I didn't listen to music for 3 months (a science experiment)

Summary

In this insightful video, Lauren shares her three-month experiment of abstaining from music to study its impact on her life. She reveals her struggle with music addiction, the emotional confusion it caused, and how the absence of music heightened her sense of presence and self-awareness. Lauren's experience led her to value silence and suggests a 'music detox' for those with similar dependencies, while advocating for intentional and healthy music consumption.

Takeaways

• 🎧 Lauren conducted a personal experiment by not listening to music for three months to understand its impact on her life.
• 📚 She removed all music apps from her devices and avoided playing music through other platforms like YouTube.
• 🌧️ For studying, she used nature sounds like fire and rain to replace music, listening to them on her iPod Shuffle.
• 🔁 The primary reason for the experiment was Lauren's self-identified music addiction, which she felt was affecting her daily life.
• 🏃‍♀️ Music addiction was defined by a craving, loss of control, and persistence despite negative consequences.
• 🌐 Lauren felt that music was interfering with her presence and ability to focus on her surroundings.
• 💔 She also experienced emotional confusion, where music either numbed or exaggerated her emotions, preventing her from accurately processing her feelings.
• 🌲 The experiment led to a heightened sense of presence and appreciation for the simple details in life, such as conversations and nature sounds.
• 💭 Lauren gained emotional clarity, as the absence of music forced her to confront and understand her emotions more accurately.
• 🎶 Despite the benefits, Lauren recommends not going beyond two months without music, as she experienced negative effects like constant mumbling and making bird noises.
• 🌳 She plans to reintegrate music into her life in a more intentional way, designating specific tasks for listening and avoiding it during others, like being in nature or with people.

Q & A

What was the purpose of Lauren's experiment?

Lauren conducted a science experiment to understand the effects of not listening to music for three months on herself.

What did Lauren do during her experiment?

Lauren deleted all music apps from her devices, refrained from playing music or other sounds through websites like YouTube, and used nature sounds like fire and rain for studying.

Why did Lauren decide to stop listening to music?

Lauren stopped listening to music due to her music addiction, lack of presence, and emotional confusion caused by music.

What are the three principles of addiction defined by Shaffer et al., 2000?

The three principles are 1) a craving or compulsion to do something, 2) loss of control when it comes to this behavior, and 3) persistence of behavior despite accruing negative consequences.

How did Lauren's experience with music affect her emotional clarity?

Lauren found that music was confusing her emotions by either numbing them or intensifying them, which led to a lack of emotional clarity.

What did Lauren learn about music and autobiographical memories?

Lauren learned that music helps in recalling specific moments of life and is important in the construction of autobiographical memories, as stated in a 2008 paper.

What benefits did Lauren experience from not listening to music?

Lauren experienced heightened creativity, a sense of wonder, increased presence, and emotional clarity during her experiment.

What advice does Lauren have for those who might be overly dependent on music?

Lauren suggests trying a music detox, even if just for a day or a specific task, to observe how it feels and to appreciate the richness of silence.

How does Lauren plan to approach music listening in the future?

Lauren plans to designate specific tasks for music listening, avoid Spotify premium to be more intentional, and have set tasks where she will not listen to music, such as when in nature or with other people.

What limitations does Lauren acknowledge in her experiment?

Lauren acknowledges that she is not a musician, it's hard to avoid music entirely in public places, and the sample size of her study is one, making it less reliable.

Outlines

00:00

🎼 Music Addiction and Experiment

In this video, Lauren discusses her personal experiment of abstaining from music for three months to understand its impact on her life. She outlines the video into six chapters, starting with her actions to remove music from her daily routine, including deleting music apps and avoiding music on websites. She then delves into her reasons for the experiment, primarily her music addiction, which she defines using principles from a 2010 study. She also discusses the negative effects of music on her presence and emotional clarity, citing studies on music consumption and its effects on daily life.

05:04

🌧️ Reflections on Music and Life

Lauren explores the role of music in her life and its influence on her emotions and memories. She recalls how music has been a part of her life since the age of eight, helping her recall specific moments and periods. She references a 2008 paper that highlights music's importance in autobiographical memory construction. During her music-free period, she experiences a resurgence of childlike traits like creativity and wonder, and a heightened sense of presence, appreciating simple activities and the sounds of nature. She also gains emotional clarity, as the absence of music forces her to confront her feelings without the influence of music.

