NEWS FLASH!! Listening to Music is NOT a "Distraction."
I wish I had a free music download for every time I’ve heard the statement: “Music is a distraction”. It’s been tossed around for eons like a worn-out Frisbee. After a while we just ignore the bite marks and warbles and just let it fly. From a distance, casual onlookers think everything is just hunky dory. And, for a moment in time, so do we.
A “distraction” implies an activity that is trivial, lacking both substance and value. Music is neither trivial, nor without substance or value. It is part of life -- and living.
An example of a “distraction”: My “normal” work week was 70+ hours a week. After 10+ hours of whack-a-mole problem solving, some days I’d head to the movie rental store to pick something out. My movie prerequisites were pretty simple: 1) nobody gets killed or maimed. 2) People are generally nice to each other. And 3) a plot that doesn’t make me think very hard. I’d grab an easy to prepare entre’ (or take out), something soothing to drink and spend the next 2 hours being “comfortably numb”. In other words, a distraction – from work.
Listening to music may be the most alive we feel that day. Or, that week. When we’re fully engaged, our bodies and minds fully resonate with the thing we are experiencing. Our senses are at their peak. We’re celebrating genius, humbled by the “invitation” to be part of something truly extraordinary. We smile. We get all weepie for the 1,400thtime during the same point in the soundtrack. We’re able to “resurrect” the energy and presence of a long-deceased musician; inviting someone long gone to hold a microphone 5’ off the floor and belt out a vocal in the center of our “stage”.
If there is anything “therapeutic” about listening to music at home, it is the liberation created when grasping onto something totally predictable. During Martha My Dear, Paul McCarty’s piano intro will fade, and the melody replaced by a violin. It happens every time. Regardless of how much “stuff” was thrown at me on any given day, I can always depend on it happening.
To this point, this discussion has been all about us as individuals. Flying solo when enjoying music is amazing in itself. The value of having an opportunity to identify, acknowledge and celebrate the common interests and passions we share with others is immeasurable. It also has an added benefit: Hitting the “mute button” on all things you don’t have in common with others. All is good in the world. And your best friends ARE your best friends. As it should be. At a live venue, your “closest friends” could reach 50,000.
Anesthetic is when we shut our senses off and deaden ourselves to what is happening. Music has a way of waking us to what we have inside of us.
Music is a lot of things to a lot of people. But it is NOT a distraction.
Good points all, but I've personally never heard anybody say 'music is a distraction'..... I guess it's like when people say 'fiction is an escape from reality' or some such, when often it's a comment and/or allegory on 'reality', or something to give you something to think about. I guess for some folks, music is a 'distraction' (from what?) and fiction is an escape from reality, but not for me. It's all about the arts! |
@larsman I totally agree that artistic expression can take us to another destination. I'll deduct from your comment that the form of that expression is not as important as how it moves us. After reading the phrase "music is a distraction" multiple times on this forum, I think it might have been incident #7 that nudged me to write something. @decooney I once read that 2 atoms cannot occupy the same space at the same time. This would certainly align with your statement. If you're submerged in music, you can't be fixated on "something else". Thanks for the comments. |
I think a lot of people who would say "music is a distraction" are either jealous of your situation or just don't get it due to their limitations, which is a sad state of affairs. It reminds me of my brother in law who rides a Harley and when I spoke of a neat looking bike I saw that was a cafe racer inspired design, he dismissed it as a fad and nothing more. Lots of people are overly protective of their likes and desires and somehow feel threatened when you have ones that are foreign to them. As for transporting one away from the worries of the world, it's why I do it. I can't afford to live in the mountains or go on a retreat but the next best thing is to immerse myself in music and just wander off to who knows where. All the best, |
@waytoomuchstuff - yes, for me, how it moves me emotionally and/or intellectually is the most important thing that arts can do, be it music, television, movies, novels, etc. If I want distraction, I'll take a nap! 😀 |
Well, it's like alcoholism - like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand ... an escape from reality. If you asked me what to do ordinary people? - I would say: to build a world without wars, exploitation, social justice and real democracy (now it is nowhere at all), to grow a creator who would be creative, and not go crazy at work 70 hours a week ... The economy (in all countries) should be hybrid - there should not be large private businesses - only medium and small ... natural resources and means of production of industry - belong to the population, but not to private individuals (this is always a mafia). |
