By Sarah Hines, Y11
Music has a very prominent role in our modern society. In fact, in some ways, what we listen to defines who we are. In this articl,e we are going to discuss the influences music can have on us as teenagers, with our developing brains.
First of all, how does music affect our studying? There are many varying views on this; some say it helps concentrate, others say it distracts you. According to studies, listening to music takes up the majority of your brain, meaning that studying at the same time can be hard. The truth is that it depends on the person. Some people cannot study without music, while some cannot concentrate with it. Most people choose to put on quieter, less “distracting” music, but again, it is always up to personal preference, meaning that it can have positive and negative effects.
Music also has varying outcomes on our mental health in general. On one hand, it helps as an emotional support; giving the opportunity for teenagers to vent their emotions, therefore reducing their stress and anxiety. On the other hand, it can also make teenagers focus on the negative things that are happening in their life, leading to depressive behaviour. It also has very bad effects on hearing, something that very commonly causes deafness in old age due to loud music usage in youth.
Another thing to note is the influence of the singers of our generation. Singers can be used as role models for young people, giving them a potentially superficial image of what their life should look like for them to be successful and happy. There are also a lot of singers nowadays who have been accused of many things, such as the famous rapper d4vd who has been accused of the murdering of a young girl. Figures with such influence can normalise and promote things such as taking drugs or violence; actions that are clearly very damaging towards teens’ lives. This is therefore one of the worst aspects of music, since through the lyrics these singers can promote dangerous and immoral behaviour, things that the listener will unintentionally absorb.
Research has also shown that music greatly helps people socialise and connect with other people. Music is a point of common interest, creating a subject of conversation and belonging within the teenage community. It also helps people express themselves, talking and showing their emotions. However, it also has a big impact on the vocabulary of many teenagers. Listening to songs with lots of slurs and swears will automatically integrate those words into the listeners vocabulary. Though this is usually more of a problem for smaller kids listening to the inappropriate music, who then therefore start using words without knowing their meaning.
Music can consequently have a positive and negative effect on teenagers. On one side it helps them study, and gives them emotional support. But on the other side, it can also distract them, contribute to hearing problems and create bad role models, promoting a negative lifestyle. Nonetheless these phenomena vary greatly depending on the person, the type of music they listen to, and what they absorb from it.
