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I would just go nuts without music. Hours of repetitive and mind-numbing tasks in the lab would take the best of me if it wasn't for my Sony MP4. Head banging at the laminar hood and dancing while setting a bacterial colony PCR are just one of my many daily moves. Also, when I'm at my computer writing something or reading papers or whatever, I'm plugged in so that "lab noises" (which almost always include a chatty grad student) don't get in the way of my productivity. This has led to people talking to me for several minutes (to ask my opinion on some results or something) before noticing that I didn't even know they were talking to me! What can I say... I love my system and it helps me stay focused.
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| Were you talking to me? |
I was wondering then, what my readers preferred: do you rock to the beat of your personal selection of tunes? What's the music protocol in your lab? How do you feel about music while working in the lab?
Feel free to comment on these questions (as I really want to know), and if you listen to music in the lab, do you think sharing is a good thing?
Music in the lab: To share or not to share
8 Comments:
I'm for the earbud rule: One earbud - come talk to me; two earbuds - leave me alone!
I share Alexander's rule. I usually walk around with one earbud in but, if I really need to focus I put both in and if someone talks to me I tell them that I can't listen at that moment.
We can't really have a radio for the whole lab because we work in a building with open labs, there are 5 labs in a wing so, it is very disturbing for others to have the radio on.
... and if someone talks to me I tell them that I can't listen at that moment
It's not that I don't want to talk them!
Sometimes, I don't even know someone is talking to me, as I'm writing or reading something in my laptop, with both buds in.
Generally, however, when on my bench, I set the volume to a level that allows me to notice when people are talking to me.
When I first started working in the lab, I think CDs were just becoming popular! (No iPods, cell phones, anything like that!)
We would share the radio - we either had a classical music or Top 40 station playing. Or we brought in music to share. Luckily we all enjoyed the same type of music. And we all enjoyed talking to each other so earbuds wouldn't have been necessary.
In my last lab, we were so big that we couldn't have a lab radio. MP3 players were very common. I never used them though... I liked to use my lab time to think ... to the low hum of the incubators, centrifuges, etc.
I liked to use my lab time to think ... to the low hum of the incubators, centrifuges, etc.
The thing is that sometimes that's NOT the only noise around the lab...
I'll echo what Tricia said: the radio (or any other modern device with speakers) works great- but if, and only if, everyone enjoys the music that's playing! That worked phenomenally when I was a grad student. Not so much, since then.
Otherwise, earbuds are definitely a way to go. It breaks up 1) the noise, 2) the silence, and 3) the monotony.
I don't mind people listening to music, but personally it feels like people wandering about with headphones in can be a bit of a safety issue: those annoying 'lab noises' can at times come in rather handy in noticing problems, like broken flasks in the shaker...
Also, I get really annoyed how nowadays you can barely talk to anyone without physically confronting them first (ok, just tapping their shoulder). With labmates, nudging them to pay attention is ok. With strangers at the bus stop when you want to inquire about what bus just went by, not so much...
And as for lab radio, in the words of our bioinformatics guy: "You have to hear the word 'fuck' every two seconds when doing annotations!" (while listening to hardcore death metal...)
Apparently, eventually not everyone agreed =/ I just worked in the office though (hard to write with music in the background...)
personally it feels like people wandering about with headphones in can be a bit of a safety issue: those annoying 'lab noises' can at times come in rather handy in noticing problems, like broken flasks in the shaker...
Indeed, that's why I'm only completely plugged in only when at my desk and not when working, just as Deray said (and also, when I know there's more people in the lab)
I just worked in the office though (hard to write with music in the background...)
No office here, hence the earbuds :)
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