Computers/Keyboards + Dorm Room = No Zzzzzz? 217
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?
Buy things! (Score:5, Informative)
You can solve the keyboard noise issue by buying a quieter keyboard (duh) - laptop style (scissor) keyboards tend to be pretty quiet as long as you cut your nails. Mouse button noise is going to depend on the device you use - while my Dell laptop's mouse buttons are louder than Jackhammer Tuesdays at The Taco Palace, my IBM Thinkpad's mouse buttons are virtually silent.
Rearrange the Room (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Buy things! (Score:2)
For the mouse, I suggest using a touch pad. Some come with mappable areas that you could configure as the right mouse button. Left-clicking/tapping should be completely silent. Sure, a touchpad is no good for FPS games, but you should be keeping your roommate awake while you play games either!
I don't have any sympathy for the light problem. When I
Re:Buy things! (Score:4, Insightful)
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....
Re:Buy things! (Score:2)
--However, if that doesn't work here are some suggestions:
o White noise generator
o Padded eye covering for the sleeper (like a "horse blinder")
o LCD monitor
o Headphones
o Move the computer as far away from the bed as possible
Re:Best tip (Score:2)
Daniel
one obvious solution (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:one obvious solution (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Take less credits per semester! (Score:2)
Take 12 or less credits per semester. It may take you an extra semester to finish, but you will be much less stressed and will likely do better in the courses you take.
Being able to get sleep while in college is a great thing; you think much more clearly when well rested.
Don't give in to the "take 15" propoganda; my friends who took 15 were always exhausted and inundated; I took an extra semester and a
Re:one obvious solution (Score:3, Insightful)
As an undergrad software engineering major, I find it very difficult to keep a regular sleep schedule. If I'm not doing homework, then I'm obsessed with my latest project, and the latter is amplified to the extreme, because it is rare that I don't have homework. Try and remember what it is like to be in our situation. You were 19 once too.
I was lucky... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: I was lucky... (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
Get earplugs. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:5, Informative)
However, earplugs only cut out the noise that enters through the ear canal. Sound can still conduct through your cranium, and besides, you will hear the sound of your own breathing.
The better (but more expensive method) is to get ACTIVE noise cancelling headphones (not PASSIVE ones). These guys basically send out an antiphase signal of the ambient noise, effectively cancelling the noise out (well, not perfectly, but...). Sony sells good ones [zawodny.com] for $149. Or build your own [powerpill.org].
Do NOT get Active noise cancellation! (Score:2)
Re:Do NOT get Active noise cancellation! (Score:4, Insightful)
Furthermore, many people find something like white noise soothing and don't get a headache from it at all. If any kind of sound made us ill, we wouldn't have survived as a species. It's only some man-made sounds that suggest danger that are a problem. Key clicks fall into that category.
Re:Do NOT get Active noise cancellation! (Score:2)
You obviously don't understand active noise cancellation.
Sound travels in pressure waves. That's basic science, and you should know that. Let's assume the sound floor is currently set at the 1 atm level (atmosphere). If a sound comes in that zeroes at 1 atm, and peaks at 10 atm, active noise cancellation will create the exact opposite pressure wave, with a start at 10 atm, and reaches 1 atm when the original sound hits 10. Since we only hear frequencies, or rapid changes, our brain interprets this as n
Re:Do NOT get Active noise cancellation! (Score:2, Insightful)
As far as I know, The average pressure of any sound wave (measured over more than one wavelength) must be zero. Other wise the world would continually increase in pressure. For instance, in your example, if the incoming sound was between 1 and 10 atm, that means that the average pressure due to the noise is 5 atm, much much higher than normal pressure of 1 atm.
Also, noise cancelling doesnt change
Re:Do NOT get Active noise cancellation! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:2)
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:2)
If they're anything like the beer drinkers in my dorm, they get it from the local plasma lab (which was conveniently located walking-distance to a bar).
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:2)
Earplugs and benadryl are nopw part of the standard issue travel kit.
You can get compressable foam earplugs rated at 20-30 dB. I used mine last night and slept like a baby, even though my roommate is the worst snorer I've ever heard. I buy a big package and generally use them for 1 - 2 nights for hygeine reasons.
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:3, Informative)
Some of it, is that most people don't like the cold, and the air flow. Some of it, that you're normally in a restricted area, and your co-workers don't like that. Some of it, is all the noise.
I thought I'd read once that there are actually labor laws about it. (If you spend that much time in an area with noise, you need to have ear plugs).
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:4, Informative)
As this is OSHA, the employer is responsible for making sure these rules are followed. For dorms, of course, just be aware that 24/7 exposure at much lower levels, even under 85 db, can be harmful.
