Music is addictive or is it just me?

Up until 4 months ago I would never purposefully listen to music. Never really got the hype, thought it was all overrated etc. Of course there was some songs that I would listen to but this was either in my youth days when i used to grind out Runescape or just random 1 week phases listening to songs that aren't mainstream. (Year 6,7,8,9,10 is when this all occured.) So thats my music life before my addiction.

Four months ago for some reason unknown to me, I decided to take a step in the dark and downloaded sootify. I was quite shocked having access to 90% of songs at the tip of my fingers. So started to listen to eminem,bruno mars,imagine dragons,stormzy,Drake all the mainstream artists.

Fast forward to the present , I am always listening to music. Although I have been trying to decrease it the thought of going out and walking without listening to music is unthinkable, I feel like music motivates me and helps me tackle dilemmas.

Im sure that this is comparable to being addicted to smoking :holmes:

.

I put this forward to you is music as addictive as drugs,smoking? If so what is the science behind what makes it addictive? Or is this all just me.

To be honest I just made this thread so I can write about something. :moon:

Reply 1

HelpusPleasus

It apparently is, Why?
I don't know.
I've discussed it at length over dinner with a friend. I thought that perhaps its left over from prehistory and where we passed information on orally. Perhaps certain types of instrument and "chanting" was used for a particular reason- Mating for instance or perhaps preparing for Hunting.
Again there's not much research out there so that guess is as good as any.

Why then does it seem like there's always music stuck in your head (Battlestar Galactica for me!) or that it plays when a trigger happens?
I think it's some kind of base level activity for the brain to be put into a specific mood. It's intriguing certainly.

It is known as Earworms though and there's a project here researching them: http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/earworm-project/

What sort of affect could music have on the brain?
So called Intelligent people enjoy listening to Classical music (I don't simply because for me it cannot of itself have a meaning behind it- it needs emotions and characters so normally it's soundtracks for me). Could the slow pace and simple beats increase their intelligence just because the brain has longer to process information? There is also an association that "grime" and that sort of music (not a big "popular music" fan so no idea) is listened to by people who are considered less intelligent- street things-. Again could that be related to the speed and loudness of music?

Interesting questions for sure.

Reply 2

Drunk Punx

Original post by HelpusPleasus

So called Intelligent people enjoy listening to Classical music (I don't simply because for me it cannot of itself have a meaning behind it- it needs emotions and characters so normally it's soundtracks for me). Could the slow pace and simple beats increase their intelligence just because the brain has longer to process information? There is also an association that "grime" and that sort of music (not a big "popular music" fan so no idea) is listened to by people who are considered less intelligent- street things-. Again could that be related to the speed and loudness of music?

Interesting questions for sure.

Given that it's also said that people who listen to metal are generally intelligent compared to their peers, I'm inclined to disagree with you on the "speed and loudness" point.

Reply 3

HelpusPleasus

Original post by Drunk Punx

Given that it's also said that people who listen to metal are generally intelligent compared to their peers, I'm inclined to disagree with you on the "speed and loudness" point.

I don't know. Like I said my knowledge of music is close to zero, I don't know what metal even is!. I do know quite a few intelligent people who listen to "normal" music. Maybe it's the lyrics?

Reply 4

asif007

I've been addicted to music all my life and I listen to songs in a lot of genres. Hence why my music library is now approaching 20,000 songs - lol. :tongue:

Music is the rhythm of life - you can't enjoy yourself without a playlist that's jam-packed with big tunes. And I personally think you can't enjoy a song properly without dancing to it as well, haha. :smile:

I agree that music is addictive but definitely on a much lower scale than smoking or alcohol - I think that's an unfair comparison. There are no detrimental effects on your health from just listening to music!

Music is addictive or is it just me?

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