You don’t even know that you don’t know ... You start arguing ... The information environment in which you have formed is almost completely a lie ... Someone is ruled by hatred and paranoia (I wrote 100 times - I have no prejudices about what country, what skin color - the main thing is what kind of person) ... You don't have my experience - no need to argue - you can't compare (but I can)... What does it look like ? - you scream - movie A - bad! I ask - have you watched it? - no .., but that pimply teenager wrote on Facebook that the film is bad and therefore we will not watch it - it's bad! |
Quite right - it is so ... but this does not mean that there are no good people! - there are simply fewer of them than it could be. ... this is directly related to music - music is food that forms a person. |
@serjio @nonoise We may have set a new record here on just how far off topic we can go? At any rate, it’s always good to read responses to a thread that I originate. The premise of the thread was to respect music as it’s own entity and not demote it to a mere activity to deviate our attention from something else. Not sure how we got here, but we did. Since I started this thread, a few comments on the off topic remarks. I’m involved in 2 groups: YOUniteUSA (mine) and Braver Angels. We represent a small chunk of the "uniters" (or in my case YOUniters) and depolarizers in the country. I equate our efforts to blowing on a bowl of hot chili to cool it down while it’s still in the microwave, or trying to clear to leaves off our driveway with a leaf blower -- during an F5 tornado. We identify, acknowledge and celebrate our common interests and passions, while opening the door for conversations to bring out the "real person" inside.the individual with different viewpoints than ours. We also sponsor debates on subjects that the MSM doesn’t want us to have. (That is a topic unto itself) We operate with the full knowledge that those above our "pay grades" yield the power of what I refer to as "weapons of mass division" and can destroy months of work by hundreds of individuals with one 5-second sound bite or a single sentence divisive statement. Any any rate, we keep plugging away. As one person said; "If you want to shave 100 pounds off of a race car, you need to find 1,600 ways to save an ounce." It’s also been said: "Democracy only works as well as the mean sanity level of a society." We’re trying to do our part in tipping the scales toward sanity. Forums such as things have an incalculable value in finding common interests and creating bonds. I’d say it’s upwards of 90% that A’Gon contributors agree, and when they don’t agree, they’re still friends afterwards. My search for intelligent life on earth often starts with this forum. I am rarely disappointed. Johnny Youniteus |
@mceljo "Can it stop you in your tracks while you're doing something other than intentionally listening to the music?" Short answer to your question: "Yes". And, then some. |
@waytoomuchstuff ,It's nice what you do for your local community, bringing people together by way of finding common ground and all, but in all honesty, are you equating of my calling out serjio for interjecting his nonsense in an audio forum as the same thing he did? Sounds a lot like bothsiderism to me and not at all in keeping with your mission statement. All the best, |
@nonoise Well, that didn't go as I intended. I was hoping to exit this discussion at a good point. There was no conscious attempt to attach you to all the statements by others in this forum. I felt sergio's final: "And this does not mean that everyone cannot become better " was a good place for him conclude his comments. I thought that validating that, yes, others (including the OP) are interested in becoming better was a positive addition. And, I felt that all those who "hit the ball back and forth over the net" a few times on the off-topic discussion needed to be invited to review those comments. I was considering just making a blanket statement, but wasn't sure you guys were still visiting the post. It was my way of making sure you were personally invited to read the comments. Looking back, it probably would have been better to just throw it out there. I was sincerely hoping we could wrap things up with some level of agreement by those who contributed. If my comments were counter to that, then it was certainly not my intention. Thanks for reading, and contributing. |
@waytoomuchstuff , No problem. I understand, completely. It's just that serjio has a history here (if you care to look it up) and spouts his nonsense. I just didn't buy into his false final thoughts on hoping everything can be/get better as he's using that ploy as a way of qualifying his remarks, which he sincerely believes in. Kind of like adding sugar to the poison so it all goes down as intended. All the best, |
Thanks for offering up the topic in the original posting! I retired from a long career in IT about 13 months ago. Before that I definitely used my listening sessions to "decompress" from the work grind. Now I'm certainly much more relaxed and am much more in tune with the music I'm playing, as opposed to the equipment. I also no longer use that mouthguard my dentist made for me, don't grind my teeth like I used to! |
@nonoise + 1 |
@ejr1953 You're welcome. And, thanks for the response. Hope you found a creative way to repurpose the mouthguard. |
