Prologue:
Music has been integrated into society for thousands of years and has played a major role in our lives. From being in movies, TV shows, in stores, or even in your headphones, music seems to be everywhere. One important question is, can it really help you focus on your work? This question seems to have everyone divided between people believing it can help you stay focused or distract you.
Dan Dinh’s Response:
My name is Dan and I am a junior in high school. I take many high-level classes so I always have tons of homework to do, and how I get through all of it is with music. I’m a guy who always has stuff wandering through my mind, music helps prevent my mind from getting there. It allows me to focus and actually do my work. However, not any music does it for me, I preferably choose songs without lyrics or basically instrumentals. Songs with lyrics make me focus on the words and then I can’t think of my own thoughts. At school, in classes where we are not allowed to listen to music, I have a hard time completing my work, especially in super quiet classrooms. My brain just wants to think and think about irrelevant things. Or I may even fall asleep because sometimes it’s hard to stay awake without background noise.
Alex Osorio’s Response:
I’m currently a junior in high school and take many intensive courses. I believe music is crucial to me completing my work and staying focused. If I don’t listen to music my mind starts wandering and thinks about everything but the work I need to complete. On the other hand, when I listen to music it blocks out distractions for me and helps me focus on my work. I love listening to upbeat music when I need to finish something urgently as the fast and catchy beat and lyrics give me an adrenaline boost and help get work done faster. When I just want to do work but I’m not in any rush, chill Lofi beat music helps me stay calm and relaxed while completing my work.
Interviews:
We asked other high school students “Does music help you do work, if so why”, this is what they had to say.
This first person wanted to be anonymous and stated that he has a thing for women’s soft voices which helps him focus. So he listens to music from female artists that match that criteria.
Student Valentina Duarte said it does help her work, “It makes working more fun and helps motivate me,”she stated.
Dieuby Leflaur stated that music makes it too hard to work, “It overwhelms my head with too many things, I prefer to work in complete silence.”
Angela Arandela said, “Yes because it helps me tune out outside noise and helps me focus on the one thing I am working on.”
Stephanie Paxtor said “No because it is distracting, I can only listen to white noise.”
Final Thoughts:
We can see that in order for music to help you, it really boils down to the person. If you can multitask and have a brain that can focus on work while listening to sound, music would be a great addition to help you focus on work. However, if you are a person that can’t multitask and gets distracted easily, music may be an extra distraction while doing your work. But if you are not sure I encourage you to try listening to music and see how well it works for you.
