Why don't we tire of music?


So, there’s a lot of smart folk’s on this site, and I’ve been wondering why people never grow tired of listening to music. For example, we don’t read the same book over and over, nor do we watch the same TV show or movie over and over.  But, we never get tired of listening to the same music.  Why is this?  What is it in our mentally that allows this to happen?  Just curious...  Thanks!

 

quincy

Maybe I'm the odd man out, but there are many movies I rewatch regularly: It's A Wonderful Life, Sound of Music, Dr. Strangelove, Bergman/Fellini/Truffaut/Melville/etc. I've also read The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" multiple times as well as works by John Irving/Kurt Vonnegut/Tom Robbins/etc

I believe the accessibility/time required to listen to a song or album is much shorter and therefore more easily "consumable".

Although there is a bell curve associated with everything in life, I believe most adults don't read the same book or watch the same movie every week, or every month.  Once a year, for sure, especially around the holidays....  

 

I have records I listen to regularly, on at least a monthly basis over the past 50 years.  Can't say that about favorite movies or books....

 

Music moves the soul more than other forms of media.  Most likely this is the same scenario for most folks on this site, but not every living person.

Music offers the right combination of providing structure while granting enough freedom to form our own interpretations of meaning. These interpretations resonate at a very base emotional level - something modern society tells us to "keep a lid on", in almost every other context. And our interpretations can change from day-to-day, or over time. That prevents boredom. Good music also hits the right centers of our brain to release dopamine so we feel then need to come back for more.

Watching a movies, you’re too passive of an observer. Once you reach the end, 99% of movies lose all rewatch value. Once I know what happened, I don’t need to watch it again. I can count on my hands (out of thousands) the shows / movies that have any rewatch value, and even then the rewatches have to be spaced out (at least a year).