10:07

📈 The Ups and Downs of Music Detox

Lauren shares her experiences and lessons learned from her music detox, which she graphically represents as a relationship between happiness and time spent without music. Initially, she faced discomfort and withdrawal symptoms, but as time passed, she began to enjoy the benefits of being music-free. However, she cautions against extending the detox beyond two months, as she experienced negative effects like constant mumbling and an urge to fill the silence, which she humorously compares to the character Rapunzel.

15:09

🎶 Advice on Intentional Music Listening

Despite her experiment, Lauren is not against music. She acknowledges its universal importance and health benefits, as supported by studies. Her advice for those who might be over-consuming music is to try a music detox, even if just for a day, to understand their relationship with music. She suggests setting tasks for music listening and avoiding it during certain activities like being in nature or with others. She plans to be more intentional about her music listening in the future, designating specific tasks and times for it.

20:18

🌳 Embracing the Richness of Silence

Lauren concludes her video by emphasizing the importance of silence and the lessons she learned from it. She acknowledges the limitations of her experiment, such as not being a musician and the difficulty of completely avoiding music in public spaces. She encourages viewers to try not listening to music for a task or a day to appreciate the silence and to be content with less. She also invites viewers to check the video description for more information and ends her video with a reminder to embrace the richness of silence.

Keywords

💡Music Addiction

Music addiction refers to a compulsive behavior where individuals feel an overwhelming need to listen to music, often to the detriment of other aspects of their life. In the video, the speaker defines addiction based on three principles: craving, loss of control, and persistence despite negative consequences. The speaker's personal experience with music addiction is central to the video's theme, highlighting how she felt restless and irritated without music.

💡Presence

Presence in the video context refers to the ability to be fully engaged in the current moment and environment, rather than being distracted by music. The speaker discusses how her music addiction made it difficult for her to stay present and focus on her surroundings. This concept is crucial as it contrasts with the speaker's experiences during her music-free period, where she found a heightened sense of presence.

💡Emotional Confusion

Emotional confusion is the state of having mixed or unclear feelings, often as a result of external influences. The speaker explains how music could both numb and exaggerate her emotions, leading to a distorted understanding of her feelings. This concept is significant as it illustrates the negative impact of music on her emotional clarity and self-awareness.

💡Autobiographical Memories

Autobiographical memories are personal recollections of events from one's life. The speaker mentions that music is important in constructing these memories, as it helps recall specific moments associated with certain songs or types of music. This is demonstrated in the video by her recollection of childhood memories triggered by the absence of music.

💡Childlike Traits

Childlike traits refer to qualities typically associated with children, such as creativity, wonder, and a sense of discovery. The speaker found that abstaining from music allowed her to rediscover these traits, suggesting that the absence of music can foster a more imaginative and inquisitive mindset.

💡Sense of Presence

A heightened sense of presence is the ability to be more aware and engaged with one's immediate environment. The speaker describes how not listening to music allowed her to appreciate the details of everyday life and feel more connected to humanity, which is a key takeaway from her experiment.

💡Emotional Clarity

Emotional clarity is the state of having a clear and accurate understanding of one's emotions. The speaker contrasts this with the emotional confusion caused by music, explaining how her music detox helped her gain a more accurate sense of her feelings and become more self-aware.

💡Music Detox

Music detox refers to the practice of abstaining from listening to music for a period of time. The speaker underwent a three-month music detox as part of her experiment, which is the central narrative of the video. The term encapsulates the process and the effects of her self-imposed music abstinence.

💡Intentional Listening

Intentional listening is the act of consciously choosing to listen to music, as opposed to mindlessly playing it in the background. The speaker suggests that being more intentional about when and how she listens to music can enhance her appreciation for it, reflecting on her desire to be more selective and mindful in her future music consumption.

💡Silence

Silence in the video is not just the absence of sound but also a rich and valuable state that the speaker learned to appreciate. She encourages viewers to embrace the richness of silence, suggesting that it can be a source of contentment and self-reflection, which is a significant message in her conclusion.

💡Contentment with Less

Contentment with less refers to the ability to find satisfaction and fulfillment in simpler experiences, without the need for additional stimuli like music. The speaker discovered that she could enjoy activities more fully when she was not distracted by music, highlighting a key lesson from her experiment.

Highlights

Lauren conducted a personal science experiment by abstaining from music for three months.

Removed all music apps from her devices and avoided playing music through other platforms.

Used fire and rain sounds for studying instead of music.

Lauren's music addiction led her to undertake this experiment.

Cited studies showing the ubiquity of music consumption and its impact on daily life.

Defined addiction based on craving, loss of control, and persistence despite negative consequences.

