For the past few months, I’ve realized that my studying is immensely affected by the amount of noise in the room. I have always had very sensitive ears, so different noises bother me in different ways. Therefore I decided to attempt to study in complete silence. (By the way, I came up with this idea based on the schema builder assignment we did over the summer for AP Lang. This was one of the schema builders we could have chosen to do.)
I know exactly what you’re thinking: how did you manage to eliminate all possible distractions in a single room? The answer is I simply couldn’t, which is why this experiment failed miserably. My first attempt was to usher my brothers outside in the freezing cold to play basketball, which didn’t bother them in the slightest because they do that all the time. I didn’t have to worry about my sister, mainly because she always has her head stuck in a book. However, I did have to confiscate her phone and all other devices that produce sound because she likes to listen to classical music when she’s reading.
Even so, I went all the way downstairs to the basement and lasted not even two minutes before my brother came screaming through the front door like his head was on fire. I was convinced that one of my brothers had gotten hit by a car. He and my other brothers were actually just arguing about the rules of basketball. After that, I had given up on trying to study in complete silence
I don’t have a lot of takeaways from this experience, other than the fact that my family is really loud and annoying, but I did learn that having sensitive ears can sometimes be a blessing in disguise. If I couldn’t hear my brother yelling from downstairs, maybe one of my brothers had actually gotten hit by a car, and I would’ve been held responsible! Also, I’ve found that some soft music actually does help to focus a little bit. So, at the end of the day, I guess this experiment kind of worked. However, I would still love to hear your opinions on what you think of experiencing complete silence! Try it for yourself and let me know if it worked.
I have always wanted to sit and study in complete silence. I have never liked noise. If no one ever spoke again and we all used sign language, it would still be too loud for me. It´s also impossible to do that in my room with my plethora of pets and thin walls. I´ve tried to do this too, but it never works. I share a wall with the bathroom, so every time someone in my house just has to use it then. I also tend to leave my door open so my cat can come and go as she pleases, but the hallway creates a wind tunnel or something, so the downstairs TV is louder in my bedroom than it is downstairs. Which is wonderful when your stepdad watches gangster movies, football, and the ID channel at 3 am. I also agree that the soft music part does help. I´ve tried silence my whole life, and the closest I´ve ever gotten was blocking out the noise with headphones then ignoring the music.
ReplyDeleteI am often home alone for long periods of time which results in complete silence. Half the time I enjoy the silence and other times I find myself filling it. I’ll either talk to myself, play music, or “watch” a show. It all depends on what mood I’m in. Silence can be super calming, yet it can drive me completely mad at times. While studying, if I want silence or not all depends on the information I am taking in. If I am studying math I will listen to my normal music, but if I am studying something word heavy, such as chemistry, I prefer silence or quite classical music. What I think about silence is that it is a state that people either find completely normal or super unsettling.
ReplyDeleteMackenna, please fix your formatting so we can read this.
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