Magic Headphones

Bose Please Sponsor Me

If you have seen me at Nichols Library within the past week you may have seen me wearing last year’s Christmas present: Bose headphones. There is a good chance you could also spot me wearing these around the halls at North, especially after coming back from the Learning Commons in the morning. With these headphones by my side, or on my head, I feel I could accomplish just about anything. If you do not know what they look like, picture big black headphones, then up the size a little bit more. Their magnitude truly assists with their state of being noise-canceling. How soundproof you ask? The gentlepeople over at soundguys.com have provided the audiophile community (IYKYK) or anyone looking to join in on the said community, with a wonderful, fully-comprehensible graph below.

(I apologize for the poor quality of this image, it was much more legible on my google doc)

 

Yeah. On a real note, if you know how to read this graph, really, great for you. Maybe you could enlighten me on what I am looking at. Although thanks to soundguys.com, I can understand that the ANC on these headphones is “top-of-the-line”, and, thanks to Google, I can understand that ANC stands for “active noise cancellation”. Well, there you go. Now even those who do not classify themselves as soundguys.com supporters and the non-audiophiles can understand that these headphones are good at blocking out noise. Whether this noise is people talking just a little too loud in the upper LC as I am trying to work on this blog post, or even the lack of noise in the quiet zone at the library, these headphones are perfect for blocking out your surroundings and creating a space for yourself to be in absolute silence.

 

With great silence comes great opportunities. 

 

Yes, I know this isn’t the catchphrase. And yes, I know I had to change two words around to make it sound acceptable, but hopefully, you can just let this slide. These opportunities I am referring to are those of studious intentions. I know that I can get just about every one of you reading this post to agree with me on the fact that life has been stressful these past couple of weeks. With every minute you spend reading this, 11:59 on November 1st gets closer and closer. You can see the countdown I have made for the short time that exists between now and the deadline for those who submit early action.

I apologize, the hour and the minutes, most likely even the days depending on when you read and complete the comments will inevitably be different from the time displayed above. Many of you are most likely reading this after Tuesday, and at that point will have submitted it. 

 

Nonetheless, whether it is college essays, studying for tests, or other stressors not related to education, recently, it seems that everything in life has been under non-stop pressure and non-stop distractions. If you had checked in with me in the last post, you know that I gave yet another piece of advice about the difficulty in focusing during times like this. Maybe I should make this my overarching concept for these posts: STUDY HACKS. My advice then was to crack open your window and enjoy being one with nature while still being able to complete your assignments. 

 

While that is particularly helpful from time to time, being too connected can lead to over stimulation. I often find that when I am frequently on my phone, or just constantly hearing the noises of the busy public’s day-to-day lives around me, it is difficult to devote my attention to just one topic. When I can get in control of my thoughts, it seems that just about anything and everything can disrupt my train of thought, making my brain one big scramble and low productivity levels inescapable. 

 

It is for times like this that I find beauty in the balance of being immersed in your surroundings vs mentally isolated. When these magical headphones close over my ears, the only thing I can hear is myself thinking, and from time to time, I try to quiet this too. 

 

I know I have mentioned that these contraptions are noise canceling just a couple of times, but, have I revealed that they play music as well? I am guessing that you would have been able to put that together by now and if you haven’t, voilá. Although, as much as I would like to say I believe people when they say music helps them focus, I just know that is not true. Let me specify that to certain types of music. There is no chance you tell me you put on “Death of a Bachelor” or “Boom Boom Pow” and get a successful studying session.

 

Knowing that some of you may begin to question what I listen to when I am in my academic weapon zone. That would of course have to be either the “Guitar Chill” or “Irish Folk Music” playlists on apple music. I usually do a rotation of these two: an hour on guitar chill, which previews songs of only acoustic guitar, no words, (not even electric guitar), and then an hour on folk songs (there is no explanation needed for this one). By the time those two hours are up, I am usually all finished with my work, and if I need a little extra time, maybe I will be extra crazy and transition back over to the chill guitar. Chances are if you see me in class with my magic workers on, there is a pretty high chance the only thing I would be hearing is acoustic guitar. 

Music or complete silence, these headphones have guided me through difficult academic days. The possibilities with these headphones are endless. I am ever so grateful that I have the possibility to #blockouthaters and truly focus on what needs to be done.