Whistle while you work ?

Posted by: Brian OReilly on 08 February 2004

I've recently become convinced that listening to music while I work has a really benefical effect on my productivity and the quality of my output. When I say "listen", I mean listening to music of my own chosing thru' headphones rather than being subjected to Radio One whilst stacking shelves in Tesco's or listening to music while driving.

It's fairly obvious that a happy worker is a productive worker, but there is more to this than simply enjoying some nice background music. What I mean is that when I am doing something creative, listening to music, or perhaps more importantly, listening to music through headphones, seems to block out the distractions of my work environment, but also allows me to really concentrate on whatever design task I am trying to develop and to work at a higher rate than normal. Even stranger, it only works with certain, creative tasks. If I am working on a technical task, a spreadsheet or a report, then music becomes a distraction, and if I have to translate a document then I can't even bear to have people talking in my vicinity.

Why ?

I'm curious as to why the brain can sometimes cope simultaneously with work and music and sometimes cannot. Is it determined by right side/left side brain activity ? How does music improve the ability to think in some situations but not in others ?

I rarely get the the chance to plug in the headphones at work, and even in a deserted office it inevitably means a hundred people will suddenly appear who need my signature/ need me to tell them what to do/need to tell me what to do etc so perhaps it's simply the novelty. I know some of you work from home offices or have office systems so how do you find this ?


Regards,

Brian OReilly
Posted on: 08 February 2004 by count.d
I'm in a creative job. I find if I play music through my Linn/Naim equipment whilst I'm working, it's a big distraction and I get nothing done. Yet if I play music through a portable radio, it's no problem.

If I'm in my car and I'm trying to read a map, I automatically switch the radio off because I can't concentrate.
Posted on: 08 February 2004 by Jez Quigley
Interesting thread. I enjoy music when I'm driving along motorways or familiar roads (brain on automatic?), but I just have to switch the music off when trying to negotiate unfamiliar town centres (especially the ones where you are trapped into a lane and THEN they show you the sign), or trying to find a new address.

At home I'm like Count.d, putting the main system on = work stops. I can't even read, my attention moves from the text to the music.

Could it be an age related 'bandwith' problem? When I was young I had no problem reading, watching TV and talking simultaneously with the radio on in the background.

Psychologists say that we can only hold 5 to 9 items in our mind at the same time, I assume that I'm nearer the 5 than the 9 and therefore have limited multitasking capability.
Posted on: 09 February 2004 by David Stewart
Last night I had Bruckner 3 on the system whilst reading the paper and watching the last few frames of the Masters Snooker on the TV (sound muted). At the same time I was able to drink a glass of wine and pick my nose. Does this make me some kind of multi-tasking superman? Mind you, I was so tired afterwards I had to go to bed Wink

David

PS: Seriously though, some kids these days seem to find it impossible to study without some ghastly tizz-boom 'music' playing through the walkman at a decibel level which would put Concorde to shame Eek
Posted on: 09 February 2004 by Bruce Woodhouse
I have always worked (as in studied) better with music. The nature of the music is probably important, I need familiar sounds not a conversation or discussion on the radio which intrudes. I remember reading that this has something to do with brain arousal (sort of background brain activity level).

We all need a degree of arousal to function at an optimum level, some people need the stimulus of music etc to do this, others do not and may indeed need to lower their arousal state by working in calm and quiet. I think this also relates to some theories of introversion/extroversion, the latter needing more continous stimulation to maintain effective arousal etc.

Bruce
Posted on: 09 February 2004 by Duncan Fullerton
Not sure about music while working, but I had a chap working for me once who would listen to white noise all day! Claimed it help him concentrate.

Duncan
Posted on: 09 February 2004 by Brian OReilly
quote:
Jez:
Psychologists say that we can only hold 5 to 9 items in our mind at the same time,


I have the feeling that the act of listening to music is excluding the other items, allowing increased clarity for the primary task.

quote:
Bruce:
We all need a degree of arousal to function at an optimum level, some people need the stimulus of music etc to do this, others do not and may indeed need to lower their arousal state by working in calm and quiet.


This could also make sense due to the non-specific/lateral thinking nature of some tasks which then benefit from external arousal to prevent drifting off-focus. It's difficult to describe......

Where the task is very specific, then it is possibly easier to allocate 100% brain resource, at which point music simply becomes a distraction.

Regards,

Brian
Posted on: 09 February 2004 by Martin Clark
I 'm definitely in the 'music is distracting' group - in fact, unless I have something mindless to plug through I find music almost debilitating. I end up listening, not working.

I have tried the white noise thing with some success - working in an open-plan area shared with up to 30 people I found that tuning a little personal radio between stations at just sufficent volume to mask the general background hum actually helped quite a lot when pushing dull stuff to a deadline. The only limiting factors are that I don't find earbuds comfortable, and it doesn't mix well with collaborative nature of my workplace.

M.
Posted on: 09 February 2004 by seagull
I've just started a contract for a new client. The office is generally one of the quietest places I’ve ever experienced. Most of the developers spend most of the day with headphones on and never speak. They’ve also got a ban on mobiles (a good thing in my book until I need to be contacted by agencies to secure my next contract of course!). But, the department manager has the loudest speaking voice I think I have ever heard and is, himself a major distraction especially when he uses his phone in speaker mode.

Being a “scummy, overpaid contractor” I have been put in a corner quite some distance away from anyone else. With no-one to talk to I thought, “Oh well, if you can’t beat them, join them.” So I brought my walkman in and a few choice CD’s.

I have just been asked to turn mine down! I was working quite industriously until that interruption at which point my concentration was blown completely (hence my brief visit here).

I guess not everyone appreciates Porcupine Tree
Posted on: 10 February 2004 by Rasher
I am a Structural Engineer and have my own office. Luckily it's a detached building. I play loud rock in the mornings and dance music later in the afternoons with a bit of ambient in between. When I play it loud, you can hear it in the street. Smile
If I am doing calculations, then it's great. If I am drawing, then I work faster if I have dance music on. If I am writing reports, then I need quiet - silence actually.
Don't know why this is.
I love my work though.
Posted on: 10 February 2004 by Jez Quigley
quote:
I am a Structural Engineer and have my own office. Luckily it's a detached building


One for Coleman balls I think Wink