Sharing a room with someone has its advantages and downsides.
Living with someone builds in you a sense of belonging and makes life worth living.
I mean you have someone to laugh with, share ideas with, solve problems together, and so on.
But here you are in a new room with a new roommate.
And they happen to be very noisy. Noise is a big nuisance and can distract your concentration severely.
It deprives you of sleep and generally affects your day-to-day productivity.
If you have shared a room, especially in a school with someone, you know exactly what I am talking about.
And even if you have never faced this situation before, you may someday be confronted with such a case.
So, Is It Rude To Ask Your Roommate To Be Quiet?
No. It is not rude to ask your roommate to be quiet and there are plenty of useful ways and tips to do that. You will find that some people are naturally irritative with noise. Others are simply cool. If you are having a new roommate and the guy is disturbing you with noise, here you are. You might be asking yourself how you ask your roommate to be quiet. Whether it is loud music or a noisy blender, it is in our best interest to equip you with tips that will not only help you to combat your current tricky situation but also equip you with useful life skills. Read on.
Seven Practical Tips to Ask Your Roommate to Be Quiet
1. Show Your Stance Early Enough
It becomes incredibly easy to master someone’s traits over the first few days.
If you are keen enough, you can easily learn their character traits. Knowing this will help you understand how to respond to them appropriately.
After all, people are born and raised differently.
Just not to mention that we all vary in terms of character traits. Okay, people rarely conceal their traits to roommates.
They anticipate you to understand and then accept them.
In a situation where your roommate makes noise and irritates you, adjusting yourself to it is a clear confirmation that you are okay with their noise.
This should not be the case.
You can fake it but it will come to haunt you when you can no longer withstand it.
As much as possible, be real and tell them openly that you like this, and you dislike that.
Do not allow anyone to compromise with your sanity or your peaceful sleep. Comfort is paramount.
Be crystal clear and tell them that they are seriously troubling you.
No matter how rude or bossy they are, they will always be thinking at the back of their minds about their actions.
And remember you need to do this at the very first instance when you first interact.
Do not wait. Show your stance as early as possible to avoid unnecessary future confrontations.
Alternatively, you may decide to avoid the entire situation by telling them what you expect before you move on living together.
From then on, they are likely to tame their character. This is a prudent and recommended take.
2. Handle the Issue in Good Time
Find ample time to talk the issues out.
Trust me, if you jump into addressing the situation when your roommate is noisy, you might end up in a serious exchange of words.
Worse still, you may end up becoming enemies under one roof. It is like being rude to someone. So, take advantage of that peaceful moment when you are both in good moods.
Tell them politely about their unpleasant and irritating behavior. Bring in the importance of living in harmony and peace.
The point is that you don’t need to try and handle it while it happens.
That will fuel the fire and set the whole thing ablaze. Try to balance quick reaction and addressing the problem.
Try and make the roommate understand the gravity of what they are putting you through.
Make them feel guilty for their actions without raising any hate. All this calls for an intense level of maturity and wisdom.
3. Make Your Complaint A Legit One
There are some instances where it proves very difficult to avoid noise in shared apartments.
If you are allergic to noise, and most people are, book your apartment.
For instance, it makes no sense to tell someone to put off the music if it is still none at night. It portrays the magnitude of selfishness in you.
On the other hand, if your new roommate is playing loud music at midnight, they should put off that system down.
This affects you as the occupant of the room also the neighborhood. If such cases persist, seek some help from outsiders.
Tell them the situation as clearly as possible.
One thing about seeking intervention from a third party is that it helps you to ease your tempers. You also acquire a handful of useful tips to bring a solution to your problem.
Related: How Can You Get Your Roommate to Stop Smoking in The House?
4. Set the House Rules Together
When it comes to setting rules, do not be a dictator.
Do not force your friend to do certain things that they won’t feel comfortable doing. Neither should they force certain things on you.
Come down together and balance the rules.
Everyone’s mind must be involved in this. It is very easy for people to obey the rules they were involved in making.
It is human nature to try and reject rules and laws they were not consulted in making.
It is equally important for both of you to talk the issue out amicably and come to a consensus.
So, to curb noise issues with your roommate, involve them when formulating those house rules.
5. Tactically Use a Game and Shared Hobbies to Nurture Friendship
Games have a profound way of bringing people together.
Through games, strangers become friends.
In the same manner, you can do something both of you love and use it to nurture friendship.
Use such cheerful and happy moments to talk out and reach a common conclusion.
You can use such moments to make contributions and add to the rules you’ve set on the levels of noise acceptable, steps you will take to make sure that you relate peacefully, and the times to switch off the music.
6. Approach the Whole Situation positively
This is a very important tip. We all tend to blame others when we are offended.
Take for instance you fail an exam; you will blame your roommate for making noise in the room and compromising with your concentration.
Your roommate will naturally tend to rubbish the allegations making the whole thing negative.
How do you respond?
All you have to do is to choose your responses wisely.
Do not be direct and offensive.
Try as much as possible to bring out sense through your words without making the roommate feel the gravity of the blame.
It becomes easy for people to think and reason with you if you know the results of what they are doing.
Challenge yourself that you are not going to use impolite words on your roommate no matter how much offended and angered you are.
Accord them respect despite their odd behavior.
Although they deserve all that blame, trust me, the whole situation changes if you directly blame them for the mess.
When approaching a situation like this, maintain a positive and calm mindset.
7. Brace for A Compromise of events
It is not always going to be coincident that both of you are going to share the same course.
Therefore, activities and schedules will not be the same. What do you think?
How you define noise equally varies. A noisy blender may not be an issue to you when you have no pending exams.
But it may be a distractor to your friend.
Or perhaps your new roommate feels okay with music and you don’t. So, things don’t match at this point. Instead, you keep colliding.
With such tricky situations, you need to have a sitting and an amicable consultation with your friend.
What can you adjust to?
What can your roommate adjust to?
For instance, your roommate doesn’t need to put on loud music when you are sleeping or studying.
Tell them to use their earphones.
So, here is the point. When both of you can sit down and weigh a compromise, you will arrive at a firm and satisfying solution.
Final Words
There are over a dozen acceptable ways to request your roommate to minimize noise.
We are all humans and we have to handle things with that humane spirit and will.
Though we vary greatly in terms of character, we can always solve things and weigh what we have in common.
If you can stick to these tips, rest assured you will live in peace with people and enjoy your stay.
Perhaps we forgot to mention that plenty of people are naturally rude and stubborn.
Should you bump on such a scenario, engage a higher authority. Better still seek aid from a senior who can come in and help.
If you fail in convincing your roommate to abandon certain irritative habits, consider talking to the room assistants, housemates, or caretakers.
By all means, do not tolerate pressure and discomfort.
