which means things tend to get noisier and noisier. In fact, what has surprised me most about living in Palo Alto is how noisy it is. You'd think living in the suburbs would at least be quiet. It is on weekends. But the problem wi…

Is money able to solve this problem, through better sound insulation in one's house?

Better sound insulation can help reduce the noise level from external sources inside a home, but 1) does nothing for outdoor areas of your home (a patio or porch for example), and 2) becomes completely ineffectual if you open a window.

Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#86

Post by Anechoic »

msluyter wrote: post #19

I'm extremely sensitive to sound, and I've been hoping that the the powers that be will eventually come to the realization that open seating plans are highly suboptimal ( http://www.infoq.com/news/2011/08/open-office-layout , for example). I've used a decibel meter on occasion and have observed that my current office sometimes averages 75-80 db. Which, were I in a coffee shop, I could tolerate for some reason[1] much…

and have observed that my current office sometimes averages 75-80 db.

Is that A-weighted ("dBA") or linear? If that result is A-weighted, that noise level is dangerously loud - it may meet OSHA but it's almost certainly causing or contributing to hearing damage.

Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#87

Post by icelancer »

syassami wrote: post #80
pg wrote: post #68

It's so true. I can do routine work with noise, but not the kind that requires insight. The sad thing is that noise is yet another example of the phenomenon of "the tragedy of the commons." Which means things tend to get noisier and noisier. In fact, what has surprised me most about living in Palo Alto is how noisy it is. You'd think living in the suburbs would at least be quiet. It is on weekends. But the problem wi…

When I truly want to concentrate and need silence, I wear noise-canceling ear plugs. The same type you use to protect from a chainsaw-sounding snoring roommate.

This sort of works but the feeling is very artificial. You know it's not actually quiet.

Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#88

Post by Anechoic »

On a related topic: If you're in the Denver area this week, feel free to drop in on a Free Public Workshop on Noise in Communities and Natural areas: http://www.naturalquietworkshop2013.org/ which is being held in conjuction with Noise-Con (an annual conference for noise control engineers). The workshop is mostly geared toward noise in public parks, but it covers a lot of the same concerns in the NYT piece.

Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#89

Post by doorhammer »

wslh wrote: post #71
doorhammer wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My saying "meaningless" might have been a bit hyperbolic, but stands for the type of meaning I prefer. I doubt I would have thought twice about it if there wasn't a research article dropped into the middle of the piece that didn't really seem to justify anything that was being put forward. I would have just gone through the article, nodded, and read something else. Once I skimmed the research article I was in a "rese…

Sorry I think you are being too extreme in your rigorous quest: imagine that answering all your questions about noise and concentration could take 50 years. Will you wait for 50 years to take a decision for your own life or take an action before? "Sadly" scientific studies are an infinitesimal part of the reality.

No, I agree, which is why I said I was being hyperbolic, pedantic and overwrought.

I think my tl;dr sums it up. The article wasn't particularly bad, and it was an opinion piece, but the linked research was more interesting, yet didn't support the claims at all, so why even link to it?

I didn't mean to imply that you have to answer all of those questions in a piece of research, but that trying to answer any one of those pieces would be more useful and interesting than the speculation.

Even absent rigorous research, when I have a conversation about this kind of thing with friends, we pretty quickly try to hone in on some reasonably precise definitions of what we're talking about. Defining the question is half the fun of the discourse for me a lot of the time.

edit: and besides.. listing all those criteria made me look super smart ;)

Re: I’m Thinking. Please. Be Quiet.

#90

Post by jloughry »

stephth wrote: post #76
pg wrote: post #68

It's so true. I can do routine work with noise, but not the kind that requires insight. The sad thing is that noise is yet another example of the phenomenon of "the tragedy of the commons." Which means things tend to get noisier and noisier. In fact, what has surprised me most about living in Palo Alto is how noisy it is. You'd think living in the suburbs would at least be quiet. It is on weekends. But the problem wi…

I would work for the rest of my life to pay for a device that turns my ears off temporarily. YC2020?

I would work for the rest of my life to pay for a device that turns my ears off temporarily. YC2020?

I logged in just to upvote this idea.

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