{"id":1270,"date":"2012-09-09T17:40:53","date_gmt":"2012-09-09T17:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/?p=1270"},"modified":"2025-01-30T07:42:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T07:42:18","slug":"listen-while-you-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/2012\/09\/09\/listen-while-you-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen while you work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I feel sorry for PhD students who prefer to work in silence. Most students (and postdocs) will be assigned a desk in a shared office. Lab-dwelling students cannot realistically expect a quiet working environment. <a href=\"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/\">Jenny<\/a> describes the sounds of science:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sounds in my lab right now: stir-bars tinkling, music playing, fume hood roaring, centrifuge just coming down from a fast spin<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Prof Jennifer L. Rohn (@JennyRohn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JennyRohn\/status\/217608098205024256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 26, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>However, at your desk it is reasonable to expect to be able to concentrate amid the conversations, comings and goings that are inevitable even with the most considerate of colleagues. Fortunately (for me) I have always preferred working with background noise. I never mastered doing my homework in front of the television, but I did used to work with half an ear on the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/radio1\/chart\/singles\">UK top 40<\/a>\u00a0counting down as I finished my weekend assignments on a Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Sharing a busy office, it is easier to focus on my work without distractions by plugging myself into my headphones. After <a href=\"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/sylviamclain\/\">Sylvia<\/a> tweeted her preferred music grant-writing album<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Grant writin&#39; music Springsteen Nebraska &#8211; what do you listen to when writing? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/curious?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#curious<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sylvia McLain (@DrSylviaMcLain) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrSylviaMcLain\/status\/242606138091261953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 3, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I thought about my own listening and whether, too, prefer particular music for specific tasks. If I am working in the evening, I sometimes turn to <a href=\"www.classicfm.com\/\">classic FM<\/a> to calm my mind and help me focus, \u00a0but during the day I prefer the idiosyncrasies of <a href=\"www.bbc.co.uk\/radio4\/\">Radio 4<\/a> to keep me entertained. Podcasts are useful too, I have followed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/podcasts\/series\/kermode\">Simon Mayo&#8217;s film review show<\/a> for a number of years, and can be caught barely suppressing laughter if I am listening to the <a href=\"www.bbc.co.uk\/podcasts\/series\/fricomedy\">Friday Night Comedy Podcast<\/a>. \u00a0If I am feeling low, I have been known to seek comfort in the\u00a0<a href=\"www.964eagle.co.uk\/\">local radio station from my hometown<\/a>.\u00a0A number of science podcasts are available &#8211; see <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/london\/2007\/12\/17\/the-best-science-podcasts\/\">here<\/a> for a somewhat outdated list, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/blogs\/gradhacker\/digital-distractions-podcasts\">here<\/a> for a list with an emphasis on technology.<\/p>\n<p>Do you prefer to work in silence (and if so, how do you deal with distractions)? If you do prefer to listen while you work, what do you choose to listen to?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I feel sorry for PhD students who prefer to work in silence. Most students (and postdocs) will be assigned a desk in a shared office. Lab-dwelling students cannot realistically expect a quiet working environment. Jenny describes the sounds of science: &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/2012\/09\/09\/listen-while-you-work\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[189,5,3],"tags":[74,114,77,75],"class_list":["post-1270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging-the-phd","category-fun","category-phd","tag-listen","tag-phd","tag-podcasts","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3083,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1270\/revisions\/3083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}