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:2)
I used to sell sliding and folding wall partitions. A good partition will reduce sound by 80db. It's very difficult to reduce by 100db since it will go through the ceiling.
So a rough measure of your office - step outside and close the door. If you can still hear the noise, then chances are you are around 90db, give or take 10db.
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:2)
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:5, Funny)
Once I moved into a new apartment where (ghasp) there was enough room to create a dedicated home office, and move the computers out of the bedroom, I had a ghastly time readjusting to the sound of silence
It was like an addiction
Re:Get earplugs. (Score:2)
not bothering the sleeping roommate/spouse/gf (Score:2, Insightful)
I've worked in the common areas in my dorm (ok this was ten years ago) for rather long hours since I wasn't willing to power up the mastadon gateway 2000 486 desktop I had in 1993 and keep my roommate up. we also used to avoid using the impact printer at 4am as a mater of priciple...
Desktops are surprisingly portable. (Score:2)
The effect is twofold. One, you are typing away in the common area where your roommate's sleep cycle is safe. Two, you get better about doing your papers in the daytime, so that you don't have to lug your machine about.
Re:Desktops are surprisingly portable. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Desktops are surprisingly portable. (Score:2)
i've carried 4 xbox controllers (the good big ones, not those tiny "controller s" things), 2 power cords, 4 ethernet cords, a netgear router, a netgear switch, and the rf modulator in my pockets. i had the game wallet clipped to a belt loop and more games in my coat pockets. this left my hands free to carry my xbox and laptop.
Re:haha impact printer (Score:2)
A few minutes later ther was a knock on the door. Turns out I had woken up the guys on either side of me plus both of the people in the room above. This through remarkably well insulated walls for a dormitory.
Re:not bothering the sleeping roommate/spouse/gf (Score:3, Funny)
Get a fan. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Get a fan. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Get a fan. -- Bingo! (Score:2)
I bought one initially for air circulation, then quickly realized how useful it was at drowning out other annoying little (and not-so-little) sounds.
Re:Get a fan. (Score:5, Funny)
also works...
Re:Get a fan. (Score:2)
it worked perfectly.
(you are using linux, right?)
Re:Get a fan. (Score:2)
I think some of the intel chipsets for one, check your kernel docs.
Re:Get a fan. (Score:2)
Re:Get a fan. (Score:3, Interesting)
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 [gsu.edu] 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.
Drown it out (Score:2)
Play some music. Not too loud. Something with a steady beat. Knocks you right out. Some Oakenfold does it for me
Re:Drown it out (Score:2)
I remember.... (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:I remember.... (Score:2)
I can't type on those things. I like my Model M.
Manners? Common sense? (Score:4, Insightful)
First off, if you're the ass typing late at night on an old IBM keyboard that CLICKS loudly, you're being a dick; be polite, I know you're in college, but you'll have better relations if you chip out the $20 for a quieter keyboard and mouse.
Secondly, don't be the retard that has to type up something major late at night. Get your work done soon, it's better to come in late from partying, than to type away for an hour, while your room mate is sleeping.
Common sense, c'mon people.
Re:Manners? Common sense? (Score:3, Insightful)
Just because someone is trying to do work late at night does not mean they have to do it late at night. It may be the case that someone prefers to do work late at night, just like some people prefer to do work during the day. Let's suppose that Person_A likes to do work in the afternoon and Per
Contractual obligations. Manners. (Score:3, Insightful)
If that agreement states you can stay up at all hours, keeping your dormmates sleepless, then you have the right to do that. Otherwise, control yourself and go to sleep at night!
Oftentimes people don't pick their study and work habits - it's just who they are.
"...it's just who they are"? I am surprised - just how self-absorbed has socie
Re:Manners? Common sense? (Score:2)
What the...?
Are you suggesting that study HABITS are genetically controlled? If you are one of the 3 people on this planet who knew how to study without being taught, then perhaps you cannot possible modify your HABITS in which case I feel very, very sorry for you and the life you are forced to lead.
If, however, you realize that study HABITS are things that are formed and are modifyable, then you will likewise
Re:Manners? Common sense? (Score:2)
Third, don't live with such a pompus ass that they get a roommate, yet are unable to cope with any signs of someone else actually living there. (You better not make any noise other than when I say it's okay...I don't care if you have 5 final projects due.)