Lots of great comments. I’ve always found it interesting that the words fun or entertainment in Spanish is divercion or in English diversion. Music can be different things to different people it certainly can divert our attention away from our trials & tribulations & calm the mind & spirit like meditation ( active or passive) does. I think this is generally very good for our health & well being in a similar way. For me, music can take me back in time with nice memories or it can take who knows where? Both can be really fun & satisfying. |
Just to end on a humorous, self-deprecating cautionary tale: Yep, love disappearing into the music along with the speakers/headphones...unless....it's 4am, in a snowstorm, with 1ft on the unplowed twisty mt. road, on the way to do avalanche control work, and you are rocking with David Byrne "Burning Down The House"...and all of a sudden you're going straight down a 45 degree slope in 3ft. of snow...this is not my lovely house! Just "distract" yourself when well clear of mechanical devices! The same tune on skies will transport one thru a challenging mogul field with style. |
@normb I've got it to. Some good days. Some not-so-good days. Anything louder than the noise is a plus. |
@waytoomuchstuff I appreciate your sentiments. As someone for whom music is central to existence, I was offended when my good friend Matt said, while we were doing hard work on a commercial fishing boat, “I just want to listen to something with energy and a beat, not any art-y s**t.” Keep in my mind he is my good friend but his definition of art-y is much broader than mine. I have no problem curating playlists for certain situations and people (I actually enjoy it) and I understand why he would prefer certain kinds of music (good loud/aggressive/fast music is good for those long, grueling work days) but it still seemed derogatory and disdainful the way he said, “art-y,” and, based off of knowing him for years and his own words throughout our friendship, I really believe music for him is merely a distraction. Kinda hurts my soul. Ultimately, whatever, people can like whatever they like however they like it. But… When I see (more specifically and importantly, excruciatingly ‘hear’) people using a CELL PHONE SPEAKER (sans headphones) as a stereo IN PUBLIC, when I see people thoughtlessly letting algorithms determine their music, when I see people complacently listening to the same narrow sliver of music’s historical continuum every day of their lives (like, say, the same corporate FM classic rock trash we’ve heard 80 bazillion times or, as another example, a ceaseless onslaught of pseudo-bluegrass, milquetoast Americana) or only using music as another “app,” another utilitarian appliance in their modern lives, that really does hurt my soul. |
@tylermunns Some people have more sensitive "antennas" than others. While some music lovers are ecstatic with a course representation of a musical event, others demand nuance and full adherence to the artists' intent. For myself, "musical wallpaper" is good enough when conversations around the fire pit are more important than the music. Sometimes, I just don't want to be alone and queue up "old friends" just to keep me company. Other times, music is my "comfort animal" bringing familiar themes to unfamiliar circumstances. Then there are those moments when the rhythm and cadence of the music is perfectly synchronized with the activity (and, mood) in which I am engaged. And, yes, there are those times when I strap myself to my listening chair and allow the beauty, power, and intimacy of music (literally) take center stage. In all the cases above, the music is never a "distraction', but ranges from an enhancement to augment the enjoyment of a pleasurable activity, a supplement to make "swallowing" a dreaded task more tolerable, to actually being "the thing". I hope you and Matt are still friends. Let me guess; he got off the fishing boat and opened a string of Captain D restaurants in your area? By the way, I have to confess that my "musical wallpaper" system is made up of "tweaked" rock speakers, outdoor sub, modified source components and amplifiers. Even at listening levels just above the threshold of hearing, it is musically satisfying. Wonderful sounds, even in the background, make me smile. |
@waytoomuchstuff That sounds great. If the neighbors are cool (if that’s even an issue) sounds like an awesome way to enjoy music outside! Martin Scorsese said something in an op-ed I really appreciated. Paraphrasing, he lamented a certain devaluation of art in our modern lives. He took umbrage with everything being described as, “content.” A cinematic masterpiece, a ballet, a symphony, visual art, music, etc. is described as “content,” just as a cat video on Tik-Tok, a 3-minute podcast clip of bloviating pundits, a highlight reel of curling is considered, “content.” In short, something I agree with; art being devalued and reduced to yet another of a hundred modern, utilitarian applications and appliances, in stead of what it is: art. |
@tylermunns My neighbors are great. I do have a simple rule of having a zero footprint on those around me. Their outdoor experiece is their outdoor experience and I have no right to effect that in any way. So, I keep the volume down. Mr. Scorsese’s comments certainly ring true today. I have a phrase I call "the Exodus of Authenticity" where influencial forces are pulling us away from all things "authentic" and changing our "reality" to accept substitutes for those things. Or, nuliify them all together. There are various motivators in this scenario, none of which are aligned with truth or greater understanding. |
