Productivity: alone vs among a sea of strangers

October 25, 2020 12:32 PM

I live by myself, and I'm at my least productive when I'm in my apartment. This applies to work projects and normal deadlines. I'm at my most productive when I'm at a coffeeshop in the middle of strangers, and listening to white noise. I've always been this way, as far as I can remember.

Is there a reason for this? I suspect it's my social anxiety being channeled into productivity. I also think it's a common phenomenon (it's one of the reasons employers were worried about employees working from home). But I have friends who are at their most productive when in their own apartment, by themselves.
I have come to accept this peculiarity in myself, but it's hard to find public places to work during the pandemic. I was hoping someone would have an explanation.

posted by kinoeye to Human Relations (11 answers total)

Here’s an article discussing the possible roots of this phenomenon.
posted by hungrytiger at 12:40 PM on October 25, 2020

I'm the same way; for me it's because the low hum of activity around me occupies the flighty outer layer of awareness that would otherwise be casting around for stupid distracting crap to latch onto in the silence of the house.
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:59 PM on October 25, 2020 [13 favorites]

We discussed this in a little (online) writers' group I was in the other day, and ended up working with a cafe backing track, if that's any help! I actually found it pretty nice, though I'm usually one of the 'best working at home alone' types.
posted by penguin pie at 1:07 PM on October 25, 2020 [6 favorites]

Yup, fingersandtoes nailed it for me. I need just enough distraction to keep from becoming really distracted. Sometimes I can capture this effect by listening to conversational podcasts while I work - though that's better for more numerical or programming type work.
posted by peacheater at 1:08 PM on October 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

I’m the same way, and anecdotally, for me it’s definitely the other people and not the sounds. Cafe noise tracks etc. don’t come close to helping me achieve the same effect at home.
posted by Edna Million at 1:48 PM on October 25, 2020 [4 favorites]

I wonder if it has something to do with the mood or atmosphere of a place, kind of like how dressing up/getting ready for the day can make you feel better or more alert. Even just the action of going out of your way to leave home and go to a ‘work space’ can push you into a new headspace.

I’m the opposite way and have been working from home for years, and I love it, but I find open office environments annoyingly distracting and usually distractingly uncomfortable (temperature issues, ergonomics) whereas at home I have complete control over the comfort of my environment and the level of distraction. That being said, I definitely get into a zone in a coffee shop or a library-like environment. Those being culturally expected places for people to be able to focus and work might be part of it. For me those places usually don’t have the same distraction issues of an actual office and are quiet and just have an inexplicable air of focus to them, like we all know everyone else in here is probably there to work too. There’s something about actually being in a place that affects us, which helps explain why cafe backing tracks can be helpful but don’t work for everyone.
posted by caitcadieux at 3:42 PM on October 25, 2020

I’m like this too. I’ve found a zoom writing group that replicates this effect by chatting for 10 minutes and then working for 50, everyone on the same timer.

Also, the freedom app has coffeeshop noise from all around the world instead of regular noise. I like the coffeeshop noise from places that don’t speak a language I understand.
posted by umbú at 3:49 PM on October 25, 2020 [5 favorites]

I don't have an explanation, but a possible workaround: have you tried Coffitivity? It can't give you the physical atmosphere, but perhaps the auditory one can help if you can't find a safe place outside your house.
posted by Preserver at 4:30 PM on October 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Another person chiming in to say I'm the same way. It's one (of many) reasons that I've found my productivity down this year. For me it definitely is something about both the ambient noise, and also the ambient general activity. FWIW, I've been diagnosed with ADD.

One kludge that sometimes helps is to put a TV show on in the background. Has to be the right mix of sort-of engrossing (to capture some attention) but not too engrossing (to not capture too much). For me that means fairly trivial kinds of shows without a complex plot, or things I've seen before. ER, The Office, Law & Order, Buffy, Stargate, etc. Right now I'm working my way through Community.
posted by forza at 4:38 PM on October 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm a freelancer and I prefer working from home by myself. Tedium is relieved by cafe music tracks. This isn't music I actually enjoy actively listening to but I find songs with lyrics distracting while I'm working.

Instant Starbucks
Seaside Cafe Jazz Music
Snow Day at Cafe

I'll be adding Xmas music to my playlist soon.
posted by whitelotus at 8:01 PM on October 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

For me, part of the lure of getting work done in a coffee shop is that I'm there for a necessarily limited amount of time (open hours for the cafe, the length of time it takes me to finish my coffee and a refill, etc.), and if I've gone to the trouble of changing locations for the sake of getting work done, I need to not dither around as much as I would at home.
posted by quatsch at 12:51 PM on October 26, 2020