Grinds My Gears close

Another month and another chance to enlighten you all on what really Grinds My Gears. Something that has always pestered me which I have notice ever more now I live in London, is silence, especially the awkward social silence. You may argue that London is never silent and if you do get a few minutes of silence it’s a god send, helping you wonder around in your own head and organise your life. This is a load of rubbish, you live in London, living here you should expect to be greeted by hustle and bustle on a daily basis, it is what keeps you alive and gives you the buzz to experience so many different things within the city. You live here to be lulled to sleep by the sound of sirens and to be woken up by your morning alarm of the daily commute. You don’t visit or live here to wander around aimlessly and sit in silence.

I love all the sounds and madness that London generates, the idea of silence makes me sick to the stomach with flashbacks of sitting my GCSEs in my old, cold school hall. We should not be confined to silence, we are humans, we should be allowed to express ourselves with noise. A silence that really gets on my wick every day is the daily commute tube silence. This is the most structured of silences, commuters stand on the platform deep in conversation with one another. However, the second their foot touches down on that tube carriage the invisible super glue sticks their top lip to their bottom one. Silence. This silence will continue for their whole journey, until they reach their destination, disembark the carriage and start their conversation with one another once again. I find this social silence incredibly strange, it has made talking on the tube social suicide. If you dare strike up a conversation or make any noise other than the swaying and general tick over of the train you will be stared down with dagger eyes by the rest of the carriage, making the rest of your journey very uncomfortable.

I think society, Londoners especially need to start embracing noise. By embracing it I don’t necessarily mean running around like a headless chicken banging pots and pans. That would be a sight for sore eyes and ears. I mean embracing the general environmental noises and background hum of daily life and most of all, embrace music. Music has always been a big part of my life, I’m a avid live music fan and my apartment can be mistaken for a music shop. I’m a firm believer that music should be a norm within the office environment. Stats illustrate that 86% of employees are happier when music is played in the work place, improving office morale. This type of data can have knock on effects to the rest of your business, introducing music into the workplace can also help decrease the number of staff likely to call in sick (stats from http://www.musicworksforyou.com/research/research-topics/8-productivity)

Different genres of music generate different moods, helping you set the mood to achieve your goals. Classical music can help focus and concentration and drum and bass can spark creativity and productivity. Our Creative Directors favourite soundtrack for creativity is Red Hot Chilli Peppers.The monotone noise of fingers banging away at key boards should not become the main rhythm of the office, but should be the quiet fading beat of productivity and achievement in the background. 

Music in a creative agency creates a unique comfortable environment, clients’ love that they can walk through our door here at Codegent and be greeted by Elvis Presley or David Bowie. It puts everyone in the office at ease and ensures there are never any awkward silences, 55% of employees and clients feel less self conscious and at ease when music is played in the background (stats from http://www.musicworksforyou.com/research/research-topics/10-branding). Creating a relaxed environment for discussions and ideas.

I ask you lovely people to embrace the noise, because silence in an energetic city is what Grinds My Gears.