Half the time I have my headphones on playing nothing. I'm just using the noise cancellation to find some silence.

For me, my life has gotten so stressful and awful, I just need to get away from my anxiety and the best way is through distraction. Music, podcasts, and audio books help me maintain some semblance of normalcy. I can't even fall asleep without some distraction. I'll stay up all night stressing about not being able to find work, my kid's futures, my piling up of bills, inflation, ever expanding war, etc.

>most people today have headphones on all the time. I don't understand it. I'm not sure, but it would seem people hate their own voice?

I can't generalize for everyone and maybe some of those people you observe are just listening to music all day long.

In my circle, we have earphones all the time because we're listening to podcasts of news, tech industry commentary, macroeconomics and finance, etc. If one is working in an area where you're professionally rewarded by being curious about the changing world and being "plugged in", having "headphones on all the time" can help with staying up-to-date. Even with all that headphone time, there are still many hours in the day in personal silence. Laying in bed consolidating various thoughts before falling asleep. Standing in the shower. Reading blogs, etc. Before podcasts, we'd have to "waste time" sitting in front of the computer to catch up on the same material. Podcasts help us multitask.

Of course, not everybody needs (or wants) to have headphones on all the time. The mathematician Andrew Wiles pursued Fermat's Last Theorem for 30 years before finally solving it. He doesn't need a random podcast that talks about the Iran war and its downstream economic effects on manufacturing computer chips. That type of "useless" news would probably bore him.

>, even driving. In fact, I think my problem is the opposite: I just can't do two things at once. If I'm listening to something, then I can't be doing anything else.

It just depends on the threshold of mindless activity. If I'm driving in an unknown city with confusing one-way streets, I don't want a podcast voice yapping in my ear while I'm concentrating on reading the traffic signs. On the other hand, driving through 100 miles of monotonous corn fields on a highway means I can catch up on a backlog of podcasts.

> It seems most people today have headphones on all the time. I don't understand it. I'm not sure, but it would seem people hate their own voice?

Depends on the location maybe too? I think in big cities I see more people with headphones on when they're out and about (which makes sense, cities tends to be noisy and not in the interesting way like nature is), compared to in the small town I live in now, where most people aren't wearing headphones, except if they exercise.

I guess it also depends on what you listen to. I've found certain types of electronic music to essentially put me in a "trance of focus and clarity" and as long as I keep it going, that can give me enough energy for hours to do all the chores of the day + end it all with a swim, all while listening to liquid drum & bass and forgetting about everything else in the world.

I run a lot and I do a lot of work on the property; there are times when my head requires silent decompression and or sorting out my own thoughts and silence is golden; there are times when I want to catch up on the news and/or be distracted from the task at hand and a podcast is great.

> In open spaces I wear earplugs.

Noise canceling headphones do the trick for me, I just don’t play anything through them. I don’t like the feeling of something in my ears.

For one: headphones are a nonstarter for me. Even earbuds… I don't want anything attached to, hanging off of me. Speakers only.

But for me it's music playing in the background. Podcasts I have to listen to, background music just… goes—my thoughts are free to wander.

I find that when the music is not on, I start up a song in my head—and usually an annoying one for some reason—and it will be on an endless loop until I put on something external.

I wear headphones about 80% of my waking day. Super comfy, wireless, noise-cancelling ones. The funny thing is, I rarely play anything through them, and am almost always just listening to silence.

I try and listen to other things, podcasts or music, sadly nothing compares to that golden silence.

You sound way too judgemental and proud of being ok with silence (?). I mean, what?

> I don't understand it. I'm not sure, but it would seem people hate their own voice?

No, some people just like to do things listening to music or similar things.

In open plan offices there is no silence. Working at home there's no silence.

Headphones offer the only escape. They're also a sign that you are trying to concentrate to discourage those "just a quick word" moments which could easily be covered by an instant message.

For you I'd recommend some ear protectors that one might use when operating power tools :-).

I actually think ear protectors with some bluetooth headphones built in might be the ideal solution :-)

Some put headphones on because you want silence. So much noise outside.

> It seems most people today have headphones on all the time.

I don't know about other people, but for me, if I'm using my earbuds it is because someone around me is being distracting and/or annoying.

I usually prefer silence for work, but often that isn't an option.

Silence during driving is not really a good thing, you should be aware of the surroundings and other participants, hear your car for weird noises, etc.

I am the same when I am doing deep work that I am interested in. I need absolute silence.

My day-to-day mundane work is a bit different, but I still cannot listen to music with lyrics. I have found to my surprise that the soundtrack of 8-bit games (SNES et al) really helps.

I now have a playlist full of those, with soundtracks from Star Fox to A Link to the Past. Really helps with the mundane stuff.

I wear ANC headphones most of the time and especially in public because people are too loud. I have nothing playing, it’s just quieter ambient noise.

> but it would seem people hate their own voice?

Hell yes. And the other bits of me hate me and each other. Being alone with my own thoughts can be a dangerous situation.

Two reflections from me:

- Starting my career during the beginning of and through the peak of the open floor plan office trained me to use headphones as a signal to others that I wanted to be left alone / needed to focus on my task. Now I catch myself doing it in other contexts subconsciously, like the gym, and have to stop myself sometimes to make sure I am doing it intentionally. I am at the age now where like you, I either prefer silence, or reminisce about the bygone days where people struck up conversations, past the usual pleasantries - just deep conversation with a total stranger that you may or may not ever see again, which wearing headphones takes away that possibility.

- silence is generally, in my opinion, for content people and/or people not struggling with a mental illness. I'd venture a guess that our field skews towards people who have negative internal voices. Having something playing as a distraction can take you away from those destructive thoughts. I had to do a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy and soul searching to be content with silence.

Recently, I've stopped carrying my headphones when I leave home and also stopped having them on after around 2pm. Somedays, I don't wear them at all.

This means, no music when working out, on public transit, when grocery shopping etc.

The reason I did this was because I was noticing that the music was getting me too hyped and that was interfering with my sleep. Sometimes, it was even stuck in my head while I was lying on my bed trying to sleep.

I agree. Most of the time, silence. Sometimes, white noise to block other's people voice. And when I don't need to do something intellectual, just listening to the buzz of life around