Do Headphones Help Or Hurt Productivity? 405
Hugh Pickens writes "Derek Thompson writes that there is an excellent chance you are wearing, or within arm's reach of, a pair of headphones or earbuds. To visit a modern office place is to walk into a room with a dozen songs playing simultaneously but to hear none of them. In survey after survey, office workers report with confidence that music makes us happier, better at concentrating, and more productive. But science says we're full of it, writes Thompson. 'Listening to music hurts our ability to recall other stimuli, and any pop song — loud or soft — reduces overall performance for both extroverts and introverts.' So if headphones are so bad for productivity, why do so many people at work have headphones? The answer is that personal music creates a shield both for listeners and for those walking around usm says Thompson. 'I am here, but I am separate. In a wreck of people and activity, two plastic pieces connected by a wire create an aura of privacy.' We assume that people wearing them are busy or oblivious, so now people wear them to appear busy or oblivious — even without music. Wearing soundless headphones is now a common solution to productivity blocks. 'If music evolved as a social glue for the species — as a way to make groups and keep them together — headphones allow music to be enjoyed friendlessly — as a way to savor our privacy, in heightened solitude,' concludes Thompson. 'In a crowded world, real estate is the ultimate scarce resource, and a headphone is a small invisible fence around our minds — making space, creating separation, helping us listen to ourselves.'"
Re:Headphones do improve concentration (Score:5, Funny)
At least when discussing a story about effects of listening you should get "hear, hear!" right.
Re:Less distracting (Score:5, Funny)
Finding a quite workplace is not as easy as it should be.
Yes! It's quiet difficult these days.
Re:Headphones hurt my productivity. (Score:5, Funny)
Best cure for an open office plan is a white noise generator.
Yes. I often find a 5 MW gas turbine (I like Siemens SGT-100, myself), will drown out most office conversations (But not all - Connie, I'm looking at you!). The exhaust, unless well-vented, will also tend to deaden (in both senses of the word) office noise, as well.
Re:I don't let my kids have earbuds. (Score:4, Funny)
even if that means listening to music I can't stand being played from a stereo
Boy, you would have loved me in my Death Metal phase in high school. After a few hours of Napalm Death or Cannibal Corpse, you probably would have bought me a pair of headphones yourself.
Re:Two Words: (Score:5, Funny)
Would you have preferred as a first post, that I introduced you to the marvelous properties exhibited by Clean My PC?
Re:Two Words: (Score:5, Funny)
That only works if peoples' tastes in music are similar enough.
QFT. I worked in a warehouse doing order picking one year where the boss and her fan club were all big into country music, and not even good country music like Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings, but the godawful shit that they pass off as country music today.
I spent that year listening to such timeless classics as She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy [youtube.com], (Her Favorite Color is) Chrome [youtube.com], One More Day [youtube.com], and Beer For My Horses [youtube.com].
Unfortunately, because there was lift equipment in use on the warehouse floor, we weren't allowed to use headphones for safety reasons. After a few months of this shit (and it was always the same shit, they had a handful of mix discs they would play and they never, ever updated the selection) those of us that couldn't stand it started singing along as loudly as we could, in as exaggerated a country accent we could, throwing our own little interjections like "Hoo, doggy!" and "Yee-HAWWWWW" (complete with knee slaps) into the mix for good measure...and the boss responded by turning the music up even louder. In retaliation, one guy actually got on the P.A. to sing along with the now higher volume and got a write up for his troubles. No sense of humor at all in that bunch of shit-kicking hicks...
I wasn't very sad to leave that place.
Re:Two Words: (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Two Words: (Score:1, Funny)
Aw come on! I'm not distracting! And I'm not whining!
Re:Two Words: (Score:4, Funny)
Fuck me sideways with a rusty spoon that is some painful shit. Curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on the chrome.. song. It's done now, I can never unhear it, fuck.. and I had almost recovered from highlander 2 too. I mean, I still occaasionally wake up sweating with vague notions of experiencing some nameless horror with a background smell of rancid popcorn but that's the best one can hope for - the actual memories of highlander 2 have mostly faded. Now I'm going to need powerful psychotropics or a powerful shamen to get that Chrome song exorcised - thanks.