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| Calming | 81% | 780 votes | Total: 968 votes | |
| Distracting | 19% | 188 votes |
Calming
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Add to FavoritesI was a teenager when I first heard the song "Fixing a Hole" by the Beatles. I remember being puzzled by the lyric that said "I'm filling the cracks that ran through the door, and kept my mind from wandering, where it will go". Why would a crack stop someone's mind from wandering? Wouldn't it seem that a crack in the door would be an invitation to the mind to wander out of the room and far away?
I'm still not sure what Paul McCartney meant when he wrote those words, but what I've learned about myself is that in situations where there is inadequate mental stimulation, my mind will wander light-years away all by itself. If something present a serious mental challenge, I can focus on it to the exclusion of everything else. But with more lightweight stimuli, I'll start thinking about everything under the sun and completely forget what I was supposed to be involved in.
That's where the "cracks in the door" help me. The crack in the door is that one additional stimulus that engages my mind enough to keep me in the here-and-now. The crack stops my mind from wandering.
If I'm trying to focus on auditory stimuli, I need something to engage my eyes so that I don't start looking around the room and get drawn away. That's why I play Solitaire while I listen to podcasts and during boring phone calls.
If I'm supposed to focus on something visual, I need to engage my ears so that I don't starting talking to myself about things that are far more interesting than the task at hand. The solution that works for me is listening to music while I work. Now, if the work is really challenging I don't need the music. When I have to design a new spreadsheet, that engrosses me and I won't lose my focus. But when that's finished and it comes time to enter the data into the spreadsheets, I desperately need the music (Hooray for Pandora!). I look for music that will please me without getting me too emotionally involved. I have a classical station and a bluegrass/Celtic station on Pandora. As I type endless rows of numbers, instead of my mind getting pulled all the way out to, "What else should I be doing to foster my son's interest in math? Maybe I should try . . .", it only goes as far as, "Gee, Alison Krauss sure does have a pretty voice!"
The gospel station doesn't work for me because I start thinking about which of the songs I've performed with my choir and how well they handled them, which songs I haven't taught to my choir, but now that I think about it maybe I should, etc.
So, for me, music during work is extremely helpful, if it's the right kind of work assignment, and the right kind of music.
Learn more about this author, Joan Hall.
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Distracting
Is listening to music at work calming or distracting? I will have to say, "Listening to music while at work can be distracting to not only the employee, but if you're interviewing people, it can also distract them too." Many times in my line of work the music would blare out so loud that I could not hear the response the person I was interviewing would give to me. I've caught myself asking a question over several times because the person I've been talking to would ask me to repeat the question because they could not hear me for the music. Do you know how aggravating this can be to the one who is doing an interview?
This loud aggravating noise would come about because another employee loved the song and decided to blare it out through out the office and turn everyone's head. Many employees cannot keep their fingers off the music dial and they will regardless what they are told change the channel or up the sound and when they find the manager that told them to leave the music as it is set is gone...gee, the music gets so loud it could burst a person's eardrumb.
It is also a deterrent while speaking on the telephone or while trying to concentrate on an important matter you are trying to solve. Also there is always a fight going on between employees about the type of music they want to have playing, one wants country, another rap, another pop, etc., there's never a happy medium and the channel is being changed constantly.
Some people love music playing in the background but others become disturbed and irritated. Some people cannot concentrate while there is any noise going on around their particular work area. Most times as I would hear the music in the background, it would automatically give me a nagging headache and sometimes the music would get on my nerves so bad I could have screamed.
I believe this is the preference of the person involved and the job they are doing. I believe each employee should have a voice in any office as to whether music affects their performance or not. I feel all should be in agreement before music is played throughout the office. Now, if people want to bring in their own radio and listen to it at their own desk, I believe they should be able to do so if the music is never up loud enough for another office person to hear it.
It is also distrubing when the music is not properly on the station and the music blares in and out and emits loud static scratchy sounds throughout an office. This is terrible! With all of these factors mention, for me, cut off the music and let me have peace and quiet in my working surroundings.
Learn more about this author, Barbara Kasey Smith.
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