I've noticed that music seems to help me focus while programming but makes long-form writing harder.
As usual, has already assembled a nice bibliography: gwern.net/Music-distract
Only one paper on writing (10m essays); finds a modest (-) effect: gwern.net/docs/music-dis
Conversation
(Designer) Music helped me focus at work with our open-plan office, but once I started WFH alone in a quite house, I couldn’t listen to music at all.
Not certain if it was “lesser of two distractions,” or “can focus so much more that I have no extra bandwidth for music.”
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Interesting! Reflecting: I’ve found music distracting when iterating on on structural or conceptual design elements, but helpful iterating on purely visual elements or pixel-pushing. May be mostly about mood!