The street I live on is treeless and lined on both sides with 4-story stone buildings, and buses, ambulances, cars, and trucks use it nose-to-tail.
-
@cstross @grayabbott The dude (Stephan Stern) completely misses the point. The ear buds are the symptom, not the problem.
Get rid of open-plan offices, allow work from home when possible, and impose strict noise and emissions limits on vehicles - including stereo systems. More public transportation/less traffic. More parks.
*edit to add author name*
@bubbajet @cstross @grayabbott The absolute worst open plan office I ever worked in was so loud with everyone's Teams meetings going on that I had a splitting headache half way through the day, and I never, ever went back for any more in person work - especially since the rest of my team were down in Somerset and I was in Worcestershire. Noise-cancelling headphones would have at least made it semi-bearable, if not at all enjoyable.
-
The street I live on is treeless and lined on both sides with 4-story stone buildings, and buses, ambulances, cars, and trucks use it nose-to-tail. Ambient noise can hit 90dB at pavement level: noise-cancelling earbuds are a survival tool.
Not to mention that folks on the spectrum are prone to noise pollution induced meltdowns.
TLDR: this guy is a pompous prescriptive ass who needs to be fucked in one ear with bagpipes and in the other with a road drill.
@cstross Fucking idiot as well as pompous prescriptive ass. Earbuds are frequently used as essentially lower-cost BT hearing aids. The amount of control they give you over your sonic environment is incredible, from amplifying speech to adding a little white noise to (counterintuitively) cut tinnitus, to cranking tunes to drown out some knob busily dying on a hill of his own bullshit.
[edit: "hearing" aids]
-
The street I live on is treeless and lined on both sides with 4-story stone buildings, and buses, ambulances, cars, and trucks use it nose-to-tail. Ambient noise can hit 90dB at pavement level: noise-cancelling earbuds are a survival tool.
Not to mention that folks on the spectrum are prone to noise pollution induced meltdowns.
TLDR: this guy is a pompous prescriptive ass who needs to be fucked in one ear with bagpipes and in the other with a road drill.
@cstross I'll admit the title was enough and I didn't read the article. The Guardian is too fond of opinion pieces in my, ah, opinion. There are so many good reasons to wear earphones, at least one at least some of the time.
-
The street I live on is treeless and lined on both sides with 4-story stone buildings, and buses, ambulances, cars, and trucks use it nose-to-tail. Ambient noise can hit 90dB at pavement level: noise-cancelling earbuds are a survival tool.
Not to mention that folks on the spectrum are prone to noise pollution induced meltdowns.
TLDR: this guy is a pompous prescriptive ass who needs to be fucked in one ear with bagpipes and in the other with a road drill.
@cstross He's wrong about it being a new problem, though.
-
The street I live on is treeless and lined on both sides with 4-story stone buildings, and buses, ambulances, cars, and trucks use it nose-to-tail. Ambient noise can hit 90dB at pavement level: noise-cancelling earbuds are a survival tool.
Not to mention that folks on the spectrum are prone to noise pollution induced meltdowns.
TLDR: this guy is a pompous prescriptive ass who needs to be fucked in one ear with bagpipes and in the other with a road drill.
@cstross Weird hill to die on, but if he dies at least he'll stop bothering other people.
-
@cstross This guy sounds like the signs in the most insufferable cafes advising you that laptops and phones are banned and you should strike up a deep, meaningful conversation with the stranger next to you, like people did back in the 90s
-
@cstross @grayabbott The dude (Stephan Stern) completely misses the point. The ear buds are the symptom, not the problem.
Get rid of open-plan offices, allow work from home when possible, and impose strict noise and emissions limits on vehicles - including stereo systems. More public transportation/less traffic. More parks.
*edit to add author name*
@bubbajet @cstross @grayabbott Open plan offices are cognitive kryptonite for me I'm afraid. During my residency at icsi.berkeley.edu I had a corner office all to myself.
-
He sounds like a riot.
@helvick @davey_cakes @cstross I just KNEW this guy had to be a #businessidiot probably with a *growth mindset* https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-era-of-the-business-idiot/
-
@lilithfromseattle Thank you for calling me kinda old-ish (by implication)!
-
Just to add, I am sure I am not the only woman who sometimes wears earphones, neither noise-cancelling nor playing audio.
Purely in order to pretend not to hear what dickheads say to me.
Even though I actually can
@regordane @cstross You most certainly are not!
-
The street I live on is treeless and lined on both sides with 4-story stone buildings, and buses, ambulances, cars, and trucks use it nose-to-tail. Ambient noise can hit 90dB at pavement level: noise-cancelling earbuds are a survival tool.
Not to mention that folks on the spectrum are prone to noise pollution induced meltdowns.
TLDR: this guy is a pompous prescriptive ass who needs to be fucked in one ear with bagpipes and in the other with a road drill.
