I’ve spent a lot of time sitting by myself on a sailboat, and I do kind of align with the though that true solitude is not achieved when reading books or watching TV. And I do believe that solitude from these media may offer some benefits. But I am not sure if I think this holds true for all media.
Watching a TV show affects you’re thinking much more than listening to music. To me music is just pleasant noise.
I cannot program while a TV show or podcast is playing, but I tend to program better under certain music. Same goes for studying math. I think the rythm helps me keep my thoughts in check.
As opposed to when I play a video game, read a book or watch a TV show. If I truly enjoy that sort of content it can occupy my head for days. The same may go for music I have not listened to yet, which is why I only listen to albums I know well when I need to focus.
And to that extent, what matters if a person were listening to white-noise or whale-sounds as opposed to classical music? Classical music is produced by another person and thus according to Newport it does not offer solitude. Yet I am not convinced the proposed benefits of solitude would apply for one and not the other.
Yeah, that all makes sense. I think solitude probably exists along a spectrum, where in listening to music maybe you have 8⁄10 solitude instead of 10⁄10 but in watching a TV show you only get 2⁄10. The relevant question is probably “to what extent are the outputs of other minds influencing your thoughts”.
Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder why we’re focusing on the outputs of other minds. What about other things that influence your thoughts? Like, I don’t know, bumble bees flying around you? I’m afraid of bumble bees so I know I’d have trouble focusing on my own thoughts in that scenario.
That said, I’m sure that outputs of other minds are probably a large majority of what is intrusive and prevents you from focusing on your own thoughts. But it still seems to me like the thing we actually care about is being able to focus on your own thoughts, not just reducing your exposure to the outputs of other minds.
I’ve spent a lot of time sitting by myself on a sailboat, and I do kind of align with the though that true solitude is not achieved when reading books or watching TV. And I do believe that solitude from these media may offer some benefits. But I am not sure if I think this holds true for all media.
Watching a TV show affects you’re thinking much more than listening to music. To me music is just pleasant noise.
I cannot program while a TV show or podcast is playing, but I tend to program better under certain music. Same goes for studying math. I think the rythm helps me keep my thoughts in check.
As opposed to when I play a video game, read a book or watch a TV show. If I truly enjoy that sort of content it can occupy my head for days. The same may go for music I have not listened to yet, which is why I only listen to albums I know well when I need to focus.
And to that extent, what matters if a person were listening to white-noise or whale-sounds as opposed to classical music? Classical music is produced by another person and thus according to Newport it does not offer solitude. Yet I am not convinced the proposed benefits of solitude would apply for one and not the other.
Yeah, that all makes sense. I think solitude probably exists along a spectrum, where in listening to music maybe you have 8⁄10 solitude instead of 10⁄10 but in watching a TV show you only get 2⁄10. The relevant question is probably “to what extent are the outputs of other minds influencing your thoughts”.
Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder why we’re focusing on the outputs of other minds. What about other things that influence your thoughts? Like, I don’t know, bumble bees flying around you? I’m afraid of bumble bees so I know I’d have trouble focusing on my own thoughts in that scenario.
That said, I’m sure that outputs of other minds are probably a large majority of what is intrusive and prevents you from focusing on your own thoughts. But it still seems to me like the thing we actually care about is being able to focus on your own thoughts, not just reducing your exposure to the outputs of other minds.