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When you are working on

something that requires

focus, do you have music

playing in the

background?

Here’s how GON Readers responded… • 48% No. I need complete quiet. • 19% Yes, I need my music at a level that allows me to clearly hear it while I’m working. • 18% Yes, but the sound is on very low. I can barely hear it. • 15% Other Other GON Reader Comments: • Yes, I love to do this, but don't often get to at work. When I can, it's classical music at a low volume. I find that something with lyrics tends to distract me. • I need quiet, but not absolute quiet. I need also ambient sounds like kids playing in the park or the birds twittering in the hedges. But if I do need absolute quiet, I choose the night…when all I may occasionally hear is the sound of water usage in my apartment building or the hooting of my Night Guardian owl outside. • If it is a task that needs my full attention, I can have soft music on low. If it needs my attention but not constantly, I enjoy any type and loud enough to hear! For both, phone is on silence and not on the desk. Also, I have my pitcher of water to keep hydrated. • Music varies, from no music (for extreme focus), to soft music (for medium focus), to louder music (usually use this for chores). • There are free YouTube videos that are 60+ minutes long and for focus and productivity that I use. •  I have ringing in my ears so the music distracts me from that. • Sometimes. It depends on what I'm working on. Financials need quiet. Answering emails, music is fine! • Generally, I need mostly quiet when doing anything that requires close focus, like working on budgets, analyzing data, and goal setting. Otherwise some routine tasks like data entry or recipe trying, can have mid-level music on. Since my husband has semi-retired and works in the home office, I have taken to leaving most noise (radio, tv, music) off, so now I am more distracted by sounds! • Music, only sometimes, I like to crochet while listening to the news on TV, instead of watching the news. • It doesn’t matter as long as it’s not blasting loud. I’m pretty good at ignoring the background and focusing on the task at hand. • Yes, but it must be a YouTube video of music for studying or for deep focus. The soundtracks I typically select are at least 60 minutes long. • It depends how much focus I need! It's nice to have quiet music as long as it isn't distracting. • I usually have some background sounds on (could be music or TV). • Depends on if it's something with figures or a letter that I'm writing then I need quiet. However, if it's decluttering, I need something that revs me up. • I'm almost deaf, so that might influence my response! But through the years, I've found a tremendous ability to focus in silence when needed. And co-workers were envious once when I was able to “ignore” a welder outside our building by taking my hearing aids out! • It depends on what I am doing; sometimes I like hearing music and sometimes I want it completely quiet. • I have the TV tuned to a boring show. I need some kind of background noise that doesn't distract me. • Podcasts. I listen to them all the time while I'm working. • I'm a musician and find music playing while I focus on something important to be a real distraction. I find myself listening to the music. • The older I get, I find that I concentrate better in the quiet. My friends and I laugh when we think of the crazy busy days with lots of kids and the noise level and constant distraction. It's amazing that we got anything done. Now we are blessed to be able to keep up with tech and thrilled even when we need things quiet to focus. • When I don't require too much focus, I like classical music played on low. • Definitely music on! If I don't have music playing, I lose track of time. Hours can go by before I resurface. • I prefer quiet when focus is needed. My husband likes music on all day so I either move to a quieter part of the house or do very focus centered activities when he is not home. • It really depends on the task at hand. If I'm studying or reading, I like quiet. If I'm cleaning or crafting, I like background noise. • Background noise doesn’t bother me. I taught kindergarten for 30 years. I enjoy noise. • Sometimes, but not always, if music is playing I won’t turn it off, but I wont turn it on if music isn’t playing either. Back to Reader Web Poll Results Index