My dad just took the computer and tossed it the moment I got a godawful report card. I cried for weeks. Doesn't change the fact that the next day I was physically forced to find something else to do just by virtue of not having it.
Thanks to my Dad for having the strength to let me be angry at him for years before coming to the right conclusion myself.
It is the flavour of the year political topics maintained by a small percentage of college students. It'll soon fade from those buzzwords and take on a new ideology. Due to the internet, it seems like much bigger of an issue than it really is.
>Sometimes you do have to put on headphones to cut down on the auditory distraction
That's exactly the problem. You are plugging inefficiencies that exist for no reason. Listening to music hampers my work because I focus too much on it. I just want a quiet room.
It hugely depends on how it's asked. If you ask it in a really awkward dead pan kind of way it's going to fall flat. If you do it in an almost "indulge me" kind of banterish irony, most people get that and will string along for a bit. The funny ones will go along and end it with something like "wow, really took me for a ride there" and switch it back on you.