People wearing ear plugs in the workplace

[PatriarchyPersonified]

I probably am being unreasonable but...

Random one this one. I work in an open plan office that probably contains about 30 people on a busy day, in an area the size of two tennis courts. (Roughly).

The only noise is normal day to day activity, low level conversations and the occasional phone call. No machinery or radios etc.

A person who has recently started working here has taken to wearing ear plugs in the office. (Think noise reducing in ear defender type things that are used by people who shoot) when asked why they said it "helps them concentrate".

Now I suppose that's fair enough but this has prompted a couple of other people to start doing the same thing, including wearing old fashioned ear defender type headsets (think 1960s headphones) that block out all external noise.

Now we have three or four (depending on the day) people who are completely cut off from everything but their screens, to the point where you have to wave a hand in front of their face if you want to offer them a tea.

It feels a bit, well, rude.

I feel sorry for the people who have to sit next to them, because they are effectively isolated from any human contact for the entire day.

I can't see it being a management issue, as I don't think they are doing anything wrong technically. But it is making some people feel uncomfortable in work.

Is this normal practice?

I used to wear industrial ear defenders, earplugs just weren't up to the job.
The constant noise if people shouting to their friends at the other end of the office, people who hadn't worked out that the telephone was invented to enable you to speak to people at a distance without bellowing at the top of your lungs and the bloody woman who used to STAND UP at her desk and ORATE every detail of her child's routine to the world in general just about drove me to tears.
Even if someone did want to speak to me and I took my ear defenders off, I still couldn't hear what they were saying over the endless cacophony.
It was relentless.

Re - ear defenders etc not the place in an office - don’t they have to answer the phone or interact with people?

I only ever use the phone for work once in a blue moon - we do everything via Slack (instant messenger), or Google hangout video call (which requires headphones unless it's a group call in a meeting room). We don't have desk phones and only a small handful of people have my mobile number.

I work in a very sociable office, but it's commonly understood that headphones on is a 'don't interrupt me I'm concentrating' signal.

If people find it easier to concentrate when listening to music or just silence, why not let them?

I wish I'd have thought of this when I worked open plan. It's really distracting all the chit chat.

Genius idea.

It seems like a logical backlash to all this open plan nonsense.

I agree, Diego.

I’m in my 40s and used to offices with doors where people worked quietly. I just can’t train myself to concentrate with constant inane chat and radios playing, much as it would make my life easier.