As I get older I’ve noticed that I’m more sensitive to background noise and music. I don’t know if it’s from a decade of working alone in a home office or because I’ve always had focusing issues and I don’t have the tolerance I used to have or what, but I find it increasingly difficult to get things done with music playing in the background. I can’t watch TV while writing a blog entry, I can’t listen to music with lyrics while writing code, and I’m thankful that I no longer have to listen to the Samsung top-loading HE washer back in Chicago that made cricket noises when it was going through a wash cycle.
I’ve noticed that others in the house revel in music. We have speakers everywhere; no only do we have various HomePods and Sonos speakers, the house has a speaker system wired into most rooms and outside. We’ve begun hooking up these hard-wired speakers with a magic little device from Ayrlic. The magic little devices allow us to stream music from our favorite music apps and the like through these little amps that power the speakers in the designated room.
I drive in relative silence. If I do listen to the radio in the car these days, it’s Yacht Rock radio, which is way outside of anything anyone else in the house wants to listen to. I work in relative silence. I moved the little file servers into a separate room so I don’t hear the whine of the fan. I specifically use Macs and iPads because they don’t make any noise. When I’m folding laundry or cleaning out the dishwasher or something, I do it in silence.
It’s just my jam.
With all of the tech and associated companies pushing consumers to buy headphones and speakers and earbuds and overpowered devices to drive these accessories, it seems like the new habit is to have music going all the time. Good for the people that enjoy the music. I hope it fills their soul.
I’m not one of those people. Enjoy the silence.
