[chriswoodford]

i actually find that tv makes me more productive. i'm not sure why... i can just put on a season of futurama or arrested development and keep focused/keep coding.

without tv, i find i get antsy or distracted. if i put on music, i spend more time air drumming and rocking out than typing.

[mcrider]

Agreed. And who just watches TV anymore anyway? I'm usually coding while I watch, or at least surfing the web/playing an ipad game. I can spend the whole evening writing code for my personal projects and not feel bad about it because I'm doing something to decompress after work.

[udp]

Try different music? Anything without words is good when you're working - I lean towards ambient or chillout.

Not that I don't like heavy music, but as you say, it doesn't really work as something to have on in the background.

[dpcan]

I'm with the poster. I play reruns of TV shows in iTunes throughout my day. The white noise from meaningless TV is one of the only ways I stay productive.

I find it 100% impossible to work with Music on. I just can't handle it.

Every 3 minutes there is a completely different sound playing.

Each song has a completely different story.

Each song triggers an entirely different set of emotions.

Every 6 to 10 minutes I have to stop and start skipping through tracks to find something suitable for the moment.

If I just play the same band over and over, I find it leads to a trance like state, or I feel like I'm being punished and forced to listen to the same music.

Then there's the music I would have to play in order to stay focused, say instrumental music only, and in this case I get frustrated. Tired of the loop, of the sound, it turns into a "tick" instead of a sound.

Anyway, I have a real hate-hate relationship with listening to music while I work. Very few people are with me on this.

I prefer to turn on white-noise TV just so there's ambiance in the room that has no rhythm :)

[subsection1h]

> Every 3 minutes there is a completely different sound playing.

> Each song has a completely different story.

> Each song triggers an entirely different set of emotions.

> Every 6 to 10 minutes I have to stop and start skipping through tracks to find something suitable for the moment.

None of the above issues relate to Chuck Wild's Liquid Mind albums, which is the only music I listen to.

http://www.liquidmindmusic.com/

[chriswoodford]

i generally just keep music for my non-work related time. though you're right that it is likely due to my genres of choice.

tv while i work is still my preference and keeps me the most productive. it's like the ADD portion of my brain is satiated by the flickering lights and let's the rest of my brain focus on the task at hand.