by Lesley Aeschliman

Created on: January 16, 2008

I have to admit that I had a hard time answering this question. But after careful consideration, and thinking about how the question relates to me, I ended up going with "distracting."

I am the first to admit that I like to have music in the background while I'm working (in fact, I have music going in the background right now as I write this). I know that when I'm working and listening to music, and a song I really like comes on, I am extremely tempted to stop what I'm doing and listen to it. While I try really hard to fight the temptation, I end up giving in to it, more often than not.

Also, there are times I find that when I have music going in the background while trying to work, my mind is trying to process the music that's playing at the same time that I'm trying to think about what it is I'm needing to get accomplished. I have to admit that with music playing in the background while I write this piece, it's making it harder for me to think about how to write what it is I want to say. If that isn't distracting, then I don't know what is! Well, perhaps there could be other things that could be just as distracting, or even more distracting than that for other people. But for me personally, that is rather distracting.

Perhaps it can be argued that I could stop listening to music while trying to work on my writing. However, I am addicted to the music. If I don't have music going, then the silence gets to me after a while, and the silence can be just as distracting as the music. So for me, it's a no-win situation.

I'm sure there are people out there who can work with the music in the background and not be distracted by it. And for those people who have that ability, I will give them some major props for being able to avoid temptation. However, I simply am not one of those people.

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