I let my students use their iPods when they are in the computer classroom writing. It is against the college’s rules, but if they are used to writing with music in the background, what is the problem? I also let them instant message, as long as they are working productively. I know most teachers would be outraged by this, but let’s face it–we multitask these days, and some of us really can’t deal with silent, focused work.

At work I’ve been listening to music on headphones too. I’m thinking that I may be asked to stop soon, as my workplace is not the sort of place where people do that sort of thing. If I am asked, I will tell them that I find it a lot easier to work with music than with conversations going on behind me (we all work in cubicles). Dvorak is background music that I can keep in the background. A coworker talking impatiently to a difficult client, on the other hand, is really distracting.

Pi, I am all for allowing people to listen to music while writing — much less distracting because you don’t need to listen to people talking, as MS points out. Luckily I work somewhere I can have headphones. Though often I forget to bother.

I don’t see how iPods are any different from books, magazines, laptops, staring out the window, etc. I suppose it’s just more difficult to interrupt. Surely interrupting someone’s reading/typing/thinking is ok because it’s done to strike up conversation - something we should all want. But pulling off someone’s headphones would be *rude*. Bah.

I talk to people who have headphones on, same as I talk to people when there’s music playing. Why not? The only difference I can see is they’re not subjecting me to their taste in music, which I appreciate.