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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?
I did see something that may help you out. Check out the "rollable indestructible keyboard". I have seen these at Radio Shack and they appear to have that squishy feel with which I would not associate a clicking noise.
In the mouse category, look for a desktop version of the touch pad that is found on laptops. By tapping the pad, a mouse click is accomplished. That would result in at least quieter clicks of the primary button.
A standard question on my university residence application asked how late I tended to stay awake. That was one of the major considerations for pairing roommates/suitemates (some others were smoking, noise level, cleanliness, and how often you had guests).
But I bypassed the whole thing by rooming with someone I already knew in first year, and getting a single room every year after that.
My roommate and I had this problem when we were in college, too. We ended up solving the problem by rearranging the room so that there was not line-of-sight from the beds to the desks by placing the back of the desk towards each bed. We also bought some styrofoam insulation and put it between the beds and the desks, and hung comforters alongside the desk if someone was going to be up late. This damped the noise quite a bit, and blocked the light.
Before that, we bought a quieter keyboard (and just shared it between both computers) and turned the brightness on our monitors way down - in a dark room, there's plenty of light to see a monitor that's set too dark to be able to see well during the day. This helped a bit, but not enough.
No. Sound is additive. While you create one noise with the fan, you still have the original noise.
Going stictly by physics, that's correct. But people hear things based on psychoacoustics, and a sufficiently loud fan WILL prevent you from hearing quiet keypresses and mouse clicks (see this page for an explanation, including mathematical formulas).
The people using IM with sound probably have their speakers too loud. Go over to their desk when they're not around, and turn the speakers down or off.
If at possible, rearranging the furniture could work, too. If the light from the monitor is bothering you, just point it in the opposite direction from your bed - the reflected light should be quite a bit dimmer than the monitor itself. Having some extra furniture between yourself and the offending computer might even help dampen the sound a bit. That, combined with the white noise from a fan or radio, might take the edge off of the computer noise.
"By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth." - George Carlin
If you're a geek already, why not go that extra mile and become a computer labbie? You get the access codes to the labs and can keep them open all night. You also get in good with the faculty and sometimes even get paid to do something you would be doing already.
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
I had a similar situation. My freshman year roommate and I were entirely dissimilar. I am your average geek. He was a 212 pound, born again christian, wrestling champ. He didn't drink, I did. He listened to christian rock, I listened to Wumpscut and other caustic german industrial. We both had obnoxiously massive stereos and large loud computers.
However, we arranged for some simple rules: no alcohol in the room, no sex in the room, and use headphones while both of us are in the room.
It worked out well, I would sleep during the day, he would sleep during the night, we arranged our room in an L, with desks at the foot of the beds, so that the monitor/lcd light would shine away from the person asleep. I had no problem sleeping while he did his homework; and he enjoyed the fact that my machine was a freaking wind tunnel with usb ports.
After living with a good friend the next year and watching things go down hill because we were too similar and too alike, I've learned to appreciate the healthy relationship I had with my first roommate.
fnord.