The Phenomenon of Addiction to Music

Music in the Modern Age

How many songs have you listened to since you have woken up? For most people, days start with opening social media apps to catch up with their friends or to get up to date on the latest news and trends. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube—all have short-form videos that have been proven to appeal to a large demographic of people, of which, shorter attention spans are becoming more prevalent. But all these social media sites utilize music to enhance the viewer’s experience watching the short-form videos, so you have likely listened to more songs than you can recount. 

The advent of music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, has also enormously contributed to making music more accessible to individuals daily. Music has the incredible capability to decorate time and evoke memories, feelings, and emotions, and it’s no wonder that most content creators use it on every platform. But could over-indulgence actually be harmful?

The Effects of Music on the Brain

The societal perception of music in the modern age heavily contrasts with that of previous times. Before audio could be recorded, the production of music from human hands and voices and the listening of that music had to happen simultaneously. The very act of delivering music to a live audience is an experience in itself. The musician must have spent hours built upon decades of experience to perform, and the audience must listen in gratitude, for the possibility of never hearing the same music is always lingering. Today, on-demand music signifies that the possibility of never hearing the same music is stripped; you can listen to any song on repeat however many times you’d like.

Thus, it’s no surprise that people of the modern age consider music to be like a drug; a drug with the capability to transfer you from a reality to a completely different time and location. Two mental states that this “transfer” leads to are absorption and dissociation or detachment (Bicknell). The former is experienced when listeners are more closely focused on the music itself rather than using it to accompany another activity. The latter is experienced when listeners seek an experience that would take their minds off the present. In a 2011 study by Ruth Herbert at the Open University, U.K., participants were to record their musical experiences, and 40 of the total 151 had displayed “markedly dissociative qualities”. These qualities would display themes like escape from the self, technological enhancement of music’s “power of distraction”, changes in sensory awareness, imaginative involvement, and finally, spontaneous vacancy or absence. These five themes serve to illustrate the vast capabilities that music has on humans’ awareness and sense of reality.  The study concludes with how the absence of fixed meaning in music, the portability of it, and the wide variety of “distractors”, are all reasons for why music facilitates dissociation and detachment.

Although human consumption of music has vastly risen since 2011, thanks to TikTok and other social media platforms and streaming services, the human relationship with music has still been shown to have the same effects. The dissociative qualities that music induces are comparable to those of dopamine-enhancing drugs, with both having to do with dopamine release, body temperature, and heart rate. From the limbic system, which is the brain’s source of behavioral and emotional response, aesthetic and abstract stimuli of sounds imitate the survival response to fulfilling needs, which is exactly what dopamine aids in.

The Presence of the Present

It is not to say that music increases stress and anxiety; most people would claim the opposite. However, the dissociative qualities that overindulgence in music has can lead to less emphasis on the power of being present. Focusing on the present can allow people to increase concentration, productivity, social skills, creativity, and a greater appreciation of life (Langshur and Klemp). Many view music as essential in everyday life, but by limiting the amount of music we consume, we can enhance our appreciation for the present and music. When taken in moderation, there is a positive to be seen in both the present and in music, as with anything. No exuberant amount of anything is great; our bodies have limits to the needs and wants in life, like water and screen time. Subsequently, capping the amount of time spent on social media can also help reduce overindulgence, and this comes with the added benefit of improving mental health, as social media addiction has been proven to rewire children's or teens brains into seeking immediate gratification, which can lead to “obsessive, compulsive, and addictive behaviors” (Miller).

Gratitude and Ambiance

When you pop your AirPods out of the case on the car, train, or bus, you may do so to avoid the bare reality of sitting alone with your thoughts, with nothing stimulating to accompany them. Still, it is never a bad idea to consider allocating specific times for music, and just enjoying the ambiance of the world around you for what it is. 

Overindulgence, classified by the Cambridge Dictionary, is the overconsumption of something enjoyable. It might be difficult to identify whether or not your relationship with music constitutes over-indulgence. But if you find yourself subconsciously reaching for headphones or earbuds any time you are alone and waiting, then there might be an unaddressed point for consideration. Altogether, there are no physically harmful effects that come with overindulging in music that we know of. Addiction to music is not, shouldn’t be, and never will be, taken as seriously as other forms of addiction. But the benefits of moderation and the present can never be taken lightly. There is beauty to be seen in the ambiance of daily life—from the sounds of the wind that carries through and resonates with the environment, to the sounds of strangers’ conversations, the beauty of sound itself is a quality worth your own time.