mattnewport comments on Vote Qualifications, Not Issues - Less Wrong

10 Post author: jimrandomh 26 September 2010 08:26PM

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Comment author: mattnewport 27 September 2010 04:05:41PM 0 points [-]

Have you tried noise cancelling headphones? I found them pretty effective for cutting out audio distractions at work (when playing music). I stopped using them because they were a little too effective - people would come and try to get my attention and I'd be completely oblivious to their presence.

Comment author: SilasBarta 27 September 2010 04:29:22PM 0 points [-]

I've tried noise-cancelling headphones, but without playing music through them, because that is itself a distraction to me. It only worked against steady, patterned background noise.

Comment author: mattnewport 27 September 2010 05:39:28PM 2 points [-]

I find certain types of music less distracting than the alternative of random background noise. Trance works well for me because it is fairly repetitive and so doesn't distract me with trying to listen to the music too closely. It also helps if I'm listening to something I'm very familiar with and with the tracks in a set order rather than on shuffle. Mix CDs are good because there are no distracting breaks between tracks.

Comment author: AdeleneDawner 27 September 2010 07:16:29PM 1 point [-]

Seconding all of this except the bit about set order rather than shuffle, which I haven't tried - it otherwise matches the advice I was going to give. Also, songs with no words or with words in a language you don't speak are better than songs with words, and if you don't want or can't tolerate explicitly noise-canceling headphones, earplugs + headphones with the music turned up very loud also works.