Maybe you go/went to college for und
Why not? (Score:3, Funny)
think laptop- lcd & kb. (Score:2)
keyboards: go visit your local compusa/ fry's/ best buy and start clicking, but look for a laptop kb in a usb package. (this dell i'm on right now would wake the dead, i realize upon listening to it for a moment.) i just bought my dad (when i was in singapore last month, so i have no idea where to start looking here)
Re:think laptop- lcd & kb. (Score:2)
I have one of the Logitech wireless opticals, and it's surprisingly tasteful... there is a slight glow, but it's faint enough that you can barely see it even with all the lights off in the room.
I did see a particularly tacky mouse by one of the cut-price peripheral makers recently though... it had a red glowing scroll wheel.
easy (Score:3, Funny)
Move out (Score:2)
One button at a time (Score:2, Funny)
How loud can one handed browsing be?
--
Sigs aren't just for memos anymore!
be glad he/she's not using voice recognition (Score:3, Funny)
and claim it was a nightmare ;)
On a more practical note - while I love the IBM keyboards, I recently purchased one of the Logitech "Internet Navigator" keybaords (thumb wheel on the left and lots of extra buttons that Linux doesn't yet seem to see) that is really quite quiet. That along with one of the add-on "skid-pads" (like the ones on laptops) should lower the noise a few decibels.
Add to this one either a piece of relatively heavy fabric hung between the desk and the bed(s) or a (used) free-standing partition (like cubicles are built from - haunt the local auctions) and you can get some much needed rest.
My experience... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:My experience... (Score:2)
When I was in college, there were a few times where my workload got so large that I found myself working 'till 4AM and getting 4 hours of sleep a night for weeks straight. (Granted, I had an office in the CS hall that year, so instead of keeping my roommate up at night I just went days at a time without seeing him.)
I've also seen several professors hand a studen
Re:My experience... (Score:2, Interesting)
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
Room with a geek (Score:2, Insightful)
It's the same as complaining that your roommate smokes. The solution? Room with a non-smoker.
Some advice / tips (Score:5, Informative)
1 - Be polite. Neither of you need to hammer your keyboards. More often than not, the keyboard will respond to lighter strokes. Lighter strokes = less noise. Using the mouse sparingly, as you are, also helps.
2 - Dim your monitors. This is usually built into the standalone monitors via their "menu" buttons, and into the OS of laptops. Usually.
3 - Put sound barriers between your beds and your computers, so that the sound has to reflect off of several surfaces before reaching your ears. This will dampen the noise, somewhat.
4 - If at all possible, when a roommate is going to sleep, the other should head to the labs for an hour. Theoretically, when the other returns to do work, the sleeping one will be in a deep enough sleep such that quiet typing and a dimmed monitor shouldn't wake them.
5 - Get a dorm single or move off campus as soon as possible. It may not happen until next fall, but it's amazing how much more and better sleep both of you will get.
Hope this helps!
~UP
Re:Some advice / tips (Score:2)
I am curious as to why you took this as a real post anyway. Anyone that cannot figure out how to solve this problem on their own is not in college. If sufficiently motivated individuals cannot find the solution to such a trivial problem then the problem does not exist.
Rearrange the room a bit (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Suggestion: A quieter keyboard will help (Score:5, Funny)
Scour the university surplus for an old IBM Model M keyboard. I have a few of them on various boxen, and I have to admit that they are the quietest keyboards I've ever come across.
Re:Suggestion: A quieter keyboard will help (Score:2)
Scour the university surplus for an old IBM Model M keyboard, and whack you roommate with it next time they type while you're trying to sleep! Those things weight a ton. Your roommate will be out cold.
Nerd dorm? (Score:2)
Kids these days... (Score:3)
You should be happy your roommate isn't nailing the bejeezus out of some sexy college girl gone wild.
--Stephen
Bah (Score:2)
Having a roommate who is a liar and a scumbag with no moral compass - Truly annoying.
Tim
Maybe (Score:2)
Tim
My solution (Score:2, Funny)
Get really really tired first. If you haven't slept for 56 hours, a little 'clicka click click' isn't going to keep you awake! Neither is a small nuclear war, for that matter.
Laptop (Score:5, Funny)
If I had only done that back when I was in college....it would have been much, much better. I would not have fallen behind in my studies, become depressed, got stressed out, had a major fight with my roommate, ruined the best friendship I ever had, and lost out on an opportunity for a menage et tois with the two cute neighbors down the hall.
But no, I didn't want to spring for another $200. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.
Get a laptop... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Get a laptop... (Score:2)
Become a labbie.. (Score:5, Interesting)
-molo
Re:Become a labbie.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Just make sure you know when the building is locked.
Rolly keyboard, touchpad? (Score:2)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/keyboard s
Use a tablet or touch-pad.
