Music, news radio, or television programs. That are strong in dialogue so you can mostly listen and look up at occasionally. I am embarrassingly enough a fan of the last category and often have Doctor Who on while I fiddle with designs. If I'm good I listen to NPR, my favorites being oh so predictably "All Things Considered" or "This American Life". I have no issue with being a run-of-the-mill NPR listener.
On the television watching—I actually shouldn't be embarrassed about this because I've done it since I was in middle school. During our allotment of afternoon tv I would do little crafts, and I don't totally remember if my brother was the more avid audience. Then in high school when I was allowed to make my own choices about television (and stay up later) I used to tape movies and tv shows and rewatch things at night, while sketching. I must have watched Bladerunner and Terminator 2 and Aliens (last two for girl power) dozens of times. Did I pirate these? Did my parents let me? I DON'T PIRATE MEDIA NOW. And boy is it frustrating when something I've bought on iTunes shows up on streaming Netflix a few months later.
For me, having movies and tv shows I've seen before going in the background actually helps me. I particularly do it while doing art. It helps me pull back from whatever I'm doing, space out, and get into a non-caring intuitive space. I once read an article about the painter John Currin who mentioned that those rushed paintings before a deadline for a gallery show, the "fuck-it paintings", were sometimes the best. I can't find the article but I know it was him. For me when I let go my artwork is the best. And sometimes my designing. Especially when I'm just pulling things out of my cloudy brain in a soft, slow, wool-gathering way. Plucking strands of fluffy wool out, teasing them down, while gazing at the amazing rendering of Wall-E in the Pixar film.
Why should I be embarrassed? Why should I hide this? I think too much television for kids is poisonous. Yet somehow not for me. Contradictory but I don't care, I think it's true. We were given an hour a day in middle school and I think that was right, and the family watched one sitcom per week together. First it was The Muppet Show, then The Cosby Show, and then The Simpsons. My mother never liked The Simpsons because they mocked the father figure too much and that made her Japanese self very uncomfortable.
This has gotten off-topic, but the entire point is I don't know anyone who works from home to not have some form of media around. My first thought is, "What did people do before all this regular media?" And then I remember, "Oh right. They didn't work from home."
It's a wonderful thing, to be able to have Doctor Who on in the background. That's all. It's one of the best aspects of working from home. Doctor Who. Thank you BBC!
Image courtesy Grebe Radio, found by googling images for "Radio"
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