Noted emotional confusion as a result of using music to mask or intensify feelings.

Discussed the complex reasons behind listening to sad music when already feeling sad.

Learned that music aids in recalling specific life moments and constructing autobiographical memories.

Experienced a resurgence of childlike traits such as creativity and wonder.

Gained a heightened sense of presence and appreciation for the world without music.

Found simple activities became more enjoyable without the distraction of music.

Achieved emotional clarity by not using music to cloud judgment about feelings.

Suggested that intentional and healthy music consumption leaves room for silence.

Advocated for a music detox to better understand one's relationship with music.

Recommends setting tasks for when music is allowed and when it is not, to be more intentional.

Plans to use an iPod with a limited selection of songs for future music listening.

Will avoid music when in nature or in conversation with others to appreciate the environment and human interaction.

Recognizes limitations due to not being a musician and the small sample size of the study.

Encourages embracing the richness of silence and being content with less.

Transcripts

hey guys it's Lauren so I didn't listen to music  for three months for a science experiment on  

myself and in this video I'm going to tell you  my experience with that the outline for today  

chapter 1 is explaining exactly what I did chapter  2 why I stopped listening to music chapter 3 what  

I learned and going through my experience and  what I gained from it and everything chapter 4 my  

advice for you chapter 5 how I personally want to  approach music listening in the future and chapter  

6 limitations and conclusion so chapter 1 is on  this sticky note because um it didn't need a whole  

page but exactly what I did is first I deleted all  music apps off all of my devices and then I didn't  

allow myself to play music or other sounds through  YouTube or other websites and for studying since I  

need some kind of sound for that I downloaded fire  sounds and rain sounds to my iPod Shuffle and then  

listened to that with these headphones so that  brings us to chapter 2 why did I stop listening  

to music and the first one is the most notable  and that was because I had a music addiction  

and even though things like internet addiction,  video game addiction, and social media addiction  

are talked about very frequently these days  I think music addiction is something that  

is less talked about and this was a really  interesting paper I found from 2010 and it says  

"in today's world music consumption is ubiquitous  and it appears that some individuals especially  

among younger people are unable to function  effectively in daily life without continued  

access to their music of choice" and the way I'm  defining addiction is by these three principles  

laid out by Shaffer et al, 2000 and that's 1  a craving or a compulsion to do something 2  

loss of control when it comes to this behavior  and 3 persistence of behavior despite accruing  

negative consequences this study in 2010 was  a study where participants were deprived of  

music for a set amount of time and they were  were asked to reflect on their experience and  

one quote really stood out to me one of the  participants said that they felt "restless,  

frustrated, or irritated when without music" and  that's exactly how I kind of felt when I didn't  

have music because I was addicted to it and could  not handle being without it for one second so the  

second reason why I stopped listening to music  is the lack of presence you know because I was so  

addicted to listening to music it was very hard  for me to stay in the present and then focus on  

things that are actually happening around me  instead of just focusing on the music that's  

playing to drown absolutely everything out and not  listening to anything else or paying attention to  

anything else that is happening around me and the  third reason why I stopped listening to music is  

emotional confusion now this is an interesting one  so let me explain basically I felt as though music  

was really confusing my emotions and there's two  ways that this occurred for me exhibit a I would  

feel some kind of negative emotion and then  I would just not want to think about it so I  

would just throw music on whatever I was feeling  in order to feel better or just escape from what  

I'm feeling and I call this the numbing of emotion  or exhibit B I'm like a little bit sad I have some  

kind of slight negative emotion and then so  I play sad music in order to exaggerate the  

current emotion that I feel in order to intensify  it into something that's not even there and the  

reason why people listen to sad music when they're  sad is definitely very complex subject so let  

me talk about it for a little bit but a paper by  Kawakami et al., 2013 said "listening to sad music  

induces ambivalent emotions" so you have kind of  conflicting emotions and even though the music  

itself is sad you may feel some kind of comfort  from it or some kind of happiness from it because  

you're romanticizing your emotions but I'm not  talking about listening to sad music when you're  

sad I'm talking about listening to sad music when  you have some like slight negative emotion that  

you just need to think about but instead of  unpacking it you're throwing sad music on top  

of it and then you're completely identifying  with this song of choice instead of actually  

evaluating your current state so those are kind  of the two ways that you can become confused  

about your emotions by listening to music now  that brings us to chapter 3 what did I learn so  

this first finding is kind of very subjective so  I'm going to explain it the best I can so do you  

remember the first time you started listening to  music? like the first time you actually you know  

sought out music on your own because for me I was  around 8 years old when one of my friends was like  

do you listen to music and I was like no from the  age of8 onwards I listened to different kinds of  

music for different periods of my life when I  listen to different songs I remember different  

periods of my life in which I listen to that  song most frequently and so music helps you  

recall very specific moments of your life in which  your life was most connected to a particular kind  

of music or a song and a 2008 paper says "because  of its near ubiquity music has been identified as  

important in the construction of autobiographical  memories and thus for making judgments about  

oneself and others" so you associate different  times of your life with different types of music  

and I bring this up because everything before  this is not defined by any kind of music because  

I started listening to music when I was 8 right so  before this my memories are all defined by sounds  

of nature because before the age of8 since  I was not listening to music I'm reminded of  

being outside and just listening to the birds and  listening to the trees wrestling and just being  

more in a space where I'm listening to nothing or  I'm listening to just outdoor sounds gave me this  

very specific kind of childhood nostalgia and  very vivid memories of childhood and I thought  

that was interesting and in conjunction with this  I also found that childlike traits in me came back  

more for example creativity and wonder and it was  pretty nice to experience these traits again and  

I felt myself appreciate the world a bit more as  if I'm seeing it for the first time kind of thing  

2.2 heighten sense of presence so being without  music I really was able to focus on details way  

more and be content with just the simplest things  in life for example I really liked listening to  

people talking to each other and not in a creepy  way but I'll just be walking to class right and  

then these people walk by me and they're like  that exam was so hard yeah I think I failed blah  

blah blah and then it was just catching those  simple glimpses into others people's lives that  

made me really happy I just felt so much closer to  humanity and felt more close to the world around  

me and I'm so integrated with what's going on in  my environment instead of just focusing on like my  

little world with my music so that was really nice  simple activities became fun because I got to the  

point where I would be content with just noticing  the little details that happened but anyways 2.3  

is emotional clarity this is in response to the  problem I listed before about emotional confusion  

so being without music I think definitely helped  me get a more accurate sense of my emotions  

because I didn't have music to cloud my judgment  about how I feel about things and it made me way  

more self-aware so let me tell a story there was  one day at work I had that was in the middle of  

this experiment and I was kind of disturbed  and a little bit upset because of something  

that happened at work and so on the drive back I  could have easily just played a sad song and then  

completely identified with that song and then  exaggerated my emotions to this extent as you  

can see in this picture however because I wasn't  allowed to listen to music I had to actually think  

for myself and think about how I actually felt and  I was able to reflect on why exactly I got upset  

by this thing that happened and not having music  contributed to me being self-aware of this trigger  

that I have and we all have our triggers we all  have things that make us upset and I think it's  

really important to understand ourselves better  by evaluating how we react in certain situations  

and how we behave because of maybe some things  that happened in the past so that's 3 having a  

more accurate knowledge of my emotions chapter  4 what is my advice for you okay and let me  

start off by saying I'm not anti-music music  is so important to our Humanity in fact newborn  

infants detect the beat in music in this paper by  Winkler et al., 2008 says quote the capability of  

detecting beat in rhythmic sound sequences is  already functional at birth and further "music  

is the universal language of mankind" as said  by Henry Wadsworth and this is because music  

is observed in every single culture in the world  and every single culture that ever existed every  

civilization that we've ever studied has had a  form of music and also music has health benefits  

as well this paper by Finn & Fancourt, 2018 says  "there is support for the application of listening  

to music especially within clinical settings for  stress reduction" so I am not against music I love  

music however I think there is a problem with  over listening to music because it's the first  

time we have unlimited access to music where we  can just play it endlessly and whatever time we  

want and I think that's a problem because there is  absolutely no room for silence so what's my point  

with this I'm saying that if if you are a person  who consumes music intentionally and healthily  

you have no reason to do anything because you  already leave space for silence however if you  

relate to me where you do have some kind of music  addiction then here is what I would recommend  

for you so this is a graph titled relationship  between happiness and time spent on music detox  

so on the x-axis we have time not drawn to scale  and on the y-axis we have happiness I don't know  

what units but let me take you through this 3  month journey so the first week was really bad  

because this thing that I relied on so heavily  was taken from me so it was really uncomfortable  

however I had to overcome this this little dip  and then the first month I really saw a lot  

of these these benefits that I mentioned these and  the second month was was the same I really enjoyed  

the benefits that I listed and it was really nice  to just be with music for the second month as well  

however I would not recommend doing this detox for  over 2 months because the third month I started  

observing some negative side effects and these  include constant mumbling to myself as a person  

who already talks to myself a lot it was way  more than usual I really felt like Rapunzel you  

know how Rapunzel's mom was like "stop with the  mumbling you know how I feel about the mumbling"  

and then Rapunzel was like "I am the lost princess  aren't I mother or should I even call you that"  

I felt like Rapunzel because of how much I was  mumbling and I think I did this because there was  

so much silence that my brain was trying to think  of ways to fill in the silence just by talking and  

this second one bird noises kind of goes along  with this I just like learned how to make bird

noises I think that's also me trying to fill in  the intense amount of silence I had so what's  

my advice then I would say just to try out  not listening to music for a bit and if you  

feel like you are overly dependent on music  just for one day try to not listen to music  

or if there is a task that you always do with  music playing then try to do it without music  

for once and then observe how you feel about it  cause even for 2 months that's kind of intense  

so just for one day 1 hour you know just try  it out and then see how you feel about it then  

chapter 5 is how I personally want to listen  to music in the future number one is to have  

set tasks to designate music listening to and  these tasks are tasks that are so boring and  

repetitive that it's very hard to be motivated  to do them without music though it was a good  

challenge that I did these tasks without music for  these 3 months I think music playing with these  

tasks are a very key motivator for doing them  and I kept note of the tasks that I felt very  

unmotivated to do without music these include  working out, busy work with class assignments,  

cleaning, and repetitive tasks such as laundry  and making these sketchbook slides etc. and  

going back to the first study I mentioned about  the participants being deprived of music this  

participant really described it well it says  "walking to class is tolerable without my iPod  

but not having it to study or work out is not" and  I really agree age with the sentiment second thing  

I want to do is not have spotify premium again  but since you're allowed to pick what songs you  

want to listen to even if you don't have spotify  premium if you're on your laptop I'll listen to  

new music when I'm doing my busy work on my  computer however when I'm not on my computer  

and I need to do tasks such as working out or  cleaning um all I'm going to put about 1,000 of  

my songs on this iPod that I have and I feel that  having this iPod will definitely help me be more  

intentional about listening to music because it  is a designated device to listen to music on so  

I'm really excited to put all my favorite songs  on here and then be more appreciative of music  

when I am listening to it the third one is to  have set tasks where I'm not listening to music  

like I'm not allowed to listen to music when I'm  doing these tasks and the first one is anytime  

I'm in nature because I had such a newfound  appreciation for nature and the sounds of nature  

in this experiment even though it sounds cheesy  but just walking outside was so nice cause it was  

so beautiful to listen to the sound of the wind  and just the birds and yeah I think there's so  

much to appreciate about the sounds of nature and  I don't want to lose that again along with that  

I'm not going to listen to music when I'm with  other people because you know you're like talking  

to someone already yeah I also found the joy of  just being so immersed in a conversation so it's  

like why do you need music when you already have  this person to listen to overall being content  

with less you know there are some activities  where you really don't need music because what  

you're doing is enough and I really learned to be  content with just doing one task instead of adding  

something else like music to it and that brings  us to limitations and conclusion first limitation  

I'm not a musician and I've never expressed myself  creatively through music I mean I have played some  

instruments in the past but I never really enjoyed  it that much I kind of just played instruments  

because it was something that I had to do or that  was you know normal to do it was normal to know  

how to play an instrument but I can't say that I  enjoyed it over other hobbies that I had growing  

up so since I don't express myself creatively  through music I wonder if the way I view music  

is different from a musician who actually does  express themselves through music regularly and I'm  

curious to hear how you feel about it if you are a  person like that 2 is it's very hard to not listen  

to music entirely at least where I live because  music plays in places like restaurants, the gym,  

on my University campus, etc. however I must  say that it was very close to being no music at  

all because the times I did these things are not  nearly enough for it to have a real impact on this  

study in my opinion third limitation the sample  size is one and the participant of the study  

is not a very reliable source so feel free to  replicate the study if you have a music addiction  

not if you're consuming music healthily already so  conclusion just try out not listening to music for  

one task or one day and see how you feel because  there's so much to be learned from the silence so  

my second point embrace the richness of silence  even though it is silence it is something that  

you can really appreciate and I've learned how to  be very content with the silence and just being  

with my own thoughts and don't be afraid of it but  yeah third thing is if you're subscribed to this  

channel make sure to check the bottom of this  video description but yeah that's it bye guys