Thursday, October 27, 2011
Addicted to Music Itself
Is Music a Drug
This article is of the few attempts on the web that tries to connect music itself with addiction. To explain that music is like a drug and consequently addictive, the article uses the argument that feelings generated from music are, however strong and influential, false. How does one react to music and are some reactions similar or identical to that of drugs? If these reactions are similar, does that make music addicting? What defines a "real" drug and therefore a "real" addiction?
Do you listen to music to purposefully alter your state of mind? If you do, in what situations and do you rely on its effects? This leads to another interesting topic the article discusses--tolerance. After you listen to your favorite song countless times, does it become "boring" and therefore ineffective? If one relies on music, are they an addict?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yes, I do listen to music to change the situation my mind is in, but I listen to music to relieve stress or to relax for awhile. I do not listen to it to "alter" my state of mind. I do not think that you can be addicted to music. I think you can like the way a certain song makes you feel or how the beat of some type of music makes you happy but I do not think that you can be addicted to it. Everyone knows that once your favorite song is played on the radio too many times than it is no longer your favorite song. It can make you feel good but once you've heard it too many times it starts losing its affect. I believe that some people rely on music to make themselves happy, and to maybe temporary lose themselves in the song, but I do not believe you can be addicted to music.
ReplyDeleteI think some people use music for therapeutic reasons but that doesn't necessarily mean they will become an addict. There's no doubt that music plays in a role in your state of mind. After listening to soft, quiet song, most people feel relaxed. Some may use this to make these selves feel calm, energized, or inspired. I think what would make music an addiction is when someone was so dependent on music to change their emotions or not being able to function without it. To say that drugs and music are similar is like comparing apples to oranges. Yes they both affect the mind in some ways but what addiction isn't mental? Since the definition of an addiction isn’t clear, we can’t say it is or isn’t.
ReplyDeleteI feel like it's a little bit outrageous.. If music can be the object of addiction.. then it seems that nothing couldn't be.
ReplyDeleteEverything can affect our feelings, because we are emotional creatures! We tend feel happy in a sunny day and probably be in a higher spirit when we enter in a room with yellow wall. Can we say that we are addictive to sun and brighter color if we prefer to be companied with them all the time?
Moreover, I think there is no such a saying as false or fake feeling. How can we tell what SHOULD a feel look like? Since all people have difference experiences, what emotion a music can intrigue in each individual is various. Feeling is just a feeling, it's not a substance, so in no way that it can be real, even it is aroused by a substance.
If we rely on music to cheer us up, that shouldn't be a problem. We always do something to keep us in a good mood, actually, it is all what we do in our lives. Maybe you’ll say that it is a kind of escape, people should make them happy by, instead of getting immersed in virtual world, changing the reality and achieving some real thing. Only in this way can the happiness be continuous. But, even if we have all the “real things” we want, there is still no guarantee for out permanent happiness. Anyway, at the very least, when the music stops, no one will be hurt. That’s enough.
I agree with Suyan, if one classifies someone that enjoys listening to music an addict that what cannot be called an addiction? I think this statement that the article is making is almost offensive and disrespectful to people legitimately suffering with addictions that are more serious and life-threatening. No one seems to be dying or intensely suffering from listening to too much music; the idea is utterly ridiculous. Humans, in general, seem to be striving for happiness and if one needs music to achieve that happiness that is what he/she needs to do. If anything music affects people lives in positive ways rather than the typical negative impact addictions have on the addicts social lives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lindsay when she said that it is ridiculous to say that people can be addicted to music. Yes, people often listen to music to calm them down or pump them up for a game or something, but even though it can change your mood I would never say that it is addictive. I would say for the most part people just listen to music because they like it, just like they wear a certain shirt because they like it. If you say that music is an addiction then you could say that anything in the world could be an addiction which I think would lead to things just become out of control.
ReplyDeletei agree with everyone above. It would be ridiculous to say that you can be addicted to music. Music can change your mood, but I don't use it to alter my state of mind. I may like to listen to music but it doesn't mean I cant go without it. If you can say that music is something you can be addicted to, then you can say something as dumb as chewing gum is an addiction. People are beginning to over use the word addiction.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the previous statements toward calling music an addiction. Music is meant to make people feel good yes, but there is no way that it can make someone physically dependent on it. there has to be some chemical component that would make music addicting and seeing as there isn't one, well that's just society's way of telling us that everything a human is capable of doing is going to be an addiction. A set definition of addiction, i think, needs to be done, the word Addiction is being so overused on ridiculous everyday behaviors that are very much not addictive in anyway.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not feel that music can be an addiction. I think that people just become accustomed to hearing music during the day and it helps them relax or maybe help them focus on homework because it blocks out everyday sounds that can be distracting. I don't think you can be addicted to listening to something that we hear everyday. If you go into a grocery store, you hear music, if your driving in the car, you turn on the radio to add some sound. I think that music is just something that we are accustomed to hearing so we feel weird not hearing it, but i do not think that we can be addicted to something that half of the time we don't even realize we are listening to it.
ReplyDeletei personally don't think you can be addicted to music because music can be used as a remedy and a relaxer.
ReplyDeleteI dont believe you can be addicted to music. It may be something that makes people happy, but that doesn't make it an addiction. I feel as thought that's like saying children playing outside is an addiction. Playing outside is what they do for fun, and music is what a lot of others do for fun.
ReplyDeleteYes, listening to music cannot be considered as an addiction.The lyrics in a particular song might compel one to listen to it over and over again simply because the song is inspirational or motivational but it does not actually alter the way the whole body functions including the state of the mind.
ReplyDelete