You’ll Be More Productive Working in a Noisy Cafe than a Busy Office, Science Says
One more excuse to get out of the office
Working from a noisy cafe may be more productive than working in a busy office because idle chit-chat is not as distracting as the conversation of colleagues, a new study suggests.
The study involved tasking participants to count the number of times different objects appeared on their computer screens, (a task which requires focus to get right). They also listened to a meaningful conversation, or random noises at different pitches.
Meanwhile, their brains were monitored to work out whether they were attempting to process the noises or if they were ignoring them.
The study revealed that noises such as music and meaningful conversation, had a stronger effect on levels of subjective annoyance than meaningless noises and led to a greater decline in performance on tasks.
What this means is, productive work-related discussions are far more distracting than random, meaningless noises or overheard sounds of conversation between strangers.
Overhearing meaningful conversations in the background is far more disturbing than random noise
This makes sense. We’re more interested in what our coworkers are discussing than what random strangers may be saying. A hot tip from the mouth of a colleague, a rumour or juicy gossip that you just don’t want to miss out on, or just a casual rant about last night’s football match is more tantalizing than anything a random person in a coffee shop would say.
Taking the results of the research even further, it stands to reason that you’ll probably get more done working from home or from a remote location (like a coworking space or shared workspace) with relative strangers compared to working from your fancy, expensive office day after day.
“The experiments suggest that when designing sound environments in spaces used for cognitive tasks — such as the workplace or schools — it is appropriate to consider not only the sound level, but also meaningfulness of the noise that is likely to be present,” added Dr Tamesue, team lead on the research and an associate professor at Yamaguchi University in Japan.
You hear that? Get out of the office more often. Try other options.
Also, while those one-off conversations around the office are great for camaraderie, they are extremely distracting to those who are not participating. Be aware of your sound level, and if you’re going to have a long, work-related conversation, it is best to use a soundproof room, like an office to avoid interrupting those around you. You’ll be promoting a more productive environment as well.
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