Has music become a replacement for conscious thought in today's youth?

[Ironboot]

I don't see how you can turn music into something bad... Anyway, I almost always listen to music when I'm not having a conversation. If I'm at home or at a school computer, Spotify is always running, and I have an Ipod if I don't have access to a computer. According to last.fm, I've listened to music for a little more than 6 hours every day the past 12 months.

 

[The_Chief]

I love my music. i. love. it. i listen to it almost all the time. my ipod dies. i am sad. i get it taken away? bad mood until i get it back. i risk getting another detention and having it confiscated and home punishment to listen to it during some stupid standardized testing thing this week. i need it to concentrate. i didnt have it yesterday for the last two sections and i was zoning out every few seconds. hell, im listening to bohemian rhapsody right now. i listen to music so much that everyone knows its going on. but i dont try to make a statement out of it like having the wire hang infront of my shirt and all jumbled and such. i hide it through my shirt and behind my hair so i dont get caught. it helps me think and concentrate. i dont blast metal all the time during the test either. i have like classic rock and a few different types of music in a set playlist i play during the test. i need music that fits the mood.

Tl;dr version. i disagree. music just helps us think and such.

 

[daltob]

Two words Elton John

 

[McNinja]

Music nowdays is usually played as background music. For instance, when I was on a long car ride with some friends, they started blasting (literally blasting, like if you're at a concert standing in front of the huge speakers) some random pop music, and we're still attempting to have a conversation.

To me, music should be listened to. I used to have my earbuds in my ear all of the time, until I started actually listening to music. You can't play music like The Poet and the Pendulum as background music. I feel like that completely ruins the point of the music.

I think music is made to be listened to, not be background music, as it has more or less become.

 

[The Lawn]

I listen to music on the bus, and that's it.

I don't understand how my younger sister can go all day, listening to music.
When she wakes up at 7am, she's listening to music.
When she leaves for school, she's listening to music.
When she comes home, she's listening to music.
While she's doing homework, music is coming from her room.
It's only off when she's sleeping.

Thankfully she isn't bad with the volume issue any more.

But holy christ wagons! I don't know why anyone would want constant music every waking moment of your life.
She even listens to music while watching TV.

 

[ClunkiestTurtle]

My Grandparents say the exact same sort of thing, maybe you should start hanging out in old peoples homes and not have to deal with this annoyance of yours....

Personally i listen to music for maybe an hour or two a day probably about 3 or 4 days of the week and i love music but i do agree with you that some people take it just too far and have headphones surgically implanted into their ears and listen all day long no matter what they are doing or where they are or who they are with which sometimes i feel is a bit rude.

But hey most of the people i have come across that do this usually have nothing worth while to contribute to society so let them stay in their ipod induced coma i say, the traffic will get them eventually!!

 

[AndyRock]

I found that listning to music (specifically heavy metal) relaxes me and helps me get through a boring part of the day, such as the journey to and from college, or homework. But I never listen to it while I'm with my friends

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

I agree with the whole thing, but im not exactly inocent my self, I listen to my I pod when trying to get to sleep for about 2 hours, but hardly ever during the day.

I think we just need to accept that some people love music and will listen to it until their ears bleed, then listen some more. OR maby its just a subtle form of peer presure: "where if you dont listen to music and/or own an ipod then we dont class you high in our circle of friends" sort of fucked up thing.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I do see what you mean and it is a bit stupid and an epedemic. I only listen to music while walking to school and nothing else except maybe a bit of light homework but nothing that requires too much thought or genuine study. It completely bewilders me when people use it like a hearing aid. Although some just like having a sountrack to their life.

 

[Sakurazaki1023]

I only listen to music when I'm on the computer or out walking because I hate the noises of the city and I'd have to listen to my grandmother's constant wheezing when at my computer if I wasn't listening to music.

In all honesty, that is quite a long time to be listening to music, but it helps me think and be at ease with everything rather than sitting in silence or surrounded by the constant bustling sounds of the cars and construction in my town.

I'm pretty much the same way. I'm currently in a college dorm surrounded by loud, immature, and often vulgar individuals with little interest in being quiet. I use noise reduction headphones combined with some classical or symphonic music as a way to concentrate. While the OP is right about the idea that after a while I stop listening to the song itself, it's more about covering up any distracting noises with a sound that you recognize to help you stay focused.

 

[Ekonk]

I'm todays youth, and I can heartily confirm that although I listen to loads of music, I can and do still think. That you don't listen to music for more than three hours doesn't mean it's unnatural. I'd insult you for saying such a thing, but it will get me on probation.

Also, the way you describe music is how some would describe video games. Yeah. Think about that for a while.

 

[Tharwen]

I find that if I set music as a background, I have almost no recollection of what played afterwards. I'll look at the playlist and think 'That's a good one. Why don't I remember it?'.

I don't think I listen unless I'm trying to.

I have one friend who claims that the way he likes to listen to music is to find a song that he likes, then play it non-stop until he doesn't like it any more. Then he'll stop and find a new song. That just seems like he's doing it wrong.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I love music. I just do. I devote much of my life to playing it or listening to it, without it I reckon my life would be a great deal emptier. So yeah, I listen to a lot of music, but listening to it while talking to people is rude and usually when working it's distracting.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I'm listening to music right now. It all depends on what you like. Obviously, you don't like listening to music as much as other people. That's really all there is to it.

 

[Pingieking]

I have a very hard time thinking about physics (which is my undergrad degree) when there is music playing, unless it's light instrumental. On the flip side, my ability to think and reason on non-physics related subjects are greatly improved in the presence of music of any kind.
I think that generally, this is not a problem. If someone is so eager to listen to his iPod that they're wishing for everyone else to STFU on a regular basis, then there is a problem. However, I don't think that I've ever encountered someone like that directly or indirectly.

 

[FinalHeart95]

I listen to music a decent amount. It's mainly the bus ride to school and back. Sometimes on the computer if I'm grinding away on an MMO or something.

To be completely honest though, music helps me collect my thoughts. I usually can't get words out the way I want to, but listening to music somehow helps me focus. Not to mention that music basically keeps me sane. I'm a pessimist. I see the worst in the world. Music is one of the few things that really shows me there's something great left out there.

But I don't listen to music while talking to others. I don't know anyone that does. That's pretty rude.

 

[Chris^^]

I only listen to it when I'm doing a long term task I do every day, like going to and from school, and only when I'm alone, it just provides a degree of interest to an otherwise mundane task.. I think it's rude to listen to it when other people are around and it distracts me if I'm working, and hypes me up when I'm trying to sleep..

 

[Lemon Of Life]

I listen to music about an hour and a half a day, but I have my reasons.

Half an hour bus journey to school, where I normally sit alone.

The journey back I might listen to it with my friend, but not for all of it.

I go running every day with my iPod, so that's twenty minutes more, also use the iPod as a stopwatch.

I do the plank every night for 7 minutes, and it'd be alot harder without listening to music, plus I use my iPod Touch to tell me when the time has elapsed.

So yeah, I listen to music quite alot, but I don't find it interesting unless I'm bored, sharing it with a friend or need it to concentrate on while I exercise.

I'm 15, if that's at all relevant.