Nikki Elibero/the Mirror
You’re trying to focus on schoolwork when suddenly you start to hear the thumping of beats and lyrics coming from someone else’s laptop. You wonder, is that really necessary?
This happens all too often and the simplest way to describe it is annoying. Many students might agree it is difficult to find a place on campus where they can focus and get some peace and quiet without the disturbance of others and their music.
The obvious answer is the library, but some people may not want to trek all the way over there. That may seem ridiculous, but it is a valid reason. I have yet to make it to the library as a place to work or study simply because I am too lazy to walk, but some students may really just not prefer the library, and that should be okay. It shouldn’t be the only answer.
They might enjoy hunkering down in more relaxing locations such as Jazzman’s, The Stag or the lower level of Barone instead. Everyone has his or her own ideal workspace and others should respect that workspace. Students should be able to focus in several locations on campus without being interrupted by other people’s need to play their music for everyone to hear.
If someone is sitting in a public place and they would like to listen to music, they should listen all they want but through headphones or ear buds!
It is common courtesy, even if the other people around aren’t doing work. It can still be irritating to listen to music that isn’t exactly your type. Not everyone likes the new Lady Gaga single or the band Vampire Weekend, so keep that in mind. Students should be more conscious of the fact that someone around them might be trying to get some schoolwork done and this consciousness should be more widely practiced around campus.
Keep it to yourself by plugging in headphones and instantly you are no longer annoying to the people around you. It’s that easy, so why don’t more people do it?
Now students might ask where else on campus they can go to get their homework done. Their dorm is a good assumption, but wrong again. It can be very difficult to focus on that calculus problem when the person down the hall has their music blasting with the door open.
Why is the assumption made that everyone in the wing wants to hear your favorite song? What is the point? Does it really need to be that loud? Probably not. Either they are trying to call attention to themselves or they are just being plain obnoxious. Turn it down or close the door. It’s not hard.
So the solution here is not that a student should be exiled to the library in order to get all of his or her work done – that is exactly what should not happen.
Students should be able to focus anywhere on campus that they please, without the burden of fellow students’ music in their ears. So what has to be done? Headphones, headphones, headphones please!
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