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Discussion on: TV while coding? Distraction or Motivation?

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rachelnovick profile image
Rachel Novick • Edited

Distraction. I like to have something on while I work, but I go for instrumental music of some sort (video games music, Vitamin String Quartet, those lofi hip hop beat channels on youtube, etc...) . I can't even have music with lyrics because it takes my attention away from my work.

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andrewbrown profile image
Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

If I had video game music playing would likely be NES music. eg. BlasterMaster, Ninja Gaiden, TMNT2, River City Ransom

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rachelnovick profile image
Rachel Novick

Nice! My go-tos are usually things like Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Animal Crossing (that music is so relaxing, particularly when people put rain sounds behind it on youtube), and, like, random tracks from various other games.

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frandall profile image
Andry Kurniawan

You are right, music with lyrics will distract you because your brain will try to understand the lyrics as well. Listening to music with foreign language lyric that you don't understand will also distract you although not as much as lyric with language you understand. The best music to hear in my opinion is game's bgm, why? Because game's bgm composed without expectation of what the player will do, so I can just listen and code without expecting the music's climax or something.

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jhuebel profile image
Jason Huebel

I hadn't thought of that aspect of game music where there often isn't a climax. That's useful. I find that if I'm listening to electronic music, a steady beat is important. It's fine if the DJ mixes in tracks as long as the underlying tempo remains steady.

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jhuebel profile image
Jason Huebel

I'm the same. TV is a distraction. I'll typically play one of those meditation/relaxation/lofi channels on YouTube. You mentioned a Vitamin String Quartet (haven't heard of that), but my favorite is cello music. I really get into a zone when I listen to cello. I usually listen to David Darling on Google Play Music.

I also have to use headphones. That helps with immersing myself in the music and blocking as much outside sound as possible. I typically use earbuds that seal really well, since the fancier over-the-ear headphones make my head hot and hurt after a while from pushing on my glasses around my ears.

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Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

Share some Youtube channels for example if you can. Would love a listen.

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jhuebel profile image
Jason Huebel • Edited

Honestly, I typically just do a search for "binaural", "meditation", "deep house" or "lofi" and go from there.

For studying or intense concentration, search for "binaural", "meditation" or "lofi". Personally, I find "binaural" to be the most effective. I don't subscribe to all the new age hoodoo that typically surrounds that, but I have to admit that binaural/alpha wave stuff works for me. I also like some lofi hip hop/coffee shop music.

For focus on programming, I tend to move more toward Deep House music since I want my brain to get into a cycle. This will sound odd and I'm not sure of a better way to explain it, but it puts my brain into a positive feedback loop. Since I'm high-functioning autistic (Aspergers), getting my thought patterns stuck in a loop is actually a problem. It prevents me from progressing in a task. Somehow (again, I refer back to the "new age hoodoo" comment) Deep House helps me control that in positive ways. But the key is a steady, heavy beat. The catch here is that a lot of house music has vocals because they're remixes of pop songs. So it can't be full-on lyrics. But if it's a repetitive voice sample, that's fine. Also, I minimize the window (or switch to a different tab) because a lot of house music on YouTube has visuals.

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nanythery profile image
Nadine M. Thêry

+1