@cstross
"Er, excuse me. Hello? I’m sorry, but would you mind taking your … I SAID, WOULD YOU MIND TAKING THOSE EARPHONES OUT FOR A SECOND, PLEASE?"Said the creep to the woman at the gym.
-
@cstross @grayabbott The dude (Stephan Stern) completely misses the point. The ear buds are the symptom, not the problem.
Get rid of open-plan offices, allow work from home when possible, and impose strict noise and emissions limits on vehicles - including stereo systems. More public transportation/less traffic. More parks.
*edit to add author name*
@bubbajet @cstross @grayabbott
Gods... I _loathed_ open plan offices, especially when we were moved into the ex-helldesk wing with its foot-high "partitions". Continuous distraction. When COVID-19 arrived the company had a rush of brains to the head (Who knew?) and decreed "Work from home if possible." I got back 2 hours per day but discovered "Working from home" = "Living at work".
Got a lot more done due to lack of distractions though, and on-call got a virtually instant response out of it.
-
The street I live on is treeless and lined on both sides with 4-story stone buildings, and buses, ambulances, cars, and trucks use it nose-to-tail. Ambient noise can hit 90dB at pavement level: noise-cancelling earbuds are a survival tool.
Not to mention that folks on the spectrum are prone to noise pollution induced meltdowns.
TLDR: this guy is a pompous prescriptive ass who needs to be fucked in one ear with bagpipes and in the other with a road drill.
@cstross He mentions the spectrum though. Briefly, but the article really isn't that long.
-
The street I live on is treeless and lined on both sides with 4-story stone buildings, and buses, ambulances, cars, and trucks use it nose-to-tail. Ambient noise can hit 90dB at pavement level: noise-cancelling earbuds are a survival tool.
Not to mention that folks on the spectrum are prone to noise pollution induced meltdowns.
TLDR: this guy is a pompous prescriptive ass who needs to be fucked in one ear with bagpipes and in the other with a road drill.
@cstross You missed out the word 'privileged' among the other 'p' words to describe him.
-
@cstross @grayabbott The dude (Stephan Stern) completely misses the point. The ear buds are the symptom, not the problem.
Get rid of open-plan offices, allow work from home when possible, and impose strict noise and emissions limits on vehicles - including stereo systems. More public transportation/less traffic. More parks.
*edit to add author name*
@bubbajet @cstross @grayabbott
Ear buds, ANR headsets, aren't even the symptom. They are tools for coping.
That you're supposed to pay for those with your taxed money to be able to function in the workplace is horrendous. Why is this accepted?
How about making the work place a place where you can, well, work?
-
@cstross You missed out the word 'privileged' among the other 'p' words to describe him.
@SimonLandmine He's definitely one of the P7, though—the Pale Patriarchal Putocratic Protestant Penis People of Power
-
The street I live on is treeless and lined on both sides with 4-story stone buildings, and buses, ambulances, cars, and trucks use it nose-to-tail. Ambient noise can hit 90dB at pavement level: noise-cancelling earbuds are a survival tool.
Not to mention that folks on the spectrum are prone to noise pollution induced meltdowns.
TLDR: this guy is a pompous prescriptive ass who needs to be fucked in one ear with bagpipes and in the other with a road drill.
"From the author of 'Shit on a Stick, and Other Best Management Practices' and 'The Cowards Guide Mansplaining'. His latest book is 'Fairly Obvious: Why Everyone Should Cater to Me!'"
-
@bubbajet @cstross @grayabbott
Ear buds, ANR headsets, aren't even the symptom. They are tools for coping.
That you're supposed to pay for those with your taxed money to be able to function in the workplace is horrendous. Why is this accepted?
How about making the work place a place where you can, well, work?
@rollbear @bubbajet @grayabbott Separate offices with sound insulation for employees (even 2-3 people per office) are (a) costly (they use far more floor space than open plan accommodation) and (b) block the boss's line of sight, hurting their poor widdle ego (because they can't watch thir peons toiling in the fields and experience a warm glow of superiority)
-
@cstross
"Er, excuse me. Hello? I’m sorry, but would you mind taking your … I SAID, WOULD YOU MIND TAKING THOSE EARPHONES OUT FOR A SECOND, PLEASE?"Said the creep to the woman at the gym.
and unwanted, on the train, at the coffee shop, etc.
"i *deserve* your attention so listen to me!"
-
@rollbear @bubbajet @grayabbott Separate offices with sound insulation for employees (even 2-3 people per office) are (a) costly (they use far more floor space than open plan accommodation) and (b) block the boss's line of sight, hurting their poor widdle ego (because they can't watch thir peons toiling in the fields and experience a warm glow of superiority)
@cstross @bubbajet @grayabbott
I'm old enough to have actually worked in such places. It was awesome. We could get work done, on working hours, on the premises. It was fabulous.
