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| Calming | 81% | 781 votes | Total: 970 votes | |
| Distracting | 19% | 189 votes |
Calming
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Add to FavoritesListening to music at work is not only calming; it makes the day go by faster. It would be beneficial for all places of employment to allow workers to listen to music throughout the day. Not just any music though. Unfortunately, in today's world people are often easily offended, and because of that, any business that caters to the public (and obviously most of them do) must play mainstream music so as not to offend anyone. Mainstream music is also more likely to foster a positive working environment for one's employees because it does not promote hateful messages.
Certain types of music can be inappropriate for most businesses and should be avoided. These genres include rap, spiritual/religious music, heavy metal, and in some cases, alternative. In addition to possibly being offensive to the general public, these genres are not calming, but can and oftentimes do spark rage and anger in the listener (mostly in the rap genre). These kinds of genres would be detrimental to the working environment.
In many cases, doctors and dentists offices choose to play calm, soothing music (for example, classical/instrument al) because this type of music has a calming effect on the patients waiting to be seen. In addition, the calm, soothing music can do much to keep the staff from feeling overwhelmed and stressed out, much like keeping an aquarium in one's office for the purpose of observing the fish as a way to relax and distress during a hectic work day.
Many people enjoy the workday much more when they are able to listen to music throughout the day. They don't see it as distracting, and in fact, they feel it is more distracting to not have music playing while they work, simply because the silence itself distracts them much more than the music ever could. This stems from the fact that when many people are home alone, most of the time there is a television or radio on. Long periods of silence only serve to make people antsy and make them want to be in an environment rich with sound.
Listening to music while at work is calming and not at all distracting for many people. For people who concentrate better when there is background noise, it can mean the difference between an enjoyable day at work and one that feels as if it will never end. Music makes the day go faster as well as putting people in a better mood which in turn motivates them to complete their work and complete it well. And for that reason, many people find it calming to listen to music while working.
Learn more about this author, Julie A. Wein.
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Distracting
For years I thought that listening to music at work would be a definite plus. Sometimes during school classes, ones that required a lot of studying from a book and not a whole lot of listening, certain teachers would let their students, including myself, listen to their walkmans. This was many years before tiny iPods and MP3 Players were born into existence. I always felt that this was a benefit. It helped kids at least to focus on their own papers and work instead of teasing the other weaker kids while the teacher's back was turned.
Going on this belief formed in childhood, I thought that listening to music while at work would be a good experience and help the productivity of workers, making the boss a very happy camper. That was before I started to work at a certain store, one which relied on computers and one where the boss allowed music to be played. I was taught a very valuable lesson on how playing music can swiftly turn into a very distracting and worrisome thing.
My workplace has four computers. The boss works in the back one, which is hooked up to speakers. The ancient computer next to it, the one that I usually work on, also has speakers attached to it. I'm a pretty mild worker and usually just let the boss listen to her own music. That she is the boss probably has a lot to do with this fact too.
The other two computers are in the front of the store. There is one pair of speakers. Whoever has the speakers has the right to listen to whatever music they want to, just like the person with the TV remote is in charge of picking what channel and show to watch. You can see the problems already forming from this. One of my coworkers likes to listen to opera music. The rest of us aren't that big on that type of music. Listening to a certain music genre that you aren't that into can result in some pretty nasty headaches. Another problem is formed by the fact that this coworker likes to sing along with the music. We are forced to listen to a concert given by her on a daily basis.
The fact that she won't allow anyone else to listen to certain tunes has created a musical rift in the office that shouldn't be there and is rather distracting. Another worker tries to play her music or wait for the other worker to politely volunteer that she play some of her own favorite musicians' work but she has waited in vain for a very long time.
This office struggle has led me to believe that, while music is often very soothing and can help the work go quickly, when you are dealing with several different people with very strong differences in musical taste music in the workplace is not always a wise decision.
Learn more about this author, Erin Smyth.
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