Me, Myself, and Music
I am a huge music enthusiast, but I also have a very particular taste in music. Listening to music while carrying out a task or studying doesn’t only help me focus better. It also makes the task that I’m completing a lot less boring. But saying that focusing on two things will help you focus more on one thing sounds questionable.
Some people even say that not having music on is more distracting for them. I can totally relate to this statement. If I’m trying to concentrate on something in a noisy place, I won’t be able to work very efficiently. When I have music playing in my ears I’m able to completely tune out all of my surroundings. That could be both a good thing and a bad thing.
Does Listening to Music Really Help You Focus Better?
Does listening to music really help you focus better? This question is extremely debated and that’s probably because the answer isn’t the same for everyone. It really depends on the person. For music to help you focus, you have to like it. Not only music itself but also the genre. If you think of it this way, a person who strongly dislikes rock music would have a pretty hard time focusing with rock music blasting in their ear.
In a scientific report from the Wake Forest School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina Greensboro, researchers recruited 21 adults to test their brain activity while playing different genre’s of music. The selections included a piece by Beethoven (classical Music ), Brad Paisley (country music), Usher (rap and pop music), KISS (rock music) and a Chinese Band (unfamiliar music).
What Type of Music is Best For You?
The results of this test were very surprising and definitely not what they were expecting. This study confirmed that the type of music isn’t what influences your ability to focus but how you feel about the music does. You would think that listening to your favorite song and songs that are unfamiliar to you would allow you to tune out the song better. It’s actually the exact opposite.
Listening to music you aren’t familiar with will distract you because you aren’t used to hearing it. It will be nothing more than an annoying tune repeating over and over again in your ears. Having the song in a different language just makes this worse. If you are listening to your favorite song, you will be able to tune out the annoying sounds around you.
Although listening to music probably will benefit you while completing tasks, that doesn’t mean you should always have music blasting in your ears. having background music while doing chores is fine but when it comes to homework you shouldn’t play it unless it is necessary. This is because, if you get too used to listening to music while doing algebra homework you could be in pickle when it comes time for the test. It’s not very likely that your teacher will play the music you like during a test.
So does music help you focus better?
