Comment by chrisweekly
2 days ago
Related tangent - here's my carefully-curated "flowstate" Spotify playlist consisting of tracks w/ no lyrics and a variety of moods. I pick one that suits me in the moment and put it on repeat. I find it boosts my focus and energy and is very helpful in attaining flowstate, for problem-solving or Cal Newport-style "deep work" sessions.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6UScdOAlqXqWTOmXFgQhFA?si=...
I've always thought of songs with human vocals as cries of conspecifics, impossible to ignore and thus highly distracting.
Not sure if that’s because I’m not a native speaker, but unless I make a conscious and quite tiresome effort to listen to the lyrics, the human voice is just another instrument among many.