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  4 0 I grew up in a large, noisy, working-class family. With lots of kids around and not enough space for privacy, I got used to studying and reading with a lot of noise in the background. As an adult, too much quiet is distracting and unnatural to me - I hate it when I can hear the hum of the fridge or every little random rustle in the trees. It wouldn't surprise me that someone with the opposite experience (quiet house in childhood) would grow up needing quiet. It also wouldn't surprise me to hear that someone with a similar upbringing to mine would want quiet. We are all different, and isn't that grand? Luckier answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 2 comments by Ed B and Luckier… 0 0 It doesn't seem all that grand when my co-workers insist on playing the radio all day. Ed B commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Ed, that sounds like an issue for HR. I like noise, but I don't run the tv or radio when it can bother others. I used to use headphones to watch TV in the morning, to let my partner sleep in. If you can't block the noise by closing a door, I think you're totally within your rights to request that your coworkers respect everyone in the office by using headphones. Luckier commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  4 0 In Davies' "The Rebel Angels", Paralbane argues that silence is unnatural. “For our first nine months we are carried in the womb in a positive hubbub—the loud tom-tom of the heart, the croaking and gurgling of the guts..." If you take that view, the craving for silence is a learned behavior. From a less literary point of view, when there is a lot of ambient noise and you're trying to concentrate one directed source of non-intrusive sound can help concentration, IME--it sort of smooths out the auditory bumps. This may not apply to you, but I find it helpful. CleverScreenName answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  4 1 It's too bad isn't it? Listening to music or TV while you try to work or drive is actually multitasking. Your brain has to do work to process the extra input. Most people assume they're really good at doing two or more things at once, and the Dunning–Kruger effect only reinforces this conceit. In fact, people suck at multitasking. It's a wonder we can walk and talk, to tell the truth. But don't try to argue. They'll get defensive and insist they get so much more done with all kinds of crap going on around their heads. It's part of their constructed self-image and when you discover a defect in the person someone imagines themselves to be, they snarl and bite back. elenchos answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  4 2 "The thought of being left alone with their thoughts terrifies them" is my favorite working theory. That, or Erik Satie's idea of furniture music was far more successful than even he could have imagined. Or perhaps it's deeper than that. Up until about 120 years ago, if you wanted to listen to music, you had to make it yourself or pay someone to do it for you. Then, with radio and phonographs, etc., music became relatively cheap and ubiquitous. Maybe it's a remnant of class structure (hey, I too can afford my own personal soundtrack) or maybe being surrounded by music is what humanity strives for, a goal recently enabled by technology. Griffin answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 5 comments by keshmeshi, Griffin, and ozchick… 0 0 It's been my impression that it's people of lower class status who can't go without background noise. The stereotype of the insanely quiet, clean, upper class home has some truth to it. So, I really doubt that having noise around is a marker of being able to afford it. keshmeshi commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I'm not saying that noise is now a marker of being able to afford it. I'm saying that it used to be so. Griffin commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Variation of your first sentence is - silence terrifies as it is space in which to notice with stark clarity the hollowness of thoughts and lives. ozchick commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 My instinct is to think it has to do with fear of their own mind. Basil commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Kesh, that's a little classist, don't you think? I grew up the youngest of 13 in the projects, and I frigging HATE background noise. If I have music on, I'm actually sitting and listening to music (or driving). I utterly HATE a television being left on as any kind of background (actually, I pretty much hate a television being on at all). I can't stand any kind of noise when I'm trying to read or sleep or study. My background of noisy raucousness made me recoil forever from it. Geni commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 Actual quiet is very unnatural. Even when away from man made sounds there's still mother nature's noisy ass to contend with. The wilderness is a really loud place as well. With all that in mind, I can imagine why quietness would be unnerving to some, and seeking even white noise (let alone something pleasant like music) would be a comfort. That said, our concept of quiet is very subjective. What is loud to some will not be loud to others depending on a number of variables including the sensitivity of their ears and the environments in which they grew up and have become accustomed. It's possible some of these people who "need noise around them all the time" don't even notice the noise that's annoying you so. For instance, the people who tap a pen while they're thinking. Mostly they're so deep in their own thoughts they don't notice the noise they're making until someone points it out. aurorachrisma answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 3 comments by keshmeshi, aurorachrisma, and "Cagey"… 0 0 No. Wilderness is not a really loud place. There might be specific locations that are noisy, such as right by the ocean shore, and specific phenomena that are noisy, such as thunderstorms, but the majority of wilderness is considerably quiet. Human generation of noise vastly outpaces mother nature. keshmeshi commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I beg to differ, that many birds, the wind through that many trees, over that many grains of sand. Birds, frogs, squirrels, streams, monkeys, cicadas. It's just a different kind of loud. aurorachrisma commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I'm with keshmeski. Those noisy zones are rare and grouped together. There are vast sections of nature that are silent, except for wind, grasses, leaves, occassional bird call, etc. "Cagey" commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 I think it's an introvert/extrovert thing. With "peace and quiet" at the top of an introvert's special needs list, it's no wonder that we're baffled by people who need 24/7 audio stimulation! A sidenote: A lot of introverts don't even know that they're introverts. They like going out with friends and some can be very outgoing, but they need a long time to recharge. There's no shame in quiet happiness. Brammimonde answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Geni… 0 0 My basic definition of the difference: An introvert can enjoy being with people, but finds it tiring and only recharges in solitude. An extrovert can be alone just fine, but finds it tiring and only recharges in company. Geni commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 I would guess that it's a combination of nature and nurture. I hate lots of noise in the background, but I'm also naturally an introvert and I have high pitch discrimination, which is associated with low tolerance for noise. It's my experience too that poor people have a very high tolerance for noise, to the point that they can't go without it. I suspect that's a nurture situation where poor people can't get away from noise even if they want to as they live in crowded conditions in cheap homes with poor soundproofing in dense neighborhoods with lots of traffic noise. keshmeshi answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 Damned if I know. I can't stand any kind of background noise, and I'm notorious at work for being ruthless with anyone who creates it (pen clickers, gum poppers, users of speakerphones). If I have music on, I'm actually listening to it. I think it's really bizarre when people have radios or TVs or stereos on in rooms they're not occupying. People who talk just to fill the silence make me crazy. But I'm Asperger's, so weird neurotic fixations just kind of go with the territory. (Oh, and for those speculating that needing background noise is near-universal for those born into poorer circumstances - I'm the youngest of 13 and I grew up in the projects. Growing up around constant noise gave me a lifelong horror of it. Not to mention a reflexive terror reaction to the sound of breaking glass.) Geni answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 Because it makes you feel less lonely? Mike Smith answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by tory bond… 0 0 that is the simplest answer and probably the one that makes the most sense. tory bond commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 One of the worst experiences that I ever had was trying to sleep with the windows open on warm, humid nights, and hearing the rest of the world (city) driving, honking, yelling, talking, making noise... How much nicer to have a floor fan making "white noise" to mask out those other sounds and allow me to sleep un-interupted. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...... "Cagey" answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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