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/tables.html [yahoo.com]
...or go expensive [thinkgeek.com]?
--Robert
Re:Rolly keyboard, touchpad? (Score:2)
Of course this adds yet another light source to the dark room...
adjust. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
eye mask & ear plugs (Score:2)
Total cost is less than $15.
Build a loft (Score:4, Informative)
Play some music at a reasonable volume when you're typing, and your roomate will hear muffled music when you're working. Try making the loft not loud enough to wake the dead when you get in it.
Critical hour after your head hits pillow (Score:2)
Anyways, the best way around this is to have your roommate evacuate the room for the hour around your bedtime. You go to bed and say "Shoot, it's time for bed."
Your roomate should reply: "Okay, I'll go take my math book and work problems for an hour".
It's only critical that you have silence in the
laptop (Score:4, Insightful)
There are technical solutions, but they are expensive and miss the point.
Wasn't a problem for me (Score:2)
As the type of person that likes to go to bed at 9 or 10 and get a full 8 hours of sleep, I had some roommates with vastly different sleep schedules.
During my freshman year, my roommate (also a computer geek) stayed up until at least 2 every morning, often playing computer games. Often he would invite a friend over to use my computer and he'd have somebody else on speakerphone from across campus while they played together. The game of the day was "Command
Call yourselves students? (Score:3, Funny)
I got a first-class (CompSki) degree from a good university without pulling any work-related all-nighters and drinking enough to drown a small country.
You're going to spend the next forty years working your arse off, at least spend the time you have at college/university having fun. You don't want your fondest memory of university to be the time you spent 36 hours debugging a server!
Re:Call yourselves students? (Score:3)
Not everyone feels getting plastered and passing out is a "good time". I did my share of partying too but I didn't spend all my time talking on the porcelain telephone or waking up asking "Dude, what happened last night".
White Noise Blanket (Score:2)
I find the problem with a real quiet sleeping environment is that very slight noises, anything abnormal will wake me up.
For several years I've used a noise generator or sound conditioner [marpac.com].
Go to one of those kitchen/bath stores or sections in a department store. They have noise generators that mimic the sounds of running water, rain, surf, white noise, etc.
By playing a level of background noise, the annoying signal of your roommate's typing will be submerged and you can get some rest.
Naughty (Score:2)
Earmuffs? Eye shades? Try curfews, or cutting the Internet and power connections at, say, 8 PM.
Get a ZX Spectrum keyboard! (Score:2)
Real Solutions (Score:2)
1) Stay up later. I'd often force myself to sleep whent he sun came up. Everyone is alseep then. (My 1st class was at 2:00pm, but my last class was at 8:00pm)
2) Drink more. Alchol is a depressent. It'll make you tired and you won't care about the clicks. It's really depressing that I have to tell a college student to drink more though.
3) The clicks are binary. They are telling you to party harder. You aren't tired
No problem (Score:5, Funny)
If you have to work late on the computer, tell your roommate that you're going to be up for a while making noise. He'll grumble a bit, get up, and walk down to the girls' side of the floor. He'll knock on a random door which will be opened by a beautiful blonde.
He'll say, "My roommate is making noise, can I sleep here?" She'll let him in and he'll see that her hot roommate is totally naked. Five seconds later, the three of them will be having sex for hours and hours (with the lights on at full intensity of course).
You'll be working on your geeky project the whole time, constantly adjusting the tape on your glasses and making nerdy expressions.
Or maybe I've been watching too much porn...
noisy (Score:2)
Wuss (Score:2)
Why, when I was in college, we were woken up by a friend using my PC (one of two on the whole floor) to print his paper on my daisy wheel printer. Sounded like a 50cal machine gun going off at 4am in a quiet dorm room. After that we started hiding the printer cable at night.
I wish I had your problem in College.... (Score:2)
Nowadays I've moved to a location about a mile from the airport, and despite the occasional roar of a jet taking off nearby me, I sleep like like the dead
Keyboard clicking....BAH!!!!
Ear plugs and eyeshades is you solution (Score:2)
You need to go with good solid ear plugs and eye shades. I highly recommend both of them.
My wife and I run on different schedules at times. To keep us from destroying one another's sleep, we go with ear plugs and, when required, eye shades.
Yours,
Jordan
Oh computer! Computer? (Score:2)
Seriously though, foam earplugs are a very handy item, unless you want to buy your roomie a laptop, in which case I'ld like to move in as well.
Solved (Score:2)
No sounds at all.
EARPLUGS (Score:3, Funny)
Did you hear me ?
Re:ear plugs (Score:2)