Quietly. FAQ.
What is Quietly. in a nutshell?
A simple free offline music app for breathing, sleeping and focusing without any signups, accounts, emails, phone numbers, private data, privacy issues, fees or ads. Just download and immediately use with no hassles from www.quietly.life.
How is Quietly. better for the environment?
Colours, video and online streaming on devices generate more carbon than the alternatives used by Quietly. See the below questions.
Why just black and white and no colours?
No need for distractions here, simplicity matters so you can just get on with breathing, sleeping, focusing or relaxing. Colours also require more energy and therefore burn more unnecessary carbon to serve.
Why no cool videos?
Not everything actually needs video, particularly not when you want to remove distractions. And the energy and carbon requirements of serving video for functional music use cases is unnecessarily wasteful.
Why no streaming?
We estimate that If a single user moved their nightly sleep playlist away from streaming via a music service to Quietly around 130kg of CO2 equivalent could be saved in a year (and we think we used conservative estimates here!). Oh, and it also means you won’t be using up the data in your telco plan either! And you can use it anywhere without needing wifi or mobile.
Why no playlists, track selection or random play?
We think that just gets in the way of the intention of the Quietly use functions, which we want to be immediate. Music with simpler melodies or repetitive rhythms have been found beneficial for focus enhancement. Predictability, repetition and ease of use are key for Quietly.
Why no sharing, chat or socials?
We want this to be easy to use and all about you with absolutely zero distractions. If you want to share Quietly feel free to do however you want, but we don’t want to make it wired into Quietly.
Why no ads or subscriptions?
Ads sell you stuff you don’t need. They would also completely destroy the intent and philosophy of Quietly. As for subscriptions, we’re just sick of them and would like to free the ambient music for all!
Why no accounts, email, or phone number signups?
We don't want to track, invade you or bother you. We’re simply not interested in your personal information or using it for our own gain or to track you to try and sell you anything.
Why only a really small amount of music?
When you want music for functional uses repetition is actually a good thing. No tyranny of choice to see here! As Scientific American said: “The Tyranny of Choice: Logic suggests that having options allows people to select precisely what makes them happiest. But studies show abundant choice often makes for misery." We also don’t want to clutter things with spoken word, meditation courses and other “wellness” functions. Simple.
Where is the actual music from?
Every piece of music on Quietly was composed by a real human. There is absolutely no AI in any of the Quietly music, don’t get us started on the quality and carbon footprint of soulless AI generated ambient music!
What is the 11 second breath cycle about?
Quietly uses a breathing pattern of 11 seconds, 5.5 in and 5.5 out. It is the “low and slow” breathing approach that has been used by many people in may places over time. James Nestor, author of the book “Breath”, sums it up: “The perfect breath is this: Breathe in for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for about 5.5 seconds. Buddhist mantras, yoga asanas, Hindu mudras (hand poses), and the Catholic Ave Maria, as well as Taoist, African, and Native American prayers, correspond with this 11 second per breath / 11 breaths per minute cycle”.
What is the 8 hour sleep length about?
We’ll let an expert explain. Matthew Walker, author of the book “Why We Sleep”, said “Humans need more than seven hours of sleep each night to maintain cognitive performance. After ten days of just seven hours of sleep, the brain is as dysfunctional as it would be after going without sleep for twenty-four hours/ Obtain anything less than eight hours of sleep a night, and especially less than six, and the following happens: time to physical exhaustion drops by 10 to 30 percent, and aerobic output is significantly reduced”.
What is the 18 minute powernap length about?
A powernapping expert friend of ours says "Powernaps must be strictly 18 minutes. No more, no less". So we are just going with this tried and tested length.
What about other questions?
Visit the Quietly website or contact us via email in the links below!
