Since many people are claiming that small noises are a pain, Logitech set out to design mices which are about 10dB less clicky than the usual ones.
At around 25dB, the M220 Silent/M330 Silent Plus are probably near the noise floor of most office spaces, and surprisingly not a premium product (under US$30).
That doesn't sound like a bad thing for people with small places and light-sleeping partners either. Are Soylentils really bothered by Joe-the-spreadsheet-clicker, or do you believe in counter-offensive?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @11:02AM
Just what kind of coddled upbringing did these folks have as children? Were they raised by helicopter parents who reared them in a sound isolation room so that they didn't have to hear anything their helicopter parents didn't deem worthy of their intellect?
Myself, growing up, my younger brother and my Mom never met a TV that they could turn off, and although there was only one TV in the house, if either of them was awake, the TV was turned on, even if no one was around anywhere near it paying it any attention. And don't try turning it off, it will just get turned back on next time they pass by. With that as a backdrop, and a house small enough that one could hear the TV (even if muffled) from any point inside one was forced to, hmm, actually learn to ignore background sounds in the environment.
And the result is that clicky mice, clicky keyboards, whooshing AC vents, fire trucks going by outside with sirens on, coworker on a speaker phone call nearby, etc., no big deal, I just continue working/thinking about whatever it was I was working/thinking about.
These coddled folks need to learn to ignore things going on around them, they will be lots happier in any environment once they do.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GungnirSniper on Thursday September 01 2016, @04:19PM
Oh gods, you're one of those Open Floor Plan cultists. You never see that half the office is wearing headphones to be a visual "do not disturb" flag. Or the abuse of caffeine and Adderall just to focus because "no walls means total transparency, man". You may be one of those people who can sit in a hurricane without losing your focus, but most of us humanoids cannot. I suspect though that you sit in an office while demoting others from theirs to "save space" so they'll find work elsewhere and you don't have to pay severance.
As far as I'm concerned anyone clipping their nails in the office deserves to have a 72 hour psychiatric hold put on them, same with anyone who microwaves fish in the lunch room.
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @05:50PM
open floor plans are the worst.
as a consultant I charge extra to endure that. As an employee, I'd try to find a new job if I could.
A cubical farm is far better; even the illusion of privacy -- even if the cubes themselves are temporary roll aways that are not assignable to anyone -- having that "wall" is mentally isolating and also absorbs SOME of the sounds.
Yeah we all are able to focus and ignore external noises, but the quality of work drops when we have to actively avoid the noise in the office we are forced to be in.
Conference rooms are great for creativity and when you aren't doing the actual work. If I have to get a conference room to get a quiet area... there's a problem with the design of the office.
Then when the executives walk in to ask if this was reserved because 2 of them wanted to talk to each other and they have large offices with guest chairs and with doors that close but refuse to meet in there with each other because its not condusive for a creative environment... that's usually the sign to leave... both the conference room and the job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @10:33PM
Good for you.
A person sittting in an open plan office laughing their head off really gets to me. No heli parents here. Just your average gall in IT getting the job done.
Mouse clicks? Keyboards? What we need is a way to isolate sound for a desk in an open plan office. In the past we had cubicle walls.