Slashdot Mirror
Computers/Keyboards + Dorm Room = No Zzzzzz?
mmortal03 asks: "Not until recently, by living with a roommate in college, had I noticed how annoying mouse clicks and keystrokes could be to someone who is trying to sleep. Often, one of us will be up using our computer while the other is tring to catch some z's. Whether it's just to do some late night browsing, type a draft of a paper, read an important email, or whatever else, the clicking of the mouse and typing at the keyboard can drive the other up the wall. Some temporary solutions have been using alternate keyboard strokes instead of mouse clicks, and going to use the school's own computer labs, but those are only open so late, or so early. I would like to hear from Slashdot users as to what their solutions have been, in the dorm rooms, for this matter. Besides the clicks and taps, another bother is that, when the lights are off, our monitors light up the room like small lamps. Outside of handing each other earplugs and eye shades, are there any available input devices that lack the noisiness, or screen filters that dim the light output of monitors outside direct viewing, that might solve this problem? Any other ideas?" We've touched on this subject tangentially, twice
in articles from December. Do you have other hints or suggestions you want to pass on?
It would be a solution, but it's impractical. Did you go to college? Was it a real one? Speaking for myself, I actually remember the time I went to bed before midnight during my undergrad years.
Let me rephrase that to make it clear: I went to bed somewhere between 2am and 4am every night. It was homework that kept me up that late. I was a CS major. I needed to use the computer. There is no way to avoid using the computer at late hours, at least on occasion, during college. And if you're in a dorm room, the computer is in the same room as your roommates' beds.
Don't use the computer while your roommate is trying to sleep. Really. It's rude. OK, maybe that's a bit harsh, but it's the reason most colleges have quiet hours. Technical solutions (a shirt over the monitor, etc.) are, in my experience, unlikely to work. They can even breed resentment if the problem continues.
I had this same problem last year at university; my roommate would stay up until 3-4am surfing, gaming, and doing nothing in particular. Which annoyed me. And occasionally I would come in and surf during the day, when he was trying to take a nap. Which pissed him off. We eventually decided on clear rules; i.e. he would either read quietly or leave after 1am (when I usually went to bed), and if he was asleep when I got back from class during the day I would take my laptop and go to the library.
Also, ask yourself if you really need to be using the computer at three in the morning. Couldn't you do that paper a couple of days in advance, instead of 5 hours before your class starts next morning? Living with a roommate demands a certain amount of flexibility. You may have to rearrange your time.
The bottom line is that this problem really needs a social solution, not a technical one. You need to talk to your roommate and set clear boundaries that benefit both of you, so you can get your work done and also sleep. For me that made the difference between a great friendship and icy silence, which was the direction things were heading before we worked it out.
My roommate in college was a late night studier.. he'd often be up until 4AM studying. Which meant doing anything from reading in bed with a lamp turned on to using the computer. At first I found it very difficult to get to sleep.. but I figured I'd get used to it. And I did pretty much. Not much of a story, I know.
But I did find that often when I found it difficult to sleep, it wasn't really because the light or clicking was so annoying that it was impossible to sleep, it was more just built up resentment against my roommate that he could be so incosiderate while I was trying to sleep! Once I got over that it was pretty easy to doze off no matter what he was doing.
I dont know, it just sounded like a similar situation by the way the submission was worded. Like the fact that he was doing something potentially annoying while you were trying to sleep bothered you more than the annoying thing itself. I could be wrong.
I ran into this problem somewhat as a freshman. But, it was normally me who was the one up late at night tapping away on the old keyboard. My roommate confronted me and I decided to try and cut back on the computer usage. It turned out to be good for me because I found that my late night browsing habits were counterproductive and were excessive. I cut back on it and used the computer more efficiently when I needed to work.
After that problem was worked out we both realized that the 2billion watt street lamp outside our window was just as bad as the clacking of keyboards.
This problem was remedied when my roommate and I and some friends were playing some football on the green and I absent-midedly grabbed ahold of the lamp post and swung around it. Instantly the lamp post swung towards the ground and I could do nothing but slow it as my leverage wasn't enough to hold it up. We all sprinted to our dormitory and holed up for the evening. For the rest of the quarter there was an orange cone over the lamp post's old position and we could sleep easily without the hindrance of a real bother.
Bottom line, you'll both be more productive if you do what you need on the computer during the day and stay away from too much pointless browsing at night. For me it was video game sites and random humor sites. For my roommate it was Snood. You can identify these things and get rid of them without the need to purchase quieter peripherals.
A long story for a short answer, but that's what I have to say....
what?