Music is something that people listen to daily, and students have their different opinions on whether it does help or doesn’t help them with studying. For me, it helps, but it’s all about finding the right balance.
Whether it’s listening to music on your phone, your computer or any other electronic device, students will listen to it while they study. An estimated 50 to 60% of students across the United States listen to music while studying according to raytexantimes.com.
Students, like myself, listen to music while studying because it helps them concentrate. Others avoid music while studying because it decreases their ability to focus.
Personally, I feel like music helps me study.
Music puts me at ease and limits the number of distractions around me. When I study, I don’t listen to music on my phone, I listen to music on my computer. However, I do not listen to music with lyrics; I listen to gaming music.
Give me a 30 minute to an hour loop of my favorite soundtracks from the Mario Kart series or the New Super Mario Bros series and I can get through almost any assignment.
These help me concentrate, limit my distractions and help me maintain my focus on studying. Music from video games is designed to help the players focus in on the game, and in turn, help students focus in on their assingments.
While listening to music with lyrics may help some, for me that’s just not realistic.
Lyrics, for me, are more of a distraction than something that can help me concentrate.
Psychology sophomore James Held agrees.
“Music helps me concentrate more than if I didn’t have music,” Held said. “Studying with light ambient music has definitely helped me study. Plus, it makes me feel at peace.”
I agree with Held’s reasoning that the music he listens to makes him feel at peace, as exams and tests can be nerve-wracking, and homework can be stressful.
That is something I can relate to as I use studying music as a form of relaxation during school work. Listening to any calm music can help ease the mind.
Living on a college campus brings it’s own set of distractions that can occur sporadically.
People could interrupt your work flow with wild, interruptive noises, bang on doors or do any other sort of crazy hings that results in unwanted noises.
I think that music can limit distractions since you can adjust its volume to where you can’t hear much else that’s going on around you.
Environmental biology junior Sophia Scott explained why music does not help her study and is more so a distraction.
“I do not listen to music while I study only because it is distracting,” said Scott. “I love music, but when I’m trying to study, I will get distracted by changing a song on my phone and then I’ll be on my phone and not get anything done. I only listen to music when doing homework because I do not need to be as focused and as on task compared to studying.”
In addition to talking about how music doesn’t help her study, Scott also explained why she wouldn’t listen to music if she was studying with friends or with a study group.
I can see why Scott finds music a distraction, especially when changing songs on your phone repeatedly can waste study time.
That is why I don’t listen to music with lyrics or listen to music on my phone.
Changing the songs from my phone is too much of a temptation, so it’s easier to listen to music through other sources.
And I find listening to ambient music while doing homework a smart idea because the attention of focusing isn’t as big of deal compared to studying for an exam.