Open Office Distractions

One big problem would be that in open office environments there would be a lot of noise. I wonder if some sort of active noise cancellation could be introduced so the voices of your co-workers could be ~completely canceled out if you are wearing special headphones?

headphones don't let you opt out of an open office. there is still noise you can hear above the music, visual distractions, proximity, catching colds, 6 person meetings on neighbours desk, everyone cans see your screen etc.

Anything noisy in an open office, including me when forget to lower my voice, is bothersome :)

I think a lot of us needs to think about how fortunate we are working ona field that is our passion and not standing in a pile of shit and sweat all day long. Having open offices that makes communication easier means that you could communicate your need for no distruption or talk with your mates who are loafing around and brainstorm about future problems. If you have the brain capacity to focus on ambient noises, then I guess you are not focusing enough and just whining about your current situat

Depends on the workplace. My last one was open office, but people were mostly on their headphones, so I never had a problem concentrating there. My current one has me seated near people who, apparently, have quite a bit of free time on their hands, so they spend most of the day talking to each other about nothing in particular. It's extremely difficult to think if you're not piping white noise into your ears.

Movement is a big one, noise bothers me more personally I think. I dislike the fact that I cannot function at work without headphones. I have 2-3 feet of my space between me and other co-workers and at any point in time, there's various conversations going on right next to me and it's making getting deep work done very challenging.

I work in a cube farm. Most folks use earphones and listen to music to help block out distractions. I can't do that (it promotes ear infections and I am very prone to them). Recently, the place was rearranged to put more space between some people which has cut way down on idle chit-chat. The place is a great deal quieter now. Where I work, actual work doesn't seem to be that noisy. It's the socializing, involving loud laughter and such, that tends to be noisy.

I find the idea of blaring a TV or music in an office is so disrespectful. The people who need quiet to work _really_ need it...if you need noise put some headphones on to listen to music or a show. It shouldn’t be the other way around, it is much harder to block out the noise with headphones. Coworking spaces are terrible for this.

The problem in open offices is that I DON'T see people around me working hard. Instead they are talking about dogs, what kind of candy they prefer and how their friend found someone from Tinder. It's super hard not to listen, even with headphones on. The only thing that almost works are these noise-cancelling headphones, but you still need to blast some pretty loud music. I'd rather sit in a room coding :(

Our open office layout was so quiet it felt like working in a Library. Half the time I was scared that my headphones were too loud and disturbing others around me. It was very difficult to actually talk to another person in my area because it echoed and I felt like I had to whisper everything. Maybe if we would have had a noise canceling system or something it would have been different.