How Noise Cancelling Headphones Help Me to Write

Like many people, I have a love-hate relationship with writing. I write almost every day since it’s part of my work as a teacher and a blogger, but frequency doesn’t make it any easier.

Each new blank page comes with the same mix of excitement and uncertainty. How can I translate this storm of thoughts into affable logic? How can I make a signal out of noise?

A couple of years ago, I remember attending a talk by the Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Zizek, in which he mentioned his personal dislike for writing.

He remarked that the only way he could sustain his writing practice was to “trick” his mind into believing that he was just “putting down ideas” — albeit elaborate ideas — but what he was doing wasn’t “writing” as such. At a certain point he would tell himself that he just had to “edit” these ideas.

He turned the writing process into an editing process.

Writing not only demands logic, but time and focus too — two attributes that seem to be in short supply in today’s social web.

Why? Because our attention is the main currency of the web and content creators are vying for it every second of every minute — be it through updates, videos and photos, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and so on…

We consume micro content like a whale consumes plankton; constantly searching for nourishment in a sea of “noise.” We call it “noise” but it’s not necessarily audible and can take the form of images or text.

To me, noise is anything that disrupts focus and productivity — anything that keeps you locked inside a loop. So the question is, how to filter out background noise and retain crucial information?

Enter a pair of headphones stage left.

A few months ago, I was browsing Amazon for some computer gear when I noticed this pair of silver and white headphones. I clicked the photo and started reading about the Bose Quiet Comfort 25 noise cancelling headphones.

One line from the Bose website blurb really stood out:

Bose noise cancelling technology monitors the noise around you and cancels it out, helping you focus on what you want to hear–whether it’s your music, your calls or simply peace and quiet.

So you put these headphones on, flick a switch, and the noise — auditory or otherwise — is gone. Too good to be true right?

Somewhat sceptical, I thought I’d bite the bullet so I ordered a pair and what I got after flicking the switch was indeed quietness. Simple quietness.

After using these headphones for the best part of 3 months, I found that whenever I wear them, I get straight into work mode. I find myself able to focus for much longer periods. I don’t even use the headphones for music, even though the audio quality is decent.

Of course the headphones don’t create a total vacuum. Loud outside noise still filters through. But on the whole, I find most background noise in my office is cancelled. Refrigerator hum, computer fan buzz, outside road traffic and so on.

This experience left me with a couple of open questions.

1. Is our reception of “noise” in the social media sense in some way connected to the part of the brain that deals with the reception of auditory stimuli?
2. Is my attachment to these headphones and my sense of increased focus and productivity a placebo effect? A way of tricking myself into believing that what I’m doing is not “writing”?

Whatever the case may be, I haven’t been in love with a gadget as much as I am as with these noise cancelling headphones in a long time. I’m sure there are better products out there and I have no idea whether they will work for you like they do for me, but I thought I’d share my experience in case you’re also battling with “noise.”

For more information and tech specs on